Advice regarding gym injury

[kissenger]

I started going to the gym around Xmas time and have been going almost every other day since then, doing 20-30 mins cardio and an hour upper body resistance training. I had maxed out a few of the machines so decided to move onto the free weights, but after my first bench press sets I woke up the next day with a very sore shoulder.

It feels significantly better today (nearly 48 hours later), but I'm not sure if I should risk it. What's the smart thing to do here? Light upper body workout? Do my usual routine but skip shoulders? Or just do cardio until completely healed?

 

[kissenger]

I went to the gym last night, did a bit of cardio, some legs and kept the upper body stuff to the bicep curl and tricep extension machines (because these do a good job of isolating your biceps and triceps respectively, thereby hopefully avoiding the potential for should injury).

Shoulder is still a bit sore today but it's way better than it was. I don't think I have a full rotator cuff tear, based on having done some tests I saw demonstrated on YT, but maybe I've got a partial tear?

Incidentally, when using the leg machines for the first time I was able to max out several of the machines by my final set, which I think proves my theory about big guys who walk a lot building good leg strength (common sense really).

 

[kissenger]

If you suspect an actual tear then go and get it seen to by someone who knows what their on about, shoulder injuries are not fun or easy to fix once the damage is done. I talk from experience.

Also maxing out leg machines proves nothing, go squat.

That sounds like something I would have to pay a fair bit of money to get seen to.

I think I will probably just stay away from any shoulder lifts until it's well healed, and then do some rehab on it, starting slowly. It's just annoying because I was really on a roll with it and getting noticeable results in terms of muscle growth. I will be much more careful before messing with any free weights in future.