What can I expect from this?

[boxingfan30]

Due to injuries (back and right shoulder), there are only a few exercises I can do. I just wanted to get some input.

I cannot do any sort of bench work because my shoulder has a lot of pain from any grip more than about hands 4 inches or so apart.

Right now my routine is this:

I warm up with some sort of light stationary bike riding, shadow boxing... whatever.

Push-ups: I do 10 sets of close grip push-ups. All of them are done with hands touching, or very slightly apart. I try to increase the intensity by going to failure each set with only 1 minute of rest inbetween.

I wait about 5 or so minutes and then (laugh if you must) I do dips between the kitchen counters. About 2 minutes rest between sets and do those to failure as well. I do 4-5 sets of these. I do them between the counters because I can adjust hand position to take pressure off of the shoulder.

Tricep work: A lot of the work is obviously going to come from the close hand position of the push-ups, but I also do 6-8 sets of overhead tricep extensions. Don't ask me why that doesn't hurt the shoulder, but it doesn't.

I usually wait 2 days and then use one of those golds gym pull-up bars that go in the doorway.

Pull-ups: I do 8-10 sets alternating between the palm facing close grip pull ups and the neutral grips. Again, if the grip is to wide it causes pain. It does manage to keep my lats sore which is always a nice feeling.

The bicep work consists of the close grip pull-ups and then doing concentration curls. I do drop sets... 30, 25, 20 each to failure. 6 sets of these and then 2-3 sets of hammer curls.

Obviously this isn't some gym rat workout, but I push as hard as possible and to failure each time. I'd like to see some sort of growth and strength gains out of this. The push-ups have produced some growth, but I think that is just from growth from when I could lift correctly. Arms are also a bit larger.

What may help growth here? I can't take creatine... Doctor said my BUN and creatnine levels were a little to high.

[ma_fighter]

Hey mate.

What kind of shoulder injury do you have, have you had it diagnosed?
This is kind of important to know, so the knowledgeable people we are fortunate enough to have around here, helping people out, can recommend safe exercises.

/Maf

[baseline_9]

Have you tried Dumbell Presses instead of barbell?

You will got some growth but you will plateau and then there will not be a suitable variable to increase the intensity... Simply increasing volume is a dead end....

You will somehow need to find a way to increase the weight or intensity or both...

[boxingfan30]

Hey mate.

What kind of shoulder injury do you have, have you had it diagnosed?
This is kind of important to know, so the knowledgeable people we are fortunate enough to have around here, helping people out, can recommend safe exercises.

/Maf

Sorry... I have a misshapen socket... it was from birth and the lifting over time has just degraded it. The Doctors have also told me that even without the lifting, it was going to happen, just not as quickly. I also have osteoarthritis, and apparently i've dislocated the shoulder before that has caused a small tear in the posterior deltoid, though the only time I can think of that happening was when I was doing pull ups to failure and then once I failed, I was jumping up and doing negatives... I failed on my last one and didn't have any pull left, so I just dropped

[boxingfan30]

Have you tried Dumbell Presses instead of barbell?

You will got some growth but you will plateau and then there will not be a suitable variable to increase the intensity... Simply increasing volume is a dead end....

You will somehow need to find a way to increase the weight or intensity or both...

I have not really tried them no... i've been to afraid to do so.

I did forget to add that when I do the close hand position push ups, the first set is about 30 or so to failure, but with only waiting a minute inbetween my sets quickly drop from 15 to 8, 10, 12... somewhere in that area... would that do nothing for growth or strength at all in the rep range? or is is about what you are able to do total with a full 3 minutes rest that it should be based on? Perhaps at the worst i'm building up some muscular endurance? Maybe almost like a HIIT style training that might help burn off some fat? All the doctors recommend I stop mostly everything... i'm just not going to do that. I will stop if it hurts however. Maybe I could add some extra arginine before the workout to up the intensity that might result in some extra strength and growth? I use about 2 grams before a work out. If I use 3 I can definitely feel a difference.

[baseline_9]

You will build some endurance... To grow you need to keep adding additional load and breakdown, without this there won't be hypertrophy because the stimuli isn't there

[boxingfan30]

You will build some endurance... To grow you need to keep adding additional load and breakdown, without this there won't be hypertrophy because the stimuli isn't there

Right, that part I get... but even working to failure on each set won't help?

[baseline_9]

Right, that part I get... but even working to failure on each set won't help?

No because your still Training in an endurance type fashion...

[Amplayo]

Looks like a good routine stay with light weight and your shoulder will get Better. I had the same problem as you

[boxingfan30]

I tried some very light dumbell presses tonight... my shoulder will not hold up to heavier weights though. The motion overall has some pain to it, so heavier weights will be even worse. How depressing.

[ma_fighter]

If those are exercises you are comfortable with, and that doesent hurt, not during nor after workouts, I'd say you could try adding weight, but only to the point where you still are able to maintain proper form.
Keep your shoulders down and back at all times, even when doing pullups, dont let your shoulders creep up towards your ears!

Grab a dumbbell between your thighs when doing pullups, and dips.
Put some plates in a good backpack, preferebly the kind with a waist and chest-strap, and pack em in really tight with a towel or two, so they dont move around too much, strap it on and do your pushups.

This would help add atleast a bit of intensity to your workouts.

Dont forget to hit your rotators, and back as well though, esp if you already have shoulder problems! You really don't want to add forward shifted shoulders due to muscle imbalance, to your worries.
Try some bent over DB rows, start with elbows close to your body, and a light weight, to see how it feels, then let them go out a bit with every rep to gauge shoulder pain. If you get to 45 degrees, stop there.

GL

/Maf

[boxingfan30]

thanks for the advice. I'll have to see if I have a backpack around here like that or buy one.