Targeted strength work and recovery capabilities?

[Chris Cantrell]

For a year or so I have been on again off again with my strength work outs. For some reason it just now hit me that my number one weakness (ha) is a severely atrophied and weakened left shoulder. I mean I knew the shoulder was weak, but it just came to me to fix it before moving on to a more complete workout plan.

My entire shoulder area and all the muscles are about one tenth the size and strength of my good shoulder do to a motocross accident that broke/dislocated/separated/tore numerous parts of my shoulder. There is also some nerve damage as i still have zero surface feeling in my deltoid area and around towards me shoulder blade.

Other than some effects of the lack of strength and flexibility my shoulder does basically work correctly. So, I would like to spend at least a few months working out nothing but this one shoulder to see if it will respond. Maybe by getting myself back into balance I will be better suited to starting fresh with a whole body work out plan later on.

There are plenty of shoulder exercises that I have found on this site, what I am curious to know is how recovery will differ if I am only working one muscle group and even then only on one side of the body.

Is it possible I could work the shoulder out longer harder and more frequent than say a standard leg or upper body plan would allow?

Thank you for any ideas.

[Blairbob]

Not really. One of the problems with your upper body is the muscles are smaller than your lower extremity. Less glycogen storage.

Hit that sucker with volume. Stabilization (rings).

I don't see a need to favor one shoulder. Just make the weaker shoulder a priority and train the stronger one the same as the weaker one. Even playing field.

[Larry Roseman]

To me, it really depends on how great the difference is. If it's fairly close I think Blair is right that working both should allow

the weaker to catch up, providing you don't favor it. But going by the 10x difference you stated, I would imagine your strength/strength endurance differences between arms are pretty dramatic. Some extra attention to the weaker side may be in order.

If you were using weights it would be easier to work both arms individually according to their current abilities, perhaps working the stronger arm less to allow the weaker to catch up. I'm not sure how to deal with this during gymnastic or bodyweight work though: single arm work is going to be more intense than double arm.

Working on imbalances is something of a trendy topic but there is a point when it's going to be the right thing to do too.

I don't know if you are there, but perhaps someone can work with you to determine that.

[Nic Branson]

They're both right from my experience. If the difference is really that drastic then you will need to balance some extra work for the weakened side. However do not neglect the strong side, the body will work to balance itself. In patients with unilateral injuries work on the functioning side has shown increased neural activity on the injured side.

TLDR: Do both.

[Chris Cantrell]

Thanks very much for the replies guys.

I did only guesstimate the 10:1 strength ratio but it turns out it was very close. I never have been a big strong guy so please don't laugh too loud. Tonight I tested dumbell shoulder presses. With my right (good) arm I was able to press 40 pounds ten times with good form.

With my left (bad) arm I couldn't lift more than three pounds without my back arching as my arm extended upwards. I was able to do the three pounds ten times without too much back arching if I forced myself to hold form.

I originally injured this shoulder in 2003. Then dislocated the same shoulder again in 2008. It was after the dislocation in 2008 that I actually saw some slight regrowth in the deltoid. Before that maybe I had nerves messed up or something???

Anyhow, it sounds like I should look into a full shoulder workout and put in serious volume on the weak side while still working the good shoulder.

I guess my next question is what would y'all say is "serious" volume?

Can I do 30 min of shoulders with 27 of the minutes dedicated to my weak side, every other day? Or, since I am obviously going to be doing low low weight, should I do X minutes of shoulders, both sides, with the same amount of weight for each side?

I am wide open to suggestions. Thanks again guys.

[Karri Kytömaa]

I'd suggest to get some elastic bands. I think they are great for fixing imbalances since your weaker side sets the maximum you can do. Just keep eye on the form, it's best if you can do it in front of a mirror. There is lots of ways to use them, just go and see all the ways you can move your hands to stretch the bands.

Maybe add some simple push work like plank training, eventually raising your legs and I think you're golden.

For volume it is really hard for anyone else to say. You pretty much just need to experiment. If there is some nerve damage, it may take good time to recover even from a easy workout. I'd start with just 2 good shoulder sessions a week and go up from there.

GL with your progress!