Health Strengthen joints for heavy lifting?

[Zoro]

When I do dips lately, my shoulders hurt slightly on the top fronts. I imagine I need to strength my shoulders or some area to avoid injury. Any advice?

I would like to know about a good regime to strengthen the body together to avoid injury. Any good resources?

Right now my regime is this

Monday - Traps, Back, Abs

Tuesday - Chest, Calves

Wednesday - Triceps, Biceps

Thursday - Quads, Hams

Friday - Shoulders, Calves, Abs

I have made great results with this so far, besides the shoulders issue.

 

[Thedoctor]

J Wick,

At the end of the day, most workout programs will probably yield similar results if you push yourself and have correct form (and correct diet).

Here's a few five day routines for you to play around with:
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/wotw94.htm

Here are some rules that every good program should follow:

Squats, Deadlifts and Pull Ups are very important excrcises. Try to include them into your routine. Hire an experienced trainer if you need help correcting your form. it's well worth the money to avoid injury.

Aim for low reps to increase strength (4-8 reps). There's nothing wrong with the 10-15 range, but I find this to be a good way to get guys to overcome plateaus.

Last, make sure you eat proper. Google your calorie requirements (Harrison / Benedict is one example). Here's a link:
http://manytools.org/handy/bmr-calculator/

If you're trying to put on weight, add calories (about 300 - 500). Looking to lose weight, reduce by the same amounts. These are all guidelines. You may have to fine tune them to your personal requirements. Make sure your protein-carb-fat ratio is where it needs to be too.

You can only build about 1 - 2 pounds of solid muscle a month with a proper routine and diet. Just something to keep in mind.

If you're experiencing pain, as you said with your dips, chances are something is wrong with your form unless you have a pre-existing injury. If it's an injury, then try to change up your positioning. You can lean forward a bit to use your chest to help out. A closer grip will also utilize your triceps, wider grip can strain your shoulder more if it's bothering you.

Again, there are lots of varying opinions on this type of stuff and a variety of methods that work (as well as a lot that don't, unfortunately). So it's important to seek out reliable sources. These are just some ideas to get you started.

-John

 

[RDawg]

J wick

If your having pain on the top of your shoulders while doing triceps dips, this is probably more of a postural imbalance/overuse and mobility issue. You are most likely experiencing a combination of muscular and joint problems. You may have "very" tight muscles from consistently lifting and this is causing an added amount of stress on you shoulder joints. Some things you might want to consider incorporating into your workouts are some "massage work" such as: foam rolling or using a "lacrosse ball" to massage out any tights areas in the chest and shoulder. That will get your shoulders moving better through a full range of motion and it will reduce feelings of tightness. Also, trying adding some "mobility" work in before your workout, as this will help improve movement of your shoulder. Lastly, some static stretching will also help as well at the end of your workouts. Try doing a few pectoral and shoulder static stretches at the end of each workout and this will help with length of the muscle, as it probably already shortened. A guy you might want to check out is Eric Cressey, this guy knows his stuff when it comes shoulders. I posted two videos that may be of some help to you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67f3VLxcQFc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8caF1Keg2XU

Rdawg

 

[Ross]

Are you going below parallel on your dips? Doing so may cause shoulder issues.

Here's the workout program I follow, http://pastebin.com/L6F0hsf6

 

[Smurf]

As for your shoulder issue, the guys are probably right: it could be a pre-existing injury or improper form. Dips shouldn't hurt if you're doing them right, unless you're doing weighted dips with way too much weight.

I'm curious - why did you pick your five-day like that? Also doesn't seem to have any rest days in there. Are you tired on any of the days that you work out? On Wednesdays, I know my arms would already be pretty sore from the previous days. You could probably add another ab workout or two in there. Why not workout calves with hams?

Jake.

 

[Zoro]

I let my shoulders heal and then went back to doing dips. Though this time I did less reps in a set and didn't go so low. Feels much better now. Thanks for the feedback guys.


Jake,

I got that workout plan from strengthbysonny.com
I do that regime because its super simple. I use it as a guideline rather than a rule. My workout is definitely tailored to me after many years of experiencing what works for me and piecing it together from many many different sources.