Ring Pullups Pain

So I have a little issue here.

I'm trying to do Slizzardman's Pullup routine on the Rings and it went really well until recently.

I went from 5 sets of 2 reps and 5 sets of 1 rep ( total of 10 sets ) to --> 7 sets of 3 reps and 3 sets of 2 reps with 30-40 seconds of rest time in between.

1) Here comes my first problem: It seems I developed some kind of pain recently in the upper back/shoulder area. I'm not sure what it is so I'm hoping for an answer from here. It is where my Lats run under my shoulder at the side area. I feel it most when I lift my arm into a chin up position, upper arm horizontal forearm vertical 90 degrees. In this position it hurts that area, and if I contract it, it hurts more.

Here is a guess where it is(I'm not sure entirely):

I hope you get the Idea

It only occours on the left side only. Do you have any tips what it is and how to get rid of it?

2) The second thing is that I'm trying to retract my shoulder blades when pulling, and try to go for that proper pull up but it is so hard on rings. I'm trying to keep my arms on my sides, shoulder blades retracted and concentrating on my lats when pulling, controlled up and down slowly. What can be the problem?

I tried to ask this many times but did not get an answer of how do you do a proper pull up on the rings, since it is moving in every directions. I do no know if I can retract shoulder blades properly on it. Is it even possible?

Thanks in advance!

Rings really don't move very much when you do pullups on them unless you are doing them quickly and bouncing off the bottom.

I'm definitely not bouncing, the Pullups are deadhang, slowly up hold for a second, slowly down, deadhang style.

Not that they are moving in every direction but when you are on a bar, it is stationary and you can accustom yourself to it because it will not move. Now on the rings, If I push them outwards a bit when I pull, they will go outwards a bit and things like that.

Perhaps you have a guess about the origin of the pain?

norbeex3 said:

I'm definitely not bouncing, the Pullups are deadhang, slowly up hold for a second, slowly down, deadhang style.

Not that they are moving in every direction but when you are on a bar, it is stationary and you can accustom yourself to it because it will not move. Now on the rings, If I push them outwards a bit when I pull, they will go outwards a bit and things like that.

Perhaps you have a guess about the origin of the pain?

Wow! :shock: Simple pull-ups are that hard on the rings eh?? I have just ordered my set of XR and can't wait to get started!

I will keep in mind this issue though

As for your problem, hmmm, I unfortunately cannot say anything because obviously, I haven't done them myself.

But I am sure, Blairbob/slizzardman/Cole Dano or any of the more experienced members will be easily able to solve your issue soon

Simple pull-ups are that hard on the rings eh??

No, they are not. So it depends on the orientation of the rings. Neutral, turned out (pronated), turned in (supinated).

Blairbob said:

Simple pull-ups are that hard on the rings eh??

No, they are not. So it depends on the orientation of the rings. Neutral, turned out (pronated), turned in (supinated).

Thank you Blairbob for clarifying that My rings should arrive this week...

Perhaps norbeex3 might let us knkow in which ring orientation he is experiencing pain, or is the pain associated in all the different types of orientations as mentioned by Blairbob?

Well my grip on the rings are pronated( hands forward) I keep them in this position, because I'm going for the shoulder blades retracted postion. When I'm pulling, my upper arms almost touch my sides and my arms are in line with my torso.

If I'm right, this is the correct position for the lat dominant pull-up. In spite of everything, the pain still occoured.

I'm afraid I'm missing a key point here.

About the difficulty of the pull-up. Maybe it was just me but they were harder big time when I first hit the rings. Then it became pretty comfortable. Maybe it's the adaptation. ...until this pain.

How long did you take to go from 15 total pull ups to 28?

Are you always lowering to a locked arm dead hang with each rep?

Is the pull up explosive at the start or slow and controlled with no initial ballistic movement?

It is hard to say exactly what the problem is, but it sounds like there is a tight spot in your infraspinatus or teres minor because the point you identify is near the musculotendinous junction of that and teres minor. Might also be rear delts.

Can't say much about probabilities, but I would say that you should probably spend some time with a lacrosse ball or baseball on the floor performing static SMR. It is going to hurt, especially at first. Keep the pain manageable, you may have to go through an initial very painful period for the first 5-10 minutes in order to get progress started but dont take the pain past an 8 out of 10. That's pretty intense pain, but for SMR that is sometimes normal.

Find the hard/tight and/or painful points in the muscle and put direct, sustained pressure. Use muscle diagrams of the shoulder blade and rear delts to guide you in your ball placement. Start at the part of the muscle closest to the spine (proximal) and slowly move out away from the spine(distal). If you find a tight spot in the most proximal part of the muscle focus your time there before moving on. Spend a good 5-10 minutes there before moving on. That will be a painful 5-10 minutes. Try your best to relax the muscle during the pain.

Immediately afterwards, gentle stretching is a very good idea. I would not work out for a day or two after this initial session but instead focus heavily on stretching to the point of tightness and some more moderate SMR sessions (1-2 per day). Might need up to a week of just SMR and nutrition for healing (spread out the protein and carbs evenly, get them all day long, don't use too much protein at one time, the usual recommendations I make).

I highly suggest you do this on both sides, you will probably find that both sides can use the work but one will clearly be much worse.

If, by chance, you do not run into these tight spots you need to go into rehab mode for about 8 weeks because there will be a high likelihood of either tendinopathy or a small tear. That will involve either assisted pull ups on a machine or some sort of band pulldowns or cable pulldowns with a weight stack, done in a fairly finely adjustable manner.

Do not use NSAIDs.

General stretching of the lats and traps and rhomboids is also recommended.

PS: Could also be teres major. Check that as well.

Good luck!

Wow I just noticed your answer. Thank you for your detailed feedback. I tried to cut back the volume and it seem to work for me but we'll see when I arrive back at my original volume with the pain involved.

I ordered a deuserband and started doing scapular work. I inspected some pictures about the scapula and they seem to connect to my shoulder where my pain occurred probably at the Teres Minor as you said, porbably because I cannot touch the the part where it hurts, it feels that it is a little bit deeper then the surface.

I went from 15 to 28 in two months roughly I think it is not too fast. I used the pull up routine you suggested.

To answer your other question: I lower down to a locked arm dead hang with every single rep to eliminate every explosivity from my reps. I try to do it as strict as I can also trying to concentrate on the lats as this is my goal.

I do not know what SMR is can you give me a topic link here please?

Also, do you think if I change to the various grips pull-up routine instead of pronated rings pullups for 10 sets, it will help to progess further?( also on the bar I feel I put a lot less pressure on the area with the pain)

norbeex3 said:

Wow I just noticed your answer. Thank you for your detailed feedback. I tried to cut back the volume and it seem to work for me but we'll see when I arrive back at my original volume with the pain involved.

I ordered a deuserband and started doing scapular work. I inspected some pictures about the scapula and they seem to connect to my shoulder where my pain occurred probably at the Teres Minor as you said, porbably because I cannot touch the the part where it hurts, it feels that it is a little bit deeper then the surface.

I went from 15 to 28 in two months roughly I think it is not too fast. I used the pull up routine you suggested.

To answer your other question: I lower down to a locked arm dead hang with every single rep to eliminate every explosivity from my reps. I try to do it as strict as I can also trying to concentrate on the lats as this is my goal.

I do not know what SMR is can you give me a topic link here please?

Also, do you think if I change to the various grips pull-up routine instead of pronated rings pullups for 10 sets, it will help to progess further?( also on the bar I feel I put a lot less pressure on the area with the pain)

Whether you use the rings to actively use different hand positions or you use a doorway bar, you will see better overall progress.

I do think that 8 weeks is a bit too fast for increasing that much. It clearly was for your body. Your body takes 4-6 weeks to create a new sarcomere, or a new contractile unit within the muscles. That's just for the initial round, and as they come online another 4-6 weeks will tell you if your body is done growing with the current stimulus or not. There is a good physiological reason why the SSC are 8-12 weeks More than one, really, but that is a very convenient one for this thread!

SMR is Self Myo-fascial Release. If you search for "SMR with lacrosse ball" or something like that it will teach you exactly what to do.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/548154-self-myofascial-release-techniques-using-a-lacrosse-ball/[/url

is a good starting point.

28? :shock:

What's the Slizzardman's Pullup routine on the Rings?

It isn't the reps per one set but the reps total.

so it is not like: 4x28

It is 10 sets and I divide this number up between them.