I Hurt My Neck/Back

so i changed my program since my weight gain was slowing even though i am eating more than ever. i love heavy weight so i naturaly was attracted to very heavy partials. ignoring the weaker part of the rom is so intriguing. i enjoyed it, i did 10x3 for chins, bench press and military press. the military press is what hurt my back. did i do something really stupid?

i used a really cool 3d smith machine, since it is the closest thing my gym has to a power rack. and it really seems easier. i dont know how i can keep the bar level otherwise. the exercise never really felt comfortable and then on the seventh set i got a bad, sharp pain between my shoulder blades and i had to slowly put the bar down, my neck was sore like i went to sleep without w/o a pillow but worse. but i am feeling much better. and i gained nearly three pounds(in three days). i am really curious if i did something stupid.

Hardly need a rack to do Military presses… just need a bench press really, hell, alot of people just pick up the bar from the floor and throw it after the set.

By using a smith, you are of course able to use more volume, but you don’t work the small muscles that stabilize the movement when you’re pushing a real bar, since the machine is doing that for you. I’m not saying that using the smith caused your injury, but coupled with the fact that you don’t perform full reps, it could just be that you underdevelopped some small stabilizators and that they are now the weakest link, causing injury.

That’s just what crossed my mind first, I’d suggest performing complete reps more often, lifting the heaviest possible weight =! making progress… It’s lifting the most weight in a correct and complete manner that truly counts.

Disclaimer: I’ve got nothing against partials, but I sure as hell don’t recommend only doing them.

EDIT: I’m thinking it’s most probably your Levator scapulae or Supraspinatus that was hurt.

it was not just an up and down smith machine. it goes forward and backward too with such an amazing texture. i would think my stabilizer muscles are strong since i usualy do heavy standing dumbell presses, there is no exercise less stable than that. i certainly do need a rack, the weight is heavier than i can lift normaly, i cannot get it over my head.
it does sound like youve got something against partials. well i love them, i could feel that heavy weight all througout my joints and tendons and such.
since i dont know how to protect my back i will continue the military presses on a specialized machine, it has a reclined bench

K dude. I’m not saying your training sucks, but you’re the one who got injured :stuck_out_tongue: You seem to be the type of guy that’s overzealous about lifting heavy all the time and “feeling the pain in your joints”. The only one that’s gonna benefit from this is your physical therapist.

good luck

i just did one exercise and hurt myself, nobody so far said it was a bad exercise to do with such weight. i dont even know what happened. i assume the weight compressed my spine or something, but i was on my seventh set. i do not understand why nobody else is interested. i understand this is not a problem that can be solved by eating more but somebody must know if there is an old bodybuilding rule of not lifting very heavy over your head, or meeting a certain strength criteria before attempting. or maybe even a form recomendation since that exercise just did not feel right from the start, but ive got to military press havent i?

i was going to go light for a while but then i remembered partials, and it really intrigued me, to ignore the weakest point of our rom. brilliant i say. thinking about it now, if i use very heavy partials, and then go back to a normal heavy routine…maybe that is a good combo

well how much weight was it?
and if you are going to military press i would do some jerks just so you can get your spine used to holding that weight like thatand another thing try as hard as you can to keep that weight positioned in front of you so then you dont have as much weight
positioned direclty on your spine