Wide Grip Pullups hurting shoulders

[1stChanceToLose]

When I do them I get this slight "pain" in the shoulders. I think my shoulders just may not be flexible enough. Anyways I've continued to do them and the pain is gone in the right shoulder but there's still a slight "click" in my left as I lower to the bottom. I want to keep doing wide grip so how can I fix this problem? Is it a matter of flexibility or weak rotator cuffs or something?

[chazzy1864]

Does a narrower grip than however wide you're doing, cause pain?

What is the reason for the insistence on performing wide grip?

[1stChanceToLose]

Does a narrower grip than however wide you're doing, cause pain?

What is the reason for the insistence on performing wide grip?

slightly shoulder doesn't. and lol Idk, everyone seems to be doing wide grip, I'm assuming there's a reason. also just for variety. right now wide grip is my weakpoint and I want to get them up

[renferos]

Does a narrower grip than however wide you're doing, cause pain?

What is the reason for the insistence on performing wide grip?

This of course. But, you could try doing rotator cuff stretches that may help.

[MuscleTechMarc]

Close underhand grip could alleviate some of the pain depending on the source...

[__r]

You can solve almost all shoulder problems related to pull-ups, if you follow these two rules:

1. Keep your chest up all time. On the way up, lead with your chest and drive your elbows to the floor: Think about it as touching the bar with your chest.
2. Squeeze your shoulder blades and keep your shoulders back. Focus on keeping them tight during the whole lift.

[chazzy1864]

slightly shoulder doesn't. and lol Idk, everyone seems to be doing wide grip, I'm assuming there's a reason. also just for variety. right now wide grip is my weakpoint and I want to get them up

Going extra wide doesn't do much more for the lats themselves.

It reduces the role the arms can help (also shortens the rom) and emphasizes the teres muscles more.

For lat stimulation alone, pick a grip width that allows you to perform the exercise pain free.

Also, what ____r said.

[braskibra]

When I do them I get this slight "pain" in the shoulders. I think my shoulders just may not be flexible enough. Anyways I've continued to do them and the pain is gone in the right shoulder but there's still a slight "click" in my left as I lower to the bottom. I want to keep doing wide grip so how can I fix this problem? Is it a matter of flexibility or weak rotator cuffs or something?

i think you should be more specific with "shoulder pain" are you talking anterior, posterior???
it could be a number of things impingement, joint instability, crepitis in the joint
if its on the eccentric portion im assuming your having post shoulder pain which could be overtraining the post delt, infraspinat and teres minor
take a look at your shoulder training too, if your hammering post delts then you may impringe the Cuff tendons with the posterior capsule
i would start doing some Y, T's, I's, and W's twice a week to increase stability of the Cuff muscles
i get pain in the post shoulder during back sessions from overtraing the posterior delts during shoulder workouts
and also what the other bros said with your form, chest up will reduce the strain on the shoulder

[1stChanceToLose]

You can solve almost all shoulder problems related to pull-ups, if you follow these two rules:

1. Keep your chest up all time. On the way up, lead with your chest and drive your elbows to the floor: Think about it as touching the bar with your chest.
2. Squeeze your shoulder blades and keep your shoulders back. Focus on keeping them tight during the whole lift.

thx will try

Going extra wide doesn't do much more for the lats themselves.

It reduces the role the arms can help (also shortens the rom) and emphasizes the teres muscles more.

For lat stimulation alone, pick a grip width that allows you to perform the exercise pain free.

Also, what ____r said.

thx

i think you should be more specific with "shoulder pain" are you talking anterior, posterior???
it could be a number of things impingement, joint instability, crepitis in the joint
if its on the eccentric portion im assuming your having post shoulder pain which could be overtraining the post delt, infraspinat and teres minor
take a look at your shoulder training too, if your hammering post delts then you may impringe the Cuff tendons with the posterior capsule
i would start doing some Y, T's, I's, and W's twice a week to increase stability of the Cuff muscles
i get pain in the post shoulder during back sessions from overtraing the posterior delts during shoulder workouts
and also what the other bros said with your form, chest up will reduce the strain on the shoulder

thx, and the pain is in the anterior/lateral. if you look at this pic, the first one where the guy has his arm up like hes doing a pullup, it hurts right around there (red part closest to the traps). so with the arm down it would be anterior/close to medial

[k9pit]

thx, and the pain is in the anterior/lateral. if you look at this pic, the first one where the guy has his arm up like hes doing a pullup, it hurts right around there (red part closest to the traps). so with the arm down it would be anterior/close to medial

likely form........I've been down that road with pain in the exact same place. Between Weighted Dips, weighted pullups, and flat bench I was messing my shoulders up. I cycled off all 3 for a while and re-incorporated them back into my routine with the exception of weighted dips. Again, as applied to me, it was form between these 3 moves moreso from flat bench but the other moves exaccerbated the issue.
FWIW, I do chin ups more than pull ups nowadays and actually get more out of that movement for total lat (upper/lower) development.

This vid enlightened me (give it a watch):

[StankyDrawz]

For lat stimulation alone, pick a grip width that allows you to perform the exercise pain free.

This... Wide grip puts a lot of strain on the shoulders.

[braskibra]

your pain is on the front portion of your arm (anterior delt) ? thats surprising since the post. delt is under more stress during the eccentric portion of a pullup
what type of pain was it? dull achy or sharp?
does it hurt during any other movements?
bicep tendon runs up the intertubercular sulcus and attaches on the supraglenoid tubercle in the shoulder could be bicep tendonitis (long head) do you do alot of curls with external rotation?
or it could be impingement of the supraspinatus on the coracoacromial arch if the pain is on top of the shoulder but you would have other symptoms, painful arc, neer's impingment, positive hawkins kennedy test?

its hard to say really how often are you training shoulders and back whats your split its most likely has to do with either too much training, bad form, or too much weight

[WoIf]

It's a fairly common problem, your scapula is internally rotated on the side that is hurting.

Fixing it is a little tricky, but I'd start with something like Scarecrows.

[GeneralSerpant]

your pain is on the front portion of your arm (anterior delt) ? thats surprising since the post. delt is under more stress during the eccentric portion of a pullup
what type of pain was it?

Or his posterior delt isn't working enough to keep the teres major/lats in tight connection to the arms.

It mainly sounds like something is not strong enough between the lats to the arms. I would just suggest not doing wide-grip 'til you're more familiar with pull-ups in general. No exercise is just ultimately better for any given context.

[braskibra]

Or his posterior delt isn't working enough to keep the teres major/lats in tight connection to the arms.

It mainly sounds like something is not strong enough between the lats to the arms. I would just suggest not doing wide-grip 'til you're more familiar with pull-ups in general. No exercise is just ultimately better for any given context.

yeah its hard to pinpoint since hes complaining of anterior pain...
muscular imbalance could def be an issue tho

[RevSpunkwater]

From experience, I've noticed that wide-grip pullups don't do much for the lats as one might think. The notion that a wide grip will force the lats to grow wider is a myth. A better stretch and greater ROM can be achieved with close-grip pullups.

That said, if you're still experiencing shoulder problems you should look into rotator cuff and scapula alignment exercises. Take it real easy on them because you don't want to leave yourself SOL.

[Deltoideus]

thx, and the pain is in the anterior/lateral. if you look at this pic, the first one where the guy has his arm up like hes doing a pullup, it hurts right around there (red part closest to the traps). so with the arm down it would be anterior/close to medial

It's strange since pullups don't use these muscles, do you think they're getting impinged? Maybe just tight? Are you feeling it at the top (arms bent elbows to torso) or bottom (arms straight elbows to ears)

[rushki]

no DPT here and no idea why your anterior can hurt...


I would recc just doing a closer grip, and making sure elbow placement is proper, meaning in front of you; not crazy out to the sides.

[Pump Freak 86]

Good info in here. If it hurts, stop doing it. Phuck everybody else is doing.

[CheeseAndToaste]

strong bump, but I'm having the same issues as OP if anyone can provide some help.

I don't do an extremely wide grip, more of a neutral-ish grip, but I do them weighted with +25lbs.
My right shoulder hurts more than the left.

[CheeseAndToaste]

HALP MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEee

[Adamk5753]

If you are having shoulder pain on your eccentric phase of the movement (lowering yourself) you need to engage your lats more. Think about the muscle doing the movement. If you just try hard and push through the movement as fast as possible then your posterior deltoid will engage too much. If you think about dripping your lattisium each time and rotating your deltoid at the same time. That should eliminate the pain

[Budaan]

You dont need the widest grip, medium grip is good too.

[Junsuiakai]

Stop bumping post from 2012

[gwilacuz]

When I do them I get this slight "pain" in the shoulders. I think my shoulders just may not be flexible enough. Anyways I've continued to do them and the pain is gone in the right shoulder but there's still a slight "click" in my left as I lower to the bottom. I want to keep doing wide grip so how can I fix this problem? Is it a matter of flexibility or weak rotator cuffs or something?

any overhead movement bothers my shoulders, unless done with a neutral grip. therefore i only do neutral grip pull ups and neutral grip shoulder presses.