What muscles are weak or need working on

[KnightRidar]

So i have been dealing with lower back pain for many years always thinking i need to do more exercise/ or lift heavier etc, even though i do squats and have been doing them for a few years.

Recently started to get shoulder pain after doing more workouts on my shoulder. The pain faded away through the day and again starts halfway through the night when i sleep on my side, though i also sleep on my back.

I thought it must be the mattress as its close to 10 years old so bought a new mattress and pillows (adjustable ones where i can take out the foam or add more in) which i feel was from a reputable company.

Lower back pain was less but still occurs, shoulders are still occurring until i adjusted the foam in the pillow. Researching into all this many suggested having a pillow between your legs to help lower back pain when sleeping on the side, so decided to give this a shot and the pain has reduced, shoulders feel better but still need to tweak things so i understand what works for me.

So based on the above info, what muscles do i have weakness on? Or what mobility areas do i need to work on/introduce in order to avoid having a pillow between my legs? Starting to feel old :-(

[startingat56]

So i have been dealing with lower back pain for many years always thinking i need to do more exercise/ or lift heavier etc, even though i do squats and have been doing them for a few years.

Recently started to get shoulder pain after doing more workouts on my shoulder. The pain faded away through the day and again starts halfway through the night when i sleep on my side, though i also sleep on my back.

I thought it must be the mattress as its close to 10 years old so bought a new mattress and pillows (adjustable ones where i can take out the foam or add more in) which i feel was from a reputable company.

Lower back pain was less but still occurs, shoulders are still occurring until i adjusted the foam in the pillow. Researching into all this many suggested having a pillow between your legs to help lower back pain when sleeping on the side, so decided to give this a shot and the pain has reduced, shoulders feel better but still need to tweak things so i understand what works for me.

So based on the above info, what muscles do i have weakness on? Or what mobility areas do i need to work on/introduce in order to avoid having a pillow between my legs? Starting to feel old :-(

My doctor tells me not to sleep on my side. My shoulders have been wonky for many years although at this time they seem to be working well and can handle previous loads

I started doing hyperextensions and found my lower back stopped giving me as many problems, but as many know .... if you want to fix the back you need to fix the front (abs)

[KnightRidar]

My doctor tells me not to sleep on my side. My shoulders have been wonky for many years although at this time they seem to be working well and can handle previous loads

I started doing hyperextensions and found my lower back stopped giving me as many problems, but as many know .... if you want to fix the back you need to fix the front (abs)

I try my best not to sleep on my side but when my lower back is in pain i end up on my sides. Im trying to do small adjustments to see if i can figure outs what makes it easier for me but so far it seems a lot relies on the pillow.

Thanks i will start off with hyperextensions - anything else i could add to this?

[lsiberian]

For me doing rotator cuff work with bands made a big difference.

[Filmbuff81]

Check your form on shoulder movements.

Also check your pressing form.

If you’re doing lateral raises make sure you’re doing strict form.

If you’re doing upright rows, consider ditching them if they eff you up or do cable upright rows with a rope.

Make sure you’re retracting your scapula on bench press


For lower back and core do some planks and ab wheel to start off and slowly build from there.

For your shoulders

Do band pull aparts, face pulls, external rotations, shoulder dislocations etc.

Do these every training day and eventually every day

High reps.

[blue9steel]

Not a doctor or a PT but I can share my anecdotal experience.

For shoulder pain, for me that's usually because I've been doing something stupid. Re-evaluating my routine to change that, resting it and then resuming activity slowly generally fixes the issue.

For back pain, for me that's because I came off my horse years ago and 17 hands is a long way down. "Fixing" it involved strengthening my spinal erectors so that they would essentially form a natural brace and hold everything tightly in place. A combination of back raises, deadlifts and the like was what worked for me, making sure to use light weight, excellent form and progressing slowly. Now I can pull 500lbs off the floor (wearing straps & a belt) and my back feels fine, but I can assure you that those first bodyweight back raises were fairly painful.

[GrouchyUSMC]

If you do a lot of horizontal pushing (like most guys), I highly recommend throwing this on after every push heavy workout. I do it after my high rep burpee sessions where I will do several hundred push-ups in one session.

It keeps your shoulders healthy and helped reduce the clicking in my left shoulder.

[T...Chafes]

Try hanging from a bar to help with the shoulder pain, 30 seconds at a time multiple times. That helped me, it opens up your shoulder joint. Also, keep your shoulders rolled back on nearly exercise you do for upper body.

[Marius_Ursus]

Everyone has different issues that allow or cause pain. I thought my back problems were because I had weak abs, so I kept training them, but no matter how strong my abdominal wall got, I still had back pain. When I went to physical therapy, they had me doing all kinds of glute exercises, and the pain got better, so my issue was weak glutes. For shoulders, I have long connective tissue in my joints, so I need to avoid stretching around joints and try to focus on stretching muscles. If I do too much flexibility work, especially in my upper body, I can't rotate my shoulders anymore. That means I also have to focus on concentric effort, so when the joint "opens up" like in the bottom of a bench press, it doesn't pull too much on the joint.

[BiGx5MurF]

If your pain is being caused by strength imbalances, then it's likely muscles adjacent to the pain areas are the issue. For me, my lower back issues were because of weak QLs + obliques, and shoulder issues were weak rear delts. Strengthening both got rid of my pain entirely, but took a few months.