A bit about me first:
M, 26, 5’ 10”, 177 lb (same weight for 9 months with fluctuation and recomposition – this was mostly intentional), 32-33” waist. Intend to eventually gain weight slowly. Was in fact planning to start a modest hypertrophy block with weight gain soon but I am unsure that is the best move with the pain experiencing so that plan may need to move a little later in the year.
Never ran any LP, just trained very unproductively for ~4 years on and off – doing a lot of 3x5s and an absurd amount of useless variation. Progress was incredibly slow, a lot of regression periods. Moved myself onto a simpler 5x5esque routine and saw some progress but I noticed week to week was improving but slowing down big time. Then December this year after a bad breakup decided it was about time I got super serious and stopped doing my own programming. I found barbell medicine, ran the bridge in January and am in love with a new style of training and philosophies.
January until now I have been training consistently:
Bridge 1.0 > GPP Hypertrophy > Bridge again, a little more volume added > 12-week Strength
Wanted to become more proficient with singles since judging 1@8 seemed hard for me so I ran 12-week strength. In 8 weeks only added 17 to my total, deadlift didn’t budge but I can also probably attribute part of this to be measuring based off singles (probably more reliable testing for e1rm anyways and it took time to get better at singles).
Now, here I am. I have decided to stop the 12-week strength as I have been having shoulder and bicep issues in my right (dominant) arm for 2-3 weeks. No use in peaking if I have no meet and am dealing with an inconvenient injury.
The pain strangely is not really present during movements but instead between sets and after sets – so interfering with the next exercise. It starts out behind the shoulder, then the more I keep going it goes back around the medial deltoid, then the bicep gets it, and it then moves down the whole arm and into the hand (makes holding a water bottle feel week though I know the grip won’t give out). It is a dull pain, no sharp shooting at all. The bicep is where it feels the worst even though it starts out in the shoulder. It is also worth noting that NSAIDs did not seem to do anything to help.
Something similar had happened before after the hypertrophy training block and during the second run of the bridge – if I had to guess based off my limited knowledge there’s a volume threshold that I perhaps went up too quickly or just respond well to lower volume as well as some form issue I have corrected over time. I used to also hurt at the bottom of the bench in my elbows, but I changed my grip a little and tucked less (over-tucked before) and that fixed that for a while until now.
I saw a PT regarding this and they suggested it was my supraspinatus (the muscle) and they had me do T,Y, I, and face pulls. Did those for a few months, was able to run the Spartan Race even with the arm sort of bugging me but I was aware of it and tried to use my back more during overhang movements. This issue then went away for about a month before now. Note – stopped doing those movements a while ago.
I have read a lot on the modern pain science and the material you guys put out – I know to avoid catastrophizing and I know it is a temporary setback. I also read based off similar forum discussion the Stronger by Science article that was recommended regarding long head bicep tendonitis and the relation to the shoulder.
I am not sure if it is the shoulder or the bicep or both and I am aware that where the pain is may not even indicate what is causing it or if there is even damage as pain is incredibly complex.
What I found also somewhat bizarre was that first instance that it occurred was the squat, then it got way worse on the floor press, but then it was remedied when doing overhead press. Decided to adjust the squat grip over the next few sessions until I found what worked and that helped. Then I found it happening worse than before on the floor press, so I attributed to that – only this time the overhead press then also agitated it further (so my idea of the shoulder press helping died over the next few instances). I thought I could train through it, but it just seemed to be getting worse over a few weeks.
Consistently, horizontal rows seem to help so I am doing that on my 2x GPP days a week.
My current plan of action is to adjust the weight – and do tempo work over the main movements for the bench and press. I noticed the deadlift somewhat annoyed it as well but barely – not sure if that information helps really, I’m just trying to focus on getting my back in correct position and getting tight before each rep. I am using the first 4-5 weeks of the bridge that I had very slightly adjusted the volume up for as a block while I do tempo variations for the main lifts. I also find that horizontal cable rows help so I do those for my GPP days. Have not seen a PT yet - not sure if it would be necessary.
Now I know generally with pain BBM recommends (to my understanding) first adjusting weight not range of motion necessarily and if you can do that titrate up over time. If need be next adjust the range of motion to be pain free.
Am I on the right track with the weight adjustment and tempo work? So far one session has gone well (benching close grip, tempo ~60-70%) but I am having trouble rating RPE since I feel like I can do more it just also becomes a question of whether it will irritate what I am assuming is a tendon. I am avoiding the floor press even though it is reduced range of motion since it agitated it consistently. Would it be beneficial as well to train something like a pin press or a pin bench? Or just stick to full range of motion where possible in a slow tempo? To my understanding it is a loading issue more so and I should still train with sufficient weight as tendons require heavier weight to adapt.
Also I imagine I should vary the tempo work – 3-0-3, 3-2-3, or others.
My final question is now, how to reasonably work upwards. This relates back to how I can feel I can do more weight but I do not want to push it so much that I aggravate whatever is going on – so I am not sure how to pace progression.
In the end too, I would like to try to avoid whatever caused the issue (could have been too much volume for me at this stage in my training – unsure) but I can cross that bridge when I get to it.