I’ve been suffering with what I was told was shoulder impingement for just over a year now. I initially noticed it in June last year and my first reaction was to stop training my upper body but as an avid BBM podcast listener I soon realised this was in fact exactly what I shouldn’t do.
I lowered the weight on bench and press and reduced the volume but still trained at a much lower RPE. Over the last year I have been focusing on improving my form whilst slowly building the weight back up. I can now bench and press with some discomfort and I have managed to recently test my 1RM on bench and set a new pr but as soon as I up the intensity on bench my shoulder stops me from progressing. I have to base my RPE on the shoulder pain and not the weight because I know I can lift more but the pain is stopping me.
I have monitored the pain and it doesn’t decrease as I warm up. It’s there from the first till the last set but increases as the intensity goes up.
Luckily bb bench and press seen to be bearable but any DB work on chest is totally out due to the increased rom.
Any advice on haw to finally beat this issue would be great.
if this info helps I also wake up every morning with pain in the shoulder. It goes off after I’m up and about.
Hey aad74 - sorry to hear about the narrative you received, but it is a common one unfortunately and tends to misinform. If you want to go down that rabbit hole, we’ve written about it previously here: https://www.barbellmedicine.com/blog/shoulderimpingement/
Often persistent pain issues such as this are related to movements and activity (like the range of motion you are describing) and it’s important to remember that in situations such as this hurt doesn’t equal harm. With that said, rarely do I recommend forcing yourself into movements/ranges of motion that you don’t feel confident to do and typically this is where a clinician can help guide the path. In essence, we need to find tolerable dosage for you through ranges of motion with the understanding symptoms will be a part of the process but shouldn’t exceed your individualistic tolerance level leaving you feeling unable to go do other life activities or occupying your thoughts. Happy to help.
Perhaps you can outline your current goals and what plan you have in place currently for meeting them.