Cramps, Pain, and Pulling Muscles

JPF · 02-04-2008, 10:17 PM

Hey all,

I have been having problems working out lately. The real problem is cramping and pulling what i think is the deltoid muscle or the back side of my shoulder. The Particular spot is where the the back of the shoulder meets the lats just above the armpit. Whenever I do the pull down lat bar with my back arched perfectly it hurts back there and if not carefull I WILL PULL the muscle and it will be very sore for the rest of the week or so. Why does it do this? I only started getting this pain when I arch my back doing the pull down bar and when I use the particular machine that you pull yourself up in a standing position using a counter weighted step to help push you up. (whatever machine thats called).

Hydrating seems to help and using lower weight seems to help but when will my body adjust?

thanks

KM · 02-04-2008, 10:43 PM

Hm. Maybe you're overworking and not allowing the muscle to recover? And do you do any stretching before your workout? I always stretch my lats before I work on them.

TheWall · 02-04-2008, 11:08 PM

If it is plain old cramping, try a banana or an orange pre workout. May be low on potassium. Other than that, you probably over exerted the muscle somewhere along the line and it hasn't had a chance to work its way back up.

I would recommend to lay off any wide grip movements until this feels better, or just lighten up for a week. You arn't going to lose anything major if you take a week to yourself.

Good Luck,
TheWall

JPF · 02-05-2008, 12:42 AM

Right now I run a mile before every work out in 8:30 min and get in a banana and cup of fruit almost every day. I do heavy stretching for 5 min after my run. This helps a lot. In fact I haven't pulled it since. However the pain doesn't go away even when I lighten up on weight. I was hoping my body would have adjusted and strengthened by now. Maybe it just needs more time.

One of my hypothesis is that I was lifting a lot differently and just now started doing the excersises with a sraight arched back. so they muscles weren't used to it

Thanks for all of your advice.

deadlift14 · 02-05-2008, 02:39 AM

bro. what do you mean by arched and straight arched? becuase i know for a fact whn you bench, squat, and deadlift as well as many other exercises, you are suppose to have a completely straight back not arched at all.
plus it could be a strained teres major or teres minor muscle which recover very slowly.