+ 1 SMITH MACHINE
Ok, I hate the damn thing! It's like cheatin yourself out of gains. You're not struggling to balance the weight as well as lift it so your skeletal muscles are going to be weaker than they should be. Here's my issue. Every single time I do shoulders, I get an immediate tightening in my left shoulder. It's stiff, it's obviously painful and sometimes I have to stop lifting completely. So I've found that with MOST shoulder exercises, if I steer clear of free weights I don't have so many issues. It's less painful using hammer strength and smith machines. I brought a scale over the the smith to see exactly what kind of resistance the bar alone takes. I weighed myself then I weighed myself with the bar in my hand. That 45lb Olympic bar that sits nicely in the track is only 10lbs. Yes the machine is taking 35lbs of the load not to mention you don't have to balance the bar. I hate it and I don't want to use it. Does anyone have any suggestions as to an alternative? I also noticed that as I'm putting weight back on (physically) my left pec is bigger than my right. Is this the shoulder pain culprit? Is my left side taking the majority of the load? Am I favoring it? I am a lefty and all those years of boxing I always kept my left hand high which flexed my left pec. I don't know if I'm way off here or what but some of you veteran bodybuilders , can you help me out here?
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I like the smith machine for certain exercises mainly for heavy shrugs i feel like i can put all the weight on my traps rather than my shoulders and back as I do when i use a free straight bar, but dont get me wrong i still do sets with free weights also
i never liked smith machine.i prefer free 100% weights
nitti did you try to weight yourself with the bar and say about 35's on each end?i think but im not sure the more weight you have on it the closer it come to actual weight,but im not sure,im very curious though.the 45 lb. bar is just to light to start any real resitance to the way the smith machine is designed.i would love for you to try again.
I'll do it again. Let me try to clear it up. I weighed myself then I took the bar and got on the scale again. I was 10lbs heavier. So the way the machine is designed its taking away 35lbs from the bar. If you take the bar with no plates you can pretty much toss it up with a finger. It'll slide up pretty high too man. It's a weird resistance that has more to do with weight. I'm a engineer and I actually pulled part of the panel away (it was held up by Velcro) to see how the mechanism is designed but I couldn't see enough.
I use it only for 1 leg exercises and when doing shoulders I get similar uncomfortable situation like yours. I think it is just good for some people and bad for other. If I can say so.
your left pec is bigger because your left shoulder is weaker, and it is compensating for it. I had dislocated my left shoulder and my upper left pec has more mass than the right side.
What about this issue with the left pec being bigger? Is this an indication of me favoring that side and maybe causing extra strain on the left shoulder? Cdaddy touched on it but Is this a possibility? If it is then its bad form right?
tread-mI sort of agree with much of these thoughts N. I have a shoulder Vike and a rehab buddy of his have almost help me clear for the big stuff again but in the process me manipulating things unconsciosly the peak on my left delt sticks out more than right. It is gettikng better as the shoulder heals and form gets better . I would say don't push it and roll back slow and let it come back to normal as I think it will.
I've decided to take 1 week off starting today (which was shoulder/Ab day). Well I'll still do legs but nothing at all with my upper body. 1 week from now I'll do chest and see if I have any tightening. I've bee going at it pretty hard lately and haven't taken any kind of rest 4 days a week 1-1/2 to 2 hours a night. I understand that a week off kit may not be enough time but I want to see if it helps at all. I suspect it won't and I'll have to see a doc for an MRI. But I will be taking it easy for sure. No shoulders at all until I figure this out.
I was working through a shoulder injury bro... Took me off the straight bar, then the hammerstrengths and smith and eventually couldn't even do cables... Beware the forest for the trees bro, pay attention to your body. Pushing through may not be the answer... It wasn't mine :(
Man I'm just worried about the doctor telling me shit I don't wanna hear. You think taking a week or two off from training will help or at least tell me whether this is serious or not?
I'm down for 8wks doing physical therapy, looking into acupuncture and will (hopefully) be up and running for the winter cycle.... Denial never makes anything go away bro
My .02
Da Nile? I thought that was a river in Egypt? Lol Well looks like I'm setting up an appointment with an orthopedic. Thank you gentlemen! I won't even bother doing shoulders until I find out what's up. I hit my delts on back day and the fronts on chest day anyway. I can get away with doing shrugs with no pain. It's mostly lifting over my head that's a problem.
jek555I l love lateral raises they build shoulders nice and I never receive much pain I can go up tp 45 lbs 14 reps
If ur fighting an injury i would stick with iso movments like dbs and hammer strength, smith machine is a good alternantive bro so learn to love it till u get that shoulder fixed..imo
That's exactly what I've been doing but I feel like I'm not accomplishing anything on the smith or hammer machine. But it's better than nothing.
Have you had a cortisone shot in your AC joint!? I use to have same problem till I had two it hurts like a mofo but it works!!! Go see a good orthopedic and get one my neighbor is one and he hooked me up!!!!
I've had cortisone shots in the back. Never the shoulder, YET! But they just bring down the inflammation temporarily right? Don't really fix the problem assuming there is one?
Yeah its only temp...And in a lot of cases you end up worse off for it too. Been there done that. Almost seems as if the crap eats away at your joints.
It it's away your joints where did you hear this? I had my two 8months ago and it's a godsend !!!!
I can tell you this it took two! And they take like 4" needle and go straight down into AC joint!! And haven't had problem since!! I couldn't do heavy anything only machines !! Now I'm good!! And he wanted to shave off my shoulder!! It worked for me!
I was rely hoping EQ would help with its connective tissue repair properties but it hasn't at all. I'm up around 800mg EQ /week on this run
You should try some HGH and see if that helps
It's been suggested and is definitely being taken into consideration. Very carefully
Probably not the answer you want to hear but I would recommend fixing your shoulder issues so you do not have any exercise limitations.
This website is a great site to find pre-hab and re-hab exercises to fix nasty joints, soft tissue, and mobility limitations.
http://www.mobilitywod.com/?s=shoulder
Probably not the answer you want to hear but I would recommend fixing your shoulder issues so you do not have any exercise limitations.
This website is a great site to find pre-hab and re-hab exercises to fix nasty joints, soft tissue, and mobility limitations.
http://www.mobilitywod.com/?s=shoulder
Nice link. Thank you for that.
I'm a veteran AAS user but a rookie bodybuilder to the question bound to come "I thought you were a vet"
cdaddy7Absolutely Nitti, you body compensates for the weaker group and a great example is when you look a ppl real close their calves will reveal this bc the dominant side is bigger...Isolateral movements is the way to even the playing field in situations like this...Dumbells, hammerstrength, and other iso-kinetic machines is a good place to start...Have you tried reducing the dumbell weight and increasing the reps to reduce pain and inflammation...You won't maybe grow as fast but it can be very beneficial with time
So althoght I'm not strengthening the skeletal muscle I still gaining strength by using these machines? Ppl tell me to stay away from them but I have no choice. I switch up my routine often with the rest of my body. Legs, chest, back , arms I always switch from week to week what I'm doing but I always incorporate free weights. On shoulders I just can't
cdaddy7This is were your body becomes the judge in what to do and don't...I have had to give up big boy exercises to accomodate my back injury...no u will not put on the size quickly as u would but u will still grow..u have to listen to ur body and our ego always tries to smother the voice of reasoning out....if u continue to put unnecessary stress on the joint u may cause permanent damage requiring surgery....use the lighter weights for now until u can see if the pain lessens or resolves....u may need to consider a trigger point joint injection to help reduce inflammation....you have options to consider just make sure u baby it a little until u find some resolution, but if you RD is torn then I can tell u that at some point surgery will become mandatory to continue to lift weights
Even dumbbells hurt your shoulders? For my shoulders, that's all I ever do...I feel I get a better contraction with dumbbells anyway, plus I dislocated my shoulder and fractured my humerus right below the 'ball' about 13 years ago when I was 20...so I know what shoulder pain feels like, lol. Plus it helps work out my imbalances...if you're struggling with your one pec as well...just do a DB routine for awhile. For chest day, do it all with DB's...flat/incline/decline presses, flyes and other iso techniques. That's the beauty of DB's, they help balance out your 'weaknesses'.
I feel barbell presses are quite ineffective really for shoulders, but that's me and my body. I really don't even do very heavy weight with my shoulders either...I tend to keep the rep scheme a lil' on the high side most of the time(12-15 or 8-12 reps). I do EVERYTHING with DB's...presses, raises. Considering that the deltoid is comprised of THREE heads, and they are quite small individually...what's the point of blasting them with HEAVY weight? They will typically respond better with lighter weights under control with a nice contraction(squeeze).
-Think about boxing, look at all the work your shoulders get by throwing punches...that's alot of reps for a muscle, right? Jab, jab, cross, jab, hook, etc. over and over again.
Other than that, I just read a lil' aritcle in the Oct. edition of Muscle and Fitness where they suggested doing 'one-arm NEGATIVES' (by yourself) with the Smith. I don't like the Smith either...but I found it interesting at least, check it out as it might help with some of your issues?
Bro, anything I do with free weights when working my shoulders hurts (only the left). Dumbells, the bar for shoulder press ,anything with free weights. I've been using the hammer strength shoulder press and the smith. Then there's another hammer strength machine that mimicks reverse dumbbell flies. Anything free hurts my left shoulder to the point I have to stop
Look...I am NOT a bodybuilder by any means. I understand you were looking for a 'veteran' opinion...so I thought I would at least try to help.
It sounds like you have some shoulder impingement to me...basically the only thing that would take care of that is REST...and some recovery exercises for your rotator cuff...light, light weights and bodyweight type stuff.
Man I thought it was just bad form or something. I hope it's not some kind of serious injury waiting to happen. And I'm welcoming all opinions. Yes I was asking vets about alternative exercises but anybody can chime in. I'm all ears
Yeah, honestly man...I have been thru something like this before, and it really pissed me off when it happened. I had a hard time working out and everything...do you have a hard time lying on your side, like does it have pain when you are trying to sleep and things like that? Does it feel 'pinched'?...and/or is your shoulder clicking and clunking and such?
Yes I do have trouble. Can't put my left arm over my head for more than 2 minutes when laying down and definitely can't lay on my side
Oh man...not what you want to hear I am sure, but I am afraid that that is what is going on then....some shoulder impingement starting up, and before you know it, you could tear your rotator cuff.
The best advice I can give, is to lay off the shoulder exercises and be VERY careful doing your chest exercises too, as the bench press puts a tremendous amount of stress on your rotator cuff muscles too. Just do some proper warm-ups involving your rotator cuff(internal/external rotations, arm circles,etc.)
What I did was 'google' shoulder impingement and rotator cuff exercises, things like that...you'll find videos on You-tube and such...check out some exercises on BB.com maybe? Let me see if I can find the link for the shoulder impingement shit on youtube.
Here you go, one to start with:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfyN1F0HCBk
I appreciate the post bro! Thank you for the link too. I will definitely continue to work on the smith and hammer machines until I can find out what's going on. I hope you're wrong but I have a feeling you're right.
LOL...yeah, I hope it's not that bad too!! Honestly, I am in NO position to diagnose you or this online, so maybe the best thing to do would be to go see a MD as well.
It's funny..you came in here with questions from 'vet' BB'ers and some different exercises, and I hammered you with this. I mean, it's NOT funny that you're injured, but you didn't get what you expected, lol.
i never use smith machine unless its calf raises ' a long time ago a guy with a bad ass body to me to stay away from them ' you werent using your smaller muscle groups to stabilize the lift which were very important and would help prevent injury ' and to use free bar and dumbells instead ' thinkin that fucker s huge so of course i never went near smith machine again
Yes I'm aware of that. If you read the post I'm saying I want an alternative to the smith if there is one. I CAN'T use free weights for shoulders! It's too painful
yeah i read your post
im just agreeing with you on the smith machine thats all 
' free weights are out so maybe cables ?
Well help a brotha out Gat dammit! Lol. I hate that fuckin thing man. I know Im not making any gains using it so it's pointless to do shoulder day. I'm in a pickle
wish i could but im in same boat iv tendon problem on my right shoulder and one pec is longer than the other :))
Do you do any rotator exercises to strengthen your stabilization muscles?
Yes I do. They don't seem to help. They tighten me up more
That sucks man, I had the same problem but I've been hitting a lot of stabilization exercises and it helps. The only thing I can think is that you might have a bit of internal damage...if you are able I would say get an MRI, maybe an ortho might be able to tell you what to do to strengthen the weaker groups. Other than that maybe try an topical anesthetic spray, I've used it before just to get thru and hour workout, might hurt like a bitch after but at least you hit it hard, just ice it as soon as you get home
Thanks man. It's sounding like I might need a doctor