Last week I was doing incline chest press, if I rememeber right and I experienced an odd feelling in my left shoulder. Didn't think much of it, but this week I felt it again as I did delt side raises. I thought my shoulder was just a little weak and again hoped it would fade.

Unfortunately today, as I was doing my DLs my shoulder felt like it was going to pop out of the socket any second. I stopped doing them and proceeded, perhaps against better judgement, to do tbar rows.
Again my shoulder felt like it would pop out of the socket any time - it's the best way I can desrcibe the feeling - and I felt a pain on the front side of my shoulder as I pulled the bar. I wasn't a big pain, but I did feel it nontheless.

Remembering some of the horror stories of people with injuries (not being able to work out for a few months :scared: ) I decided to hit the shower and seek advice here.

So my question is... in your experience is this a 'rest for a week and do lighter weights' issue or something more serious?

Thank you. :)

So my question is... in your experience is this a 'rest for a week and do lighter weights' issue or something more serious?

While this injury may or may not be serious I would firstly stop doing the exercises that aggrevate your shoulder and start building a kind of prehab/rehab workout in its place

Eric Cressy has a lot of good tips here (http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_repair/shoulder_savers_part_iii)

Rotator cuff work like this will also help:

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And I suppose the last thing you could do is double check that your form is tight. I had sloppy form doing Incline DB pressing and paid for it with a shoulder injury and a 3 month layoff from all pressing exercises coupled with anti-inflamitories from the doctor

I'm not saying your injury is seriuous, but treat it as such until proven otherwise

As a veteran of shoulder injuries on both shoulders, sounds like you might have impingement syndrome. Google it and see if the symptoms match what you're feeling. You can deal with it but you need to incorporate some shoulder strengthening exercises into your routine. Many of these utilize resistance bands. There are some links that I posted here recently in another thread.

Also, Ca$on gave me a good tip that helped me with some shoulder issues on the flat bench press. He suggested I widen my grip. I did and it really helped. Many times I've found if we are feeling that "twinge" in our shoulder, it could be we need to check our form first.

I have the same problem with the close grip bench press. Once I hit heavier weight, I feel the twinge and immediately stop before I do further damage. Obviously I can't widen my grip on that one, so I'll have to just find other exercises for that body part that don't aggravate my shoulder. You can do the same as well. For some reason certain exercises will irritate your shoulder (it seems to be different for each of us with shoulder issues). As I think either Zen or George said, "if it hurts stop doing it." Very good advice.

PlainGreyT, Mauidude,

Thank you both for your answer.

PlainGreyT, I'll check out that tnation article and incorporate that exercise you posted.

Mauidude, Thanks for the tips. If need be I'll look up the links in your other mentioned post. Also, Zen's advice seems solid :nod: I'd hate to do more harm b/c of my impatience.

One specialist that I read about said the first thing he does with bb'er shoulder issues is re-align the Scapula.(Shoulder blades).

Too often on such things as Rows, Deads, Pulls, Posture etc. the shoulders are allowed to move too far forward because the victim is trying to move a lot of weight, over time leading to misalignment which leads to joint pain.

Such things as face-pulls and seated rowing where the shoulderblades are consciously retracted will help. But on these you don't go for weight , you go only as much as you can handle with the shoulder blades doing the work. If the shoulder blades can't do it, but your arms can.....you're too heavy. Drop the weight.

In your case it might be a "cold non-tension extension "......that is.... at some point the joint was allowed to go "slack" under heavy weight thereby creating a "cold" tissue pull.

The extreme would be a dislocation.

Proceed with caution....