newbie with shoulder problem

hi all,

just joined forum, as i've just started to train using bodyweight and want to add rings into my training. I did bodybuilding for

about 16-18 months before hand, but have found that bodyweight and rings suit me more, and I've kept all my muscle mass I gained whilst bodybuilding over the last 8 weeks i've been doing bodyweight (elite calisthenics / bar-barians forum).

I've just started on basic ring exercises, I stretch for NO LESS than 10 minutes before each session and will not start a session before I feel as though I've stretched properly. I stretch everything including wrists and legs, and all upper body and hold the stretches for 15-20 seconds each.

The 1st exercise that I wanted to start with was the Bulgarian Dips on the rings, I've got the strength to balance without shaking, and do reps of about 4/5 per set. Now this will sound odd.....as i'm doing the dips, I feel fine...it's just when I've finished my workout and stretched off at the end, that my right shoulder/collar bone started to feel odd. It's not painfull at all,

It just feels as though something is not in the right "place"! Even when I stretch my shoulders, it feels odd, nothing like my left shoulder anyway. I do stretches like this (sorry don't know what they're called) sat down, walk my hands behind me till they won't go any more, then walk back - I do that a few times. I also do a lot of static stretching and shoulder "360's"?.

I don't really get this when I'm doing normal dips on parallel bars or even weighted dips for that matter.

Little "pops" from the joints are normal? Just air moving around? i get that from time to time in my right shoulder too.

Do any of you have any tips/stretches/exercises/info on what might cure this "odd" problem? my collar bone and right shoulder, either need to loosen up loads or i need to work on it's flexibility more.

Thanks for the help.

ok then....to shorted it - my right shoulder/collar bone feels like it's not in the same place as my left shoulder - is there any stretch or exercises that will loosen up my right shoulder? as i think it's just really stiff. I feel it after i've done bulgarian dips - like a pinching either side of my collar bone - is there anything i can do? it's never painfull, just slightly uncomfortable sometimes!

It sounds like your connective tissue needs time to adapt. I have run into something similar once, but it was so long ago that I can't remember what it was. Instead of trying to jump in with sets of 4-5 reps, just do 1 or 2 sets of 1-2 reps at first, and maybe don't use full ROM.

Muscular strength is easy to build, and if you use that as your basis for when you should be doing things you will get hurt with the gymnastics stuff. You have to let your connective tissues adapt as well, because as you move on to more difficult progressions the connective tissue will be under far greater stress than during weight lifting due to the joint angles involved. As a general rule, any time you feel something that isn't right, you should back off immediately and create a 2-3 month plan to slowly ease into whatever it is that is bothering you.

As for shoulder stretching, prone anterior capsule stretches are going to be the best thing you can do. German hangs are also very important! The floor stretch you do is preparation for german hangs.

thanks for that slizzardman, so next time i do bulgarian dips i will start at the top, then only go down about 50% of the way down and only do reps of 1-2, then progress with reps and more ROM

do you have any videos of those 2 stretches you posted?

thanks

I will need to do a specific shoulder stretching video, as this is a very common issue.

thanks - are you saying that you will do a video especially for those stretches? If so thanks!!

I didn't train last night, and it already feels "normal" again. So tonight i'll do a 45 minute session if i feel i'm up to it, i'll do some normal ring dips as you would on parallel bars, and focus on 1-2 reps - i'll also do some pushups to see if i can strengthen my shoulder further.

I will go ahead and suggest that you build up to a 60s perfect XR support before you focus on XR dipping. I don't think that this has much to do with your current issue (though they may well be related), but this will prevent you from running into many potential future problems.

thanks very much!

I went easy training today - i did basic bar strength and calisthenics exercises - i used XR for pullups and inverted rows - no XR dips

shoulder is feeling better - i'm stretching off throughout the day too, as well as before and after workouts