So, I haven't been too careful with my working out. Pushed a little too hard, used bad form here and there which have me annoying injuries. I injured my rotator cuff (not only from working out). I also got tendinitis in my tight wrist. This isn't only from working out, but dozens and dozens of pull-ups without trying to strengthen my grip didn't help.
As for my rotator cuff, I've spent hours researching it. I found some exercises I'm going to use once my shoulder is pain free. I also plan not flat bar bench press and over head press again for a long time. The bench press and head press are two exercises that greatly increase chance if injury in the rotator cuff if not balanced out with other exercises. I balanced mine, but I still won't do them just because of the strain the rotator cuff receives. Another exercise I researched which could be hazardous to the rotator cuff is the pushup! That is, if done wrong. Doing them fast puts much more strain on the tendons, and much less strain on the muscles. So doing almost any upper body exercise slower is better for your tendons, and harder for your muscles, which is good! That's not the only problem with bad pushups. Everyone who does pushups knows that putting your hands wide is easier. Little do they know, putting your hands much wider than your shoulders puts strain on the rotator cuff! I didn't know this. So I was cranking out tons of pushups this way. That way I can have high reps to boast about. I once said I'm enjoying the after effect of food more than the instant flavor. I now have to use that logic in my workout. Less, better reps>tons of bad reps.
Now, this post may scare you away from trying bench press, pushups, or over head press. Don't! Bench press is great! Just be careful with it and balance out your muscles. Over head press? Well, that one is pretty good, but always seems to hurt my tendons more than my muscles. I prefer the straight arm raises. Burn the shoulder, require less weight, and don't put much stress on the rotator cuff! Some variations actually help repair the rotator cuff. This exercise (with others) will replace my over head press. As for the pushup? Don't you dare take that out. If you only do them wide, mix it up. Don't completely stop them wide. It's not that bad for your rotator cuff. I'd recommend doing them shoulder width (or a few inches wider) for safety's sake. Also, it's a better workout. Going wide used more chest than anything, while doing them shoulder width balances the usage of triceps and chest equally. It won't feel like this, your triceps will probably feel weaker and give out first.
Pushups are kind of like chin up and pull ups. Chin ups are easier and more people do them, but can hurt the joints if done too much. Pull ups are harder, but give you less of a chance of injury. That doesn't mean just do pull ups! Use some chin ups! Same goes for pushups, mix it up some!
Another thing that goes along with all these injuries are poor warmups. I am guilty of this. I never knew you had to warm up your wrists for pull ups. After all, those tendons never feel warm even when warmed up. But if you don't want wrist pain: warm them up! Make wrist circles, put your hands together and do more circles, stretch them out a little, do light weight wrist curls, etc... Make them warm before you use them for awhile, or if you're going to strain them with something like pull ups. That includes typing and writing.
Stay warm and keep injury free!
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