Am i doing something wrong- shoulders on fire

IHI

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Most recall i had to have a torn labrum fixed a few yrs ago, rehab/recovery went 100% perfect and am stronger than ever in my life...surgery on left shoulder. My right shoulder I believe the labrum was torn yrs ago from doing construction my whole life, hammering/tons of overhead liffing and holding, but never had it looked at, just dealt and adapted.

problem now- any incline or overhead, weather heavy low rep or light high rep, my front delts turn to fire within a few sets and stops the show. Even flat bench with bar/dumbbells after a much longer session front delts turn to fire and a show stopper.

could it be bad form/posture causing this? I dont ego lift and try to adhere to strict form. Or just old age, life of physical labor all caught up and is what it is. I was shut down this morning just warm up weight on incline, so stopped. Buddy coming over to lift at 1pm and ill be 80% reset and ready by then.

just looking for thoughts/ideas

thanks fellas
 

rawdeal

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Some questions to get this going:

You describe shoulders with 2 different medical histories. Is the pain now equal between them or one more than the other?

Has this been coming on gradually or sudden onset?

Anything else change about your life since you noticed this, esp. your job duties?
 

IHI

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Some questions to get this going:

You describe shoulders with 2 different medical histories. Is the pain now equal between them or one more than the other?

Has this been coming on gradually or sudden onset?

Anything else change about your life since you noticed this, esp. your job duties?

incline work/overhead work for years has resulted in fast burning and fatigue. Intentionally working out that involved these muscles makes them turn to fire/burn very fast and fatigues very fast.

The burning/fatigue is equal between them. When they burn, it feels like someone is holding a torch heating them up, and it burns/fatigues to a point i can barely lift my arms until the burning subsides
 

Gabriel

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First thing ...pain is telling you something is wrong.could be 1k things....There is a huge difference between muscle fatigue and what you are describing...I would try very low weight and see what happens.IF the same ,then back to the Dr..shoulders are no fun when something is wrong..Not worth the risk of another rinjury,in my book.!!
 

Rhino99

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I have a torn labrum in my left shoulder so I get the same symptoms with barbell overhead presses. Setting to an incline instead of straight helps and using dumbbells for presses helps too, not much pain then.

BTW, how long was your rehab and couldnt work out for?
 

IHI

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I have a torn labrum in my left shoulder so I get the same symptoms with barbell overhead presses. Setting to an incline instead of straight helps and using dumbbells for presses helps too, not much pain then.

BTW, how long was your rehab and couldnt work out for?

rehab/off work for 4 months. I did rehab starting day after surgery and 3 days a week entire time with a phenomenal therapist!!! I took the same aggression and intensity to each rehab and homework as i did to a gym session and I’m self sold thats why it went so well/results were so good...9 months after surgery i was repoing a previous 1rm i had as a goal....but surgeon and rehab team both said no more overhead presses as that is worst movement for shoulders ever conceived. So ive played with OHP but laughable low weight bar and dumbbells with all focus on slow cadence for time under tension.
 

rawdeal

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What did the surgeon a/o the therapist recommend instead of OHP? Did either comment on sets, reps, intensity, etc. for whatever they had u doing?
 

SFGiants

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As years go by some movements are eliminated, altered of just done with extreme light weight.

There is no working around serious issues what so ever!
 

IHI

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What did the surgeon a/o the therapist recommend instead of OHP? Did either comment on sets, reps, intensity, etc. for whatever they had u doing?

basic answer was- Dont do them
no suggestions as a way to work around, just a flat no more overhead lifting as it’s the hardest move on shoulders

as far as post op/post therapy they said I could do anything i wanted to do, but listen to your body and if it hurts, stop, you know the difference between fatigue and pain. I remember my first time under the bar (I switched to floor presses vs bench presses to safe guard shoulders) but initially it was like someone stabbing an ice pick through my shoulder. Eventually it subsides, took a little over a yr for pain to be an afterthought but for a yr my only shoulder training was band work that’d id done through rehab and 5lb db raises and such
 

IHI

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As years go by some movements are eliminated, altered of just done with extreme light weight.

There is no working around serious issues what so ever!

sadly you’re right, have had to modify things to work with destroyed joints, just drives me insane how quickly certain moves just shut things down with lightning fast quickness
 

tinymk

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Labrum tears either new or old mean an unstable shoulder. Unstable in terms of weightlifting mean to me loss of strength. Dramatic or subtle regardless without stability there will be no real strength. It can sublex and then you need to worry about impingement issue.
I have had 3 labrum and RC repairs over 25+ years of powerlifting and I am at least familiar with the injury and the recovery process. If the shoulder is bothering you to the point you cannot find any comfort go see an ortho dr brother.
 

Sicwun88

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I've read everything tht everyone said, basically all you can do is find ways to still train around it,
I also work construction,25yrs of moving and setting stone takes it toll on the body,
Add heavy intense training on top of that,
It's basically a no brainier, injuries and pain are going to arise! I wish you the best of luck, my trade & weight lifting is my life, even if my arms and shoulders couldn't move anymore,i would still sqaut till the death!
 
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dragon1952

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I've been dealing with calcific tendinitis and rotator cuff impingement and have gone through some PT. I know, not the same as labrum but the rehab is similar. After PT I started doing shoulder resistance band exercises for 15 minutes before every workout, no matter what body part. I don't know if you've done those before but if not you could try some rehab exercises with resistance bands. Start really light and higher rep and then as the entire shoulder strengthens you can add resistance. You can actually get a killer all-around shoulder workout with just band resistance once you build up to a decent amount of resistance. Lots of youtube vids on the subject. Something else I've recently started is land mine presses instead of overhead. Again, since yours is labrum that might not be an alternative but might be something to try.
 
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IHI

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I've been dealing with calcific tendinitis and rotator cuff impingement and have gone through some PT. I know, not the same as labrum but the rehab is similar. After PT I started doing shoulder resistance band exercises for 15 minutes before every workout, no matter what body part. I don't know if you've done those before but if not you could try some rehab exercises with resistance bands. Start really light and higher rep and then as the entire shoulder strengthens you can add resistance. You can actually get a killer all-around shoulder workout with just band resistance once you build up to a decent amount of resistance. Lots of youtube vids on the subject. Something else I've recently started is land mine presses instead of overhead. Again, since yours is labrum that might not be an alternative but might be something to try.

spend 3 days a week in PT for 4 months and other 4 days in my home gym using bands id bought and bands Athletico gave me doing tons of band work for the shoulders- did it for both to give surgery side its rest between sets, plus with both being shot, i figured as much improvement as i seen in surgery shoulder, it could only help with the other I believe i ruined yrs ago but never addressed.

honestly I’ve only been utilizing that exact training on shoulder day, but im going to reintroduce it 3x’s a week to keep the stabilizers in shoulder in check
 

IHI

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Labrum tears either new or old mean an unstable shoulder. Unstable in terms of weightlifting mean to me loss of strength. Dramatic or subtle regardless without stability there will be no real strength. It can sublex and then you need to worry about impingement issue.
I have had 3 labrum and RC repairs over 25+ years of powerlifting and I am at least familiar with the injury and the recovery process. If the shoulder is bothering you to the point you cannot find any comfort go see an ortho dr brother.

pain wise its just the hurt like a badass workout and the DOM you feel for a few days (muscle hurt)...i know you know that pain difference first hand between joint/muscle pain. Hate to say i got soft post surgery to bailing out too early on workouts due to soreness, but having my home gym, if i have to stop, allow the muscle burn to subside and head down later (like i did today), so be it.

just sucks as many of you guys know and wondered if it was something i was doing wrong, but good to hear it’s just old bones and life of physical work that’s taken its toll
 

snake

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tinymk;597896 If the shoulder is bothering you to the point you cannot find any comfort go see an ortho dr brother.[/QUOTE said:
That right there is why I pull the trigger on getting my labrum fixed.

IHI- If those 2 movements are the only ones that bother you, just don't do them. I almost never did any OHPing movements and didn't do inclines for 20 years. Always thought any OHPing was hard on the shoulder and didn't own an incline until about 5 years ago.

7 months post op on my labrum repair without doing either of those movements and I promise you, you won't see a difference. Keep your chin up!
 

chandy

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I tore my labrum on my right shoulder years back at work and honestly the best advice i can give u post op is to stick to PT after a few months of that if u know someone who can massage not just your labrum but going down to to elbow and working on ur neck and back muscles around the area as well. That's what i eventually resorted to and about 3 months after going to a place i was able to OHP again. wasn't the same at first but down the line it got better and better once i was able to do the movement without the burning/quick fatigue
 

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