I've been working out 3 times a week consistently for the last 4 months. I made great progress the first month or two. I'm benching more than my weight and look a lot more cut, but I haven't put on any weight (150 lbs).

Anyways, the last month or so I've been getting really sore shoulder muscles (the part under your armpit), and my forearms are killing me (feels kind of like shin splints would). It makes it really hard to workout, and I can't make any progress.

Do I need to stop working out until the soreness goes away? Am I doing something wrong?

Hi mate, I’ve been training since I was about 16/17 and fairly seriously since the age of 20, I’m 24 now and my best year was when I was 21. Its prob my best, first glance, asset when approaching a woman.

How old are you? If your still maturing it could be part of the reason, whether or not that is the case, you may be over training.

When you say 3 times a week, do you mean you are training everything 3 times a week or doing sets of muscles, i.e. chest and shoulders on day one, back and bi's on day two etc (there are infinite others to choose from). Also, do you always do the same exercises for each muscle group?

Are you eating properly?

The joins can take a while to catch up with a new body shape and especially with new, heavier weights constantly being forced upon them so maybe dropping the weight and getting quality long sets out are best, it gives much better definition anyway and this creates a better foundation to work on than just trying to get mass to start with.

I also think girls like toned rather than massive, in general. most tell me not to get any bigger or ill look like a meat head.... like that would be a bad thing?... but hey, we're all here for the girls right, so what they want, they should get!

If it hurts then yes, stop until a later date, when it feels good again build the weight slowly. If it just aches then the sensible thing to say would be the same, however, I’m not always known to practice what I preach... but it’s up to you.

Another good tip is cod liver, i needed them for a month before i noticed an effect, their pretty good to take anyway so even if they don’t help your joints with this, you might remember your pick up lines better lol.

A last note, buy magazines, i recomend Flex and Muscle and Fitness, i subscribed to both since i was 20 and have learnt so much from them... their also the experts and im not (thats my disclaimer )

Pash.

Thanks for the detailed response Pash!

I'm 26, so it definitely should be a maturing issue. Though I do still have an immature mind

As far as my typical training session goes. I work out 3 times a week and do the same exercises (both legs and upper body). Each session lasts a little over an hour. I usually do 3 sets of 8-10 reps. I'm still adding weight for all my leg exercises, but I've plateaued on all upper body stuff.

After each workout I immediately drink a protein shake/weight gaining shake, and then about 2 hours after eat a big full meal (Steak, potatoes, green beans, etc).

My original goal was to put on 10 lbs (to get to 160), because I'm 6 feet tall, and 150 is on the skinny side.

I'm not sure about the cod liver though...lol. What benefits have you noticed? Anything dramatic? I've tried fish oil capsules in the past and didn't see much difference in anything.

are you doing lat pull downs behind the back?

that can cause rotator cuff injury, you always want to do lat pulldowns from the front.

this is the exercise I am referring to, and how NOT to do it.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7LLe_W0_io[/youtube]

you want to do it this way:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K3HyzIcTCc[/youtube]

Anyways, that's the most common cause of shoulder injury I've seen from folks working out.

_________________

Practice, thanks for the links. I actually don't do a lat pulldown in my workout.

Where I feel the shoulder/forearm soreness the most is when I do bicep curls. I do them standing up (with 35 lb dumbbells) and 1 arm at a time. Could this be the cause? Is it better to use a bar and seated?

yes it could definitely be a cause, if you are unintentionally using your shoulders and back to help lift the weight.

I have never been a fan of standing dumbell curls as I have seen some friends develop back and shoulder problems doing them. It just comes down to control, its very hard to control that weight while standing and you just naturally rock the weight.

I think most folks recommend standing barbell curls for maximum bicep gains, and for peak definition, you can do seated preacher curls with a curl bar but remember when using a curl bar as opposed to straight bar, you don't work the full bicep, so you always want a straight barbell curl somewhere in your routine.

Make sure you are doing 5 sets of 12, this really punishes, but is much better than the 3 set pyramids you see where people do 10 8 6, you should only be doing 10 8 6 on some exercises where it works large groups of muscles such as deadlifts, clean and press etc.

There are times when it's ok however, I like to mix up 10 8 6 once in a while in my routines to do maxes but I normally just do it in things I really need to gain mass on like my legs and my pecs. I only do that once a month on just one body part.

_________________

Sweet! Thanks for the tips Practice!

Practice is right; your body shouldn't move except for the area you are working.
I advise shorter work-outs = 45 mins, after this you'll be low on testosterone so it's counter-productive to continue.
Cod liver oil is good for joints/bones, but glucosamine sulphate is better & recommended for those lifting heavy weight.
Finally: Don't care about your weight, take pics instead.

Peace

_________________
UK: www.puaforum.co.uk

Nobody seems to have mentioned this, but I find that having a 5-10minute cardio exercise before I start exercise and one afterwards, helps A LOT in getting rid of muslce pain (if thats what your getting).

(I actually do 5 at the start and 20 after but find something that works for you).

The reason is, that it gets rid of lactic acid which causes muscle pain.

I would recommend joining a gym that gives you free instruction with membership, for me I pay about $240 (AU) per year and that includes instruction, but that is at my uni (so I can get a cheaper price). Have a look around. The advantage of instruction is, that they can help you with a program that better suits your needs and you can change it every few weeks, which gives you better results. Also, you can get them to show you correct technique, which I find helps a lot. I accidentally gave myself a two pack when I first started for using incorrect technique lol.

Also when having a protein shake you might like to also put a bannana in it. This adds some carbs, if your not putting on muscle, chances are you aren't eating enough carbs. When you just eat lots of protein your body takes the protein from your muscles and digests it, so you don't gain weight or much muscle mass. In order to fix this, you eat lots of carbs as well as protein, and instead your body will absorb the carbs and not your hard gained muscles.

Hope this helps, and goodluck ;D

_________________
-HomeWrecker

"The Part-time, residential, demolitions expert".

Its funny, I'm the same height/weight as you with the same shoulder and forearm (splint) pain...weird (and I lift 35lb on curls too...lol wtf)

I'm hoping I haven't damaged anything in my shoulder, my right shoulder hurts when lifting things now. I'm going to try and give it some rest and hope it goes away, but I'm not sure what's causing it.

I'm new to weight lifting, so I'm thinking it could be the bench press. Also the pull downs posted above, I use the machine with the bench in a upright position, but I don't go behind the head like that.

Anyway, good luck - hope our pains go away and we can get ripped...hah

Muscle soreness plain and simple:
-Rest
-eat food every 3 hours (good calories, but it seems ur really lookin to out on size... just eat man, but not crap) a meal could be a little as a shake
-warm up before workout
-eat
-stretch after!!!!
-the cardio does help
-eat

if u are still sore after 3 days of working out a body part u are not in taking enough protein in your diet, or not resting... remember if u have a lot of shakes, drink a lot of water because it is not the greatest on your kidneys

It's probably not a coincidence then. Certain body types probably encounter the same problems. Lately I've been working out less and doing more reps and lighter weights. It wasn't like I was adding much muscle anyway, so I figured I'd stay really toned. The key for us "hard-gainers" is to eat a ridiculous amount of calories per day, and a lot of protein heavy foods. I'm really bad at this, and skip meals a lot.

another problem could be if youre not getting enough rest... If youre working out hard and eating properly, your body needs AT LEAST 8 hours a night to ensure you can redbuild, also make sure you leave 48 hours in between workouts for the same muscle groups, and try not to overlap...

other than that just make sure your diet is good man. Id say success to working out is really

60% diet, 40% commitment... youre not going to put on any muscle by eating mcdonalds and wendys, even if youre working out 5 days a week.