Pull up question

[niagareven]

For a while when I was doing pullups (palms facing away)- I was getting a pain in my left shoulder (I think it's my rotator cuff) during them, and the next day. I was just sucking it up and dealing with the pain. Then it stopped happening in my left shoulder one week, but now I'm getting it in my right shoulder. It usually only lasts at the end of sets (but isn't that bad) and the next morning for a couple hours.

Should I just suck it up and deal with them as long as it doesn't start hurting for long periods of time, or should I switch exercises? And would lat pull downs be the next best thing? (I don't even know if these will hurt my shoulders either) or should I just do chins instead since they don't hurt my shoulders I don't think?

 

[Fedorable]

How wide of a grip are you using on your pull-ups?

 

[colinm]

my friend had the same exact problem and it was bicep tendonitis. the tendon at the top of your bicep connects to the bone underneath your shoulder muscles which is why you think its there. does it act up on any other pulling motions and overhead pulling motions especially?

you may want to see a doctor to be safe, but my buddy was told his tendon was just inflamed and needed rest and ice.

 

[slayer36]

sometimes if i go to wide on pullups i get some shoulder pain.

 

[graedy]

try to vary your gripwidth.

 

[niagareven]

I used to go a few inches wider, and thats when it hurt my left shoulder. Then I tried going in a bit closer, and thats when it stopped hurting my left shoulder and started hurting my right shoulder. I forgot to mention that in my original post.

 

[Evil Eye Gouger]

I used to go a few inches wider, and thats when it hurt my left shoulder. Then I tried going in a bit closer, and thats when it stopped hurting my left shoulder and started hurting my right shoulder. I forgot to mention that in my original post.

Yeah, but how wide is your grip?

If it's much wider than shoulderwidth, you are running the risk of injuring your shoulders.

 

[niagareven]

Right now its maybe an inch wider than shoulder width. It's touching the bars that are coming down to support the pull up bar thing. If I want to go closer, I'll have to go like 2 inches in on each side to get past that bar.

 

[Evil Eye Gouger]

That shouldn't be too wide for your shoulders. How far do you go? Have you considered switching to chins or parallel grip pullups, at least temporarily until the pain (which could be inflammation) goes away?

 

[muerteverde]

If it is hurting you should not do it. There are many pullup variants you can switch to in order to see if they are better. One would be to have the bar go from front to back and have your palms facing each other and pull the bar to one side of your head. Switch sides every set. Another option is throw a towel over the bar and grab that for your pullups. Parrelel bar pullups might be the thing to do if you can get bars in that direction. If you keep doing them with joint pain I don't see this as helping anything and it will probably make it worse. Try to find a motion that doesn't hurt until your shoulder is better or maybe forever if that is just how your shoulders are.

 

[niagareven]

Thanks. I'll probably try doing parralel bar pull ups on monday and see how those feel.