Presses for a Messed Up Shoulder?

My left shoulder’s fucked. Doctor said BOTH of my shoulders are fucked and it’s because of many years of lifting. He said I basically have no cartilage covering my joint and it’s just bone rubbing on bone. He gave me a cortisone shot directly into the joint to alleviate the swelling and it’s helped some but it still hurts. Other than that, he said only surgery might help.

Because of it i’ve been a pussy at the gym for 2 months and i’ve lost weight and strength. I’m ready to get back in and hit it hard for a 4-6 week bulking cycle.

Are there any pressing exercises that I can safely do? I’m tired of doing machines and raises. I need something that’s going to build up that entire area.

Thanks.

Did he say you have ostolycisis?

I honestly don’t remember what he called it. He said it was basically arthritis, but just on that one joint. He said there was really no way to fix it other than a surgery that sands down one of the bones so they don’t rub against each other.

how old are you? do you have a limited time frame? otherwise going heavy or extremely high volume with that sort of damage is a sure fire way to worsen it.

start off extremely light and slow. Your better off with rotator exercises and slow circles. Work your shoulder in every direction slow and steady, even when you don’t feel pain. After a year you can begin to push, overdose on fish oil and chondrotin.

If you need to develop some pushing strengh start with light corner presses. Instead of astraight push make inside and outside circles.

I’m about to turn 33. I am JUST now starting a bulking phase that I want to carry out for 4-6 weeks. I don’t generally bulk, but I’ve lost so much strength from my injury that I really feel the need to rebuild myself. I practice other sports and excelling in them is another factor.

What do you mean by little circles?

The doctor told me to keep doing what I’ve been doing that nothing would make much of a difference but he said that chest and military presses put the most stress on that joint.

You really think pressing is a bad idea?

I said slow circles, but little is fine too, and you can speed them up later. I mean extend your arms make circles in the air with your hands. In the begining lean towards raising volume before weight, but eventually raise the weight, specially if you want to press. With enough volume and not even that much weight you will find your shoulders will be MUCH stronger during sports.

Pressing…the wider the grip is extremely hard on the shoulders. The longer you can stay away the better. Doctors always say nothing but surgery will help, however given the proper amount of rest and rehab the body will find away for you to do what you ahve to do with minimal pain.

I would wait a while before pressing, at least a few weeks until the cortisone shot wears off. It’s harder to gauge how much damage your doing when your not getting the full sensation of pain. When rehabing a body part it should not be increasing in pain when you are exercising. If you absolutely have to press just start off real light and move up slow, switch to a powerlifting style bench.

I understand the need to bulk, most people bulk for extra muscle, you can work the chest with cables for now. You can do flyes, make sure not to go to far back, and presses…do an arch motion with these.

yeah, the reason i asked is because i had surgery on my shoulder because of ostolycsis. The doc said it was the bone in my shoulder rubbing together and causing stress fractures and the GH joint, which resulted in a calcium deposit on my shoulder.

The Doc said it is often referred to as weight lifters shoulder. well I was out of lifting for abut 8 months after doing all that steps which resulted in surgery. When I got the cortisone shot it didn’t do much.

Did it fix it?

Yeah, after 3 months of being out of lifting. still pretty iffy at times, but I am starting to get my strength back after i started lifting. Than again I am 22 so my recovery may be a little faster than yours. It is a progressive recovery so it will still hurt for awhile but the the longer you life the less you notice it over time.