Shoulder & Knee Recuperation for Hypochondriacs

So, here's the short story of how my shoulder and knees got screwed up, stayed screwed up, and are now improving. This is a story of poor training, poor technique, and a poor mentality. Keep those three things in check and you should be able to avoid my recent situation.

In June of last year (2007), I began on an intensive weight-lifting program to recoup my mass and strength losses from the stressful conclusion of my college career. This was a 3-4 day per week workout based on the Chad Waterbury's Harbinger Hypertrophy routine. [http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=508031]

In summary, this routine involves a total body workout every day, with four compound exercises (selected from a series targeting chest, back, deltoids, quads, or lower back/hips) and two isolated exercises (selected from a series for biceps, triceps, deltoids, hamstrings, or calves) targeted on a daily basis. The idea behind this is to keep all of your muscles groups constantly active without being too punished by extended sessions. Waterbury realized that people tend to slow down or flare out after 6 intensive exercises. If you can put 100% of your energy into a small number of essential lifts, then you get the most from your money. There's no limit to how many exercises you do in a day, but you'll find that 6-8 is enough to burn you out when you're always working a large number of muscle groups.

Sound good? There's one more aspect to this routine that makes it really clever: you have to vary your reps, sets, rest time, and order of exercises every week for 8 weeks until you start over. It's not as hard as you think, and it makes a lot of sense when you understand his reasoning. If you've ever worked out for an extended program (let's say 4-6+ months), chances are you'll have experienced a slow-down in muscular strength and growth. Waterbury makes a simple argument to why this happens: Your body is built to adapt, and it optimizes itself to your routine. If you keep the routine seemingly random, your muscles have to keep guessing and will continue to grow.

Unfortunately, I got a little too excited and had to learn a few lessons.

LESSON 1: Know your limits

So, I was on this program for over two months and it was working rapidly. From an out-of-shape beginning, I moved up in weight to the maximum I've ever dead-lifted and squatted. My shoulders and chest were building up at a slower pace, but seemed OK until I increased my weight and lowered the reps to try and expedite my growth. I had hurt myself doing similar weight in the past, but took my chances and did it anyway. Within two weeks I tore something in my shoulder from incline benching, agitated my knees squatting, and worsened things by continuing to lift without consulting a doctor. My two key joints had been disabled, and that pretty-much killed things for my weight-lifting goals.

LESSON 2: Don't be afraid to see your doctor

It took me five months to see a doctor, and my knees and shoulder remained frail and restricted for the entire course. I had tried to diagnose my own problem and figured that if I did not use my shoulder it would heal itself. Month after month, I watched the slow decline of my strength, energy, weight, and appetite, and often lingered in feelings of hopelessness. When I finally talked to an orthopedist, he pointed out that I had very common, very minor injuries but my lack of motion and exercise had made them remain that way! He gave me a series of stretches to do, and within a few weeks my shoulder was moving like normal.

LESSON 3: Be patient

I learned a very important lesson from this experience: don't rush your body's growth, and never assume you are in better shape than you really are. I jumped straight into an intensive regimen without conditioning myself. There are an endless number of exercises out there to prepare your body for weight lifting and strengthen the joints people hurt the most (knees and shoulders).

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SHOULDER STRENGTHENING & BEST PRACTICES

There are many simple ways to keep your shoulders strong and out of harm's way. Most people do their bench presses in an unsafe manner. Are you? Check out this series.

T-Nation: Shoulder Savers (pt.1)
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1053531

T-Nation:Shoulder Savers (pt.2)
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1055409
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KNEE RECUPERATION & EXERCISES

Since the dawn of time, man has fucked up his knees. Here's my (in progress) collection of how to put them back together. Never doubt the healing power of simple, ordinary movements like a 10 minute walk.

Knee Pain Exercises
http://www.bigkneepain.com/knee-exercises.html
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Note that I'm still healing, so until I'm back to normal these lists will grow and suggestions will be made and voided according to how they work for me. If you know of anything to add, please do.