My shoulder has been an issue for a while now. I've done everything except what I should do. I've complained, I've "lifted through it," and I've tried to ignore it. Monday I started doing something, even if it's not the BEST thing for me, it's something.
But before I even begin getting into that, I realized that I've never really taken stock of my body, and what injuries I've had, and how they may have effected me. For example. As anyone reading this blog can tell, I fucking suck at bench and shoulder press. It hit home for me yesterday when a good friend of mine heard I hit 200lbs on bench and said, "finally." In my head it says, "It's about time, I almost consider you a real man now."
I got angry at first, but it got me thinking... WHY do I suck at bench press? My shoulder sucking is pretty straight forward: It's injured, and has been for a while. I know it's injured. And sometimes it effects my overhead pressing ability. But bench? I feel 0 pain from my shoulder when I bench. None. No discomfort, no "weirdness," nothing. I don't even think about it.
But then I started thinking about the past, and when I used to work out in high school, and then college, and leading up to where I am now. I worked out on and off, usually for a few months at a time during the summers. And not every summer. Only when I was motivated (aka getting chubby). I would always get going and then after 3-4 month's I'd get lazy and stop. Kind of like what most people do when it comes to working out.
One of these 3-4 month stints sticks out. A few years ago... OK, maybe more like 8-9 years ago, during the summer, I was home from college and had started working out with a couple of friends. Right off the bat, 1st day in the gym, we're gonna start with chest. I proceed to do like 5 sets of bench, then move over and do 3 sets of fly's, then incline bench, and then like 3 sets of triceps. This was back when I did things like an idiot. Considering the fact that I hadn't been to the gym in at least a year at that point, it was insanely stupid for me to do something like that. I don't even think I warmed up. I don't even think I ever warmed up back then lol.
Anyway, next morning I can't move my arms. Notably, my right arm. The pain and soreness in my chest is UNREAL. I literally just stayed out of the gym for a week. When I finally came back, I was able to do back, shoulders, biceps, all that stuff... but when chest day came, I sat out. There was way to much pain when I even tried it. Things stayed like that for a few weeks, and when I finally began to bench again, I still felt pain. Still, I benched with VERY light weight. Like 95lbs light. Of course, being a 20 year old, I just kept going. I still remember when I finally stopped going to the gym after about 3 months, I still had pain in my chest. Right side, more towards the side than the middle of my chest.
After that, I went back to college, didn't work out for at least a year or 2. And when I finally went back into the gym for my next summer session, I was again weak at bench, but never really thought about it. Because by the time I started to realize I wasn't making any progress with my bench press, the summer was over, and I stopped going.
Anyway, fast forward to 2 years ago, I had been lazy and not lifting for at least 2-3 years and was out of shape. A friend (one of the same friends I was lifting with when I hurt my chest) got me back into the gym. Everything is fine and dandy, but after 2-3 months I realize that my bench is just not growing the same way his was. You know, the way newbies increase their strength in the first few months. And just like the previous times, I was generally just weaker in bench than anything else. At this point I was believing that bench was just my weakness.
Now, when I look back, I think that I really injured myself bad years ago. I remember how bad it hurt, how I couldn't move my right arm. And how long it took to stop hurting. It took months man. Like 5 months. I never rehabbed it, I never did anything about it. I just kind of rode it out, and eventually it stopped hurting.
8-9 years later, I'm finally making progress on bench. Go figure. Maybe the musculature is finally overcoming whatever damage I did. Maybe it's not, and I'm just weaker in bench lol. Either way, the good news is that honestly, my chest feels stronger than it ever has and I want to continue increasing the weight for as long as I can. My serious goal is to get 215 for 3 reps. I realize this might take another 2 months, but it's going to happen. I finally feel like that goal is not unrealistic.
Anyway.... back to my shoulders.... Yeah right. I'll post about em tomorrow, this one was long enough.
