[quote]Iron Dwarf wrote:
Hold on there!!!
YOGA?
I have no problem with the practice of yoga, but it’s not for everyone.
My wife had been practicing yoga for over a year when she developed hip and lower back problems.
She kept going back thinking that yoga would help it, when in fact it was the yoga that caused it. She spoke to several women who have experienced the same thing. Yoga IS beneficial in that it opens up and balances the mechanics of the body, but apparently yoga can loosen ligaments and other connective tissue - something you do not want!
Lay off the yoga for a couple of weeks, continue your delt training, but try lighter weight and more controlled reps within your normal ROM. Try going for a pump.
When you get home, ice them for 20 minutes. Avoid extreme stretches for a while.
My 2 cents
EDIT: And if it is rotator cuff problems (which it very well could be, as certain positions like downward dog could cause impingement), lay off training for a week or so, then get back gradually and finish each chest and shoulder session with L-fly variations with VERY light weight. This will rehab and strengthen the rotators.[/quote]
Thanks for the tips. They’re generally feeling better today. I laid off any upper body work the last several days and the rest seems to have done them some good. (I’d been doing a full-body routine 3x a week)
American stretching protocols seem to stretch the tendons and ligaments a lot; stretching without actually warming up the muscles. From what I understand, ideal stretching stretches the muscles, but until they’re warmed up, the tendons and ligaments are what are going to be stretched… weakest link in the chain. Fortunately with the yoga class I’ve been in, there’s a fair amount of actual muscular warmup before the “real” stretching occurs. Probably not enough for the shoulder girdle though, and maybe there is some impingement with downward dog. I’ll keep that in mind.
It’s quite possible it wasn’t the OHPs at all. Now that things feel mostly healed, I might try and narrow down exactly what was causing the problem.
I’m definitely feeling some pain when doing lateral raises with my palms facing the ground, without any weight. Palms forward or palms back is fine though.