I'm not sure If I posted this before but the dumbbells I use in my home gym are PowerBlocks, just in case anybody is looking to set up a workout environment at home.
Didn't read through this thread so if it was already stated just ignore One of the best workouts I found is doing yoga poses. They not only build strength but usually also work on balance and flexibility. Try holding crane pose for 60 seconds... <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tDti9lGkd_Q" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jygbusI15Sc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
If you are hurting your shoulders that bad with the 80's it sounds to me like you might wanna focus on your shoulder strength. Hit up seated shoulder press. That will pack some serious strength and size onto your delts (front mainly). Don't do it behind the head or anything that is just extra strain. Idk how tall you are but warm up well then put your hands somewhere near the rings on the bar. I am tall but I do either ring finger on the ring or pinky. Get a spot if you have never done them, but slowly lower the bar down to about your nose/chin then go back up stopping just before lock out (preserve those elbows!). Start off light till you get the motion and form down well and then you can start packing some weight on. That is one of my strongest exercises and I absolutely love it lol. If you know how to do them well ignore my explanation. You should do band work also to strengthen your shoulders up. I went from 3 years of not missing more than a week of working out EVER to just occasionally once a week or two because between work school and family I didn't have time. I lost a lot of strength and size and I had stopped maintaining my shoulders well with bands and general workouts. Sure enough I caused some major issues benching one day. It put me out of commission for about 3+ months. If I was you I would hit up the band work and shoulder press and raises. 80's shouldn't hurt you near that bad if you can handle that kind of weight normally
I agree with everything you wrote. For me, barbell bench activates more shoulders than chest, which is why I prefer dumbbells. It's kicking them off that's my problem. How do you put up 90's on incline? I might try flat bench dumbbells this week. Might be easier to put up?
I kick up 90's in the same way I would any other weight, but that's not a weight I use all the time. I much prefer to back down to 60's or 70's and just do an extra set or increase the reps to compensate.
Overheads? <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qEwKCR5JCog" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Okay. Thank you for taking the time to explain that to me. Funny, I do zero shoulder work. So this makes sense. My shoulders and arms kick in a lot during barbell bench so I figured if I didn't work shoulders, I'd activate more chest? But I can see that was a mistake. You and atticus are in agreement so i'll start presses and raises this week, maybe lay off dumbbells for a bit and strengthen my shoulders.
Yes. I don't believe you have to lift really heavy weight to increase muscle size. You can easily compensate with more reps and/or more sets. The only thing that truly matters is consistency of training over time. That's why you don't see 21 year old men winning the Mr. Olympia.