Do you find that shoulder pain is limiting your workouts? The good news is that you don’t have to stop working out if your shoulders are bothering you—there are ways to adjust exercises to work around the pain and to still get a great upper-body workout. Here are some tips for staying active while working around the pain.
Avoid Pressing Overhead
Overhead pressing movements can make things worse, so avoid the overhead dumbbell press, barbell military press, or resistance band overhead presses. Instead, try an incline dumbbell bench press.
Avoid Pushing, Instead Pull
Constantly doing pushing exercises like bench presses and push-ups can cause an inbalance in your shoulders. Instead try pulling exercises like TRX rows, lat pulldowns, and band-assisted chin-ups.
Keep Moving
When you feel pain, stop doing that exercise and try other movements until you find something that doesn’t hurt. If you find that pressing or pulling movements hurt, try doing exercises in the opposite direction. Like if the bench press hurts, try rows and if the overhead press hurts, try pulldowns.
