Maybe try cutting the weight back a little and increasing reps / volume. It would help with creating a deficit, and less physical muscle damage to repair from the workouts. Also you could cut OH pressing out temporarily without much issue to allow the shoulder to recover. Some front raises along with other pressing will maintain your muscle there.Well, let’s add a new dull ache and pretty bad weakness to the left shoulder. Been very consistent with db OHP 8x75’s, but today 4x70’s was ridiculous. Pullups and machine chest press also down very much. Pushing it all too hard while cutting weight, or the addition of farmers walks on Tuesday maybe? My neck has felt tight and achy also since then. If it’s not one thing, it’s another…plus another.
I feel you man. My bench basically entirely fell off in December; something got pissed and l lost my joint stability. This has caused pain, which tells the brain to cut power. Slowly getting it calmed down, it seems like. But far from out of the woods!Well, let’s add a new dull ache and pretty bad weakness to the left shoulder. Been very consistent with db OHP 8x75’s, but today 4x70’s was ridiculous. Pullups and machine chest press also down very much. Pushing it all too hard while cutting weight, or the addition of farmers walks on Tuesday maybe? My neck has felt tight and achy also since then. If it’s not one thing, it’s another…plus another.
Yes, that’s what it felt like. So frustrating.
Question…sounds like you’ve been working through it…is that the best course of action? Wondering if I should still do something tomorrow, or just take a few extra days off?
Well, let’s add a new dull ache and pretty bad weakness to the left shoulder. Been very consistent with db OHP 8x75’s, but today 4x70’s was ridiculous. Pullups and machine chest press also down very much. Pushing it all too hard while cutting weight, or the addition of farmers walks on Tuesday maybe? My neck has felt tight and achy also since then. If it’s not one thing, it’s another…plus another.
Yeah, I do all that…this was something entirely different. Saw the chiro today for an early visit due to this. She worked on some stuff, feels a little better. She thinks a nerve was trapped, which makes sense considering the severe loss of strength. Going to try to lift tomorrow.
She plays lacrosse and flag football, but her workouts are more for strength and fitness (but of course sport benefits are welcome). We just started her DLing; her best so far is 5 x 105, but it’s brand new to her. My just turned 13 year old son will max on bench tomorrow.
Guess I just gotta keep at it slowly.
Gotcha. Yeah, we need to prioritize it a bit more, but she does rows or pull-ups every workout also, and I have her do band pull ups a couple times per week. She only gets to lift once to twice per week, but she has lacrosse several days per week and ROTC PT twice per week.
No, eat less while you can’t lift heavy. Improve your health now, both bodyfat and joint. Save the calories for later when you’re bringing weights back up when things feel better.
Gotcha. I’ve had a theory that in the past when correcting a strength imbalance, the deficit was hurting my progress in recovery…but I do see how this is different.
~1g/lb is plenty even in a deficit, where you benefit the most from the extra nitrogen retention of higher daily protein intake. So unless you prefer to shift macros to even more protein purely out of preference, that’s already plenty.
If you’re just very depleted, 3 days off training and a couple cheat meals will definitely help restore a little verve come next week.
Yes, for sure…I’ll be resuming the cut in between the weekends.
Silver linings!
Resuming a mild deficit today.
thecharlotteathlete.com
www.physiotutors.com
Only skimmed briefly, but interesting theory - basically weak traps responsible for the problem as they try to struggle with heavier loads/strength of other muscle groups. I've noticed lately that my upper back/ bottom of my traps do seem to feel "tight". I've always been assuming it's due to my deads & particularly my benching position. But I also don't really do traps work (shrugs) and haven't for a long time. So this theory for me could potentially hold...Couple interesting articles I’ve found:
The Myth of “Upper Trap Tightness”: Is the Upper Trap the Devil? - The Charlotte Athlete
Is your upper trap causing endless pain despite treatment? Learn why common approaches might be wrong & discover the effective way to address upper trap issues.The Upper Traps: over-assessed, overblamed, and misunderstood!
The Upper Traps are often blamed for being too tight leading to pain in the neck and shoulder region. Adam Meakins argues that this is false!
In the first article, I look just like the guy with super sloped shoulders from the back point of view.
I’m going to take this info to my chiropractor for feedback. But, training traps in the overhead position, releasing the first rib, and cooling off on Deadlift for a week or 2 to test this out doesn’t seem like it could be a bad idea no matter what, right?
Right. Also, I think once it gets to the point we’re talking about, normal shrugs won’t cut it, but instead overhead shrugs, monkey shrugs, overhead holds, etc. It’s a bit too early probably, but after adding in an “overhead static wall push” I’ll call it (to simulate the overhead carry/lunge/shrug), my shoulders both feel a lot more relaxed and pain has been greatly reduced. I was able to sleep on my left side again!
I haven’t tried DLing since the injury. I’ll restart everything next week and begin to work my way back up. I think everything is healing.
+1 to all of that. no real reason to eat in surplus if you aren't trying to gain size or strength in the moment.
Well, I wasn’t talking about a surplus…just not a 800kcal deficit or closer to maintenance. Either way, I’m dropping kcal again until the results of the upcoming mri so I know what’s really going on.
Don’t know exactly what I’m looking at but glad you got some results and be interested to hear what the doc has to say and all.
lol me neither, but I see the buzzwords like “herniated”, “stenosis”, and “disk bulge”. We’ll see.
I was like I don't see any of the important words like fatal, amputate, etc so must be fine.
Oh yeah. She hasn’t said to stop working out, only to ease back to ensure proper form (particularly neck/posture).
I feel this. I neglect to do basically any cardio when I run a strength cycle and it makes me feel really off. I've been treating running/cardio similar to weight training and doing a lot of interval work (but in my head, I see them as reps). doing x amount of reps at 1/10 or 1/4 mile in a session and working up to longer stints has been a good approach for me. makes the immediate cardio session more interesting too.During this time of recovery, I’ve started to run too. I am SUPER out of condition. 5 minute jog is rough
But my first goal is to get to a mile under 10 minutes.
At 220 pounds, running doesn’t feel good lol
Today will be a better test…flat db press which has had the most impact by the nerve injury. We’ll see.