Recently I've been having trouble with my left shoulder. It's been bothering me on and off for the past 6-7 years, but now it's gotten to the point that I can't get the bar on my back to squat. A muscle starts to seize up somewhere under my left scapula, my entire shoulder locks up, and the ensuing pain is unbearable, making it impossible for me to stay stable under the weight.
I'm working on unfreezing my troublesome shoulder and am using straps for my back squats. Kind of like a poor man's safety squat bar (I'd buy one, but don't really have the space for it). The setup is similar to this:
https://www.t-nation.com/training/a-new-trick-for-building-your-legs/
Not sure how stable this setup will be under really heavy weights. I've gone up to 415 lbs. x 5 so far and it felt OK. For now, back squatting with straps is better than not back squatting at all.
Oddly, my shoulder does not hurt during flat bench and overhead pressing at all. I have full (almost entirely painless) range of motion in both shoulders, so I'll keep my fingers crossed that this is just one of those "floating pain" things John Broz used to write about.
Right elbow is still giving me trouble, but it's manageable so far. Dare I say it's getting better? Yes, I dare.
Got to check in with a physio to deal with these nagging injuries. I imagine a decent massage will work wonders for me.
My last partials cycle yielded mixed results. I set a new PR on the bench press, but not on the overhead press. Then again, I've made huge jumps in overhead pressing strength in the past year, so it makes sense I'm hitting a plateau sooner.
Also set a random but exciting PR in the SlingShot bench press. 420 lbs. for an easy single, 10 lbs. for every year I've been circling the Sun for.
Seated military press 265 lbs. x 1, 230 lbs. x 6 - I tried for a new PR with 290 lbs. and failed
Back squat 540 lbs. x 3 (rep PR)
Front squat 365 lbs. x 2, 300 lbs. x 2 sets x 5 - failed with 385 lbs.
Deadlift 540 lbs. x 2
Bench press 380 lbs. x 1, 410 lbs. x 1 (PR), 325 lbs. x 6
SlingShot bench press 420 lbs. x 1 (PR) - almost got two reps here
Bodyweight - consistently in the 215-218 lb. range.
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