"popping" when lifting weights?

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dusty

0
I'm just starting weight training, and last night there was a popping noise in my shoulders when doing certain lifts (bench press and others).

What should I do about this?
 
check form
are you lifting too heavy for a novice? just because you have the muscle to move a weight, doesn't mean your joints are necessarily ready to move it.
 
In addition to malkore's advice, take a 5lb weight, and do slow/moderate full range circles with your arms, 1 arm at a time. This will help get your rotator cuffs into shape
 
ive just started 2... and i got all sorts of wierd noises coming from my arms but now its all gone away, when i first tried i couldnt lift hardly nothing but over past 3 weeks im doing 10kgs thinkin of adding a little more now.
 
Hey Dusty,

Popping and cracking are a result of moving your joints / lifting with mal-articulated joints. Every joint has a perfect 'sitting' position which is termed it's 'instantaneous axis of rotation.'

If you continue to move in a fashion that is not conducive to proper biomechanisms you will wear down that carilage and damage your joints... many people will tell you 'dont worry about it, just go a bit ligher until you can handle more weight'. this is fine if you dont mind buying an othopedic sergeon a new BMW with all of the surgeries and therapy you will need in the next few years.

the first thing you must realize is that your popping joints are a result of muscle imbalance. this happens when the typical 'tonic' muscles like the pec minor is stronger than that typical 'phasic' or postural muscles like your scapular adductors.

so, what the hell do i do?

first i would bet my house that you are very tight in your pec minor so strech it NOW. next, be sure to perform exercises that will strengthen your sacpualr adductors like prone cobras. if you are not familiar with these exercises you might want to check out my book which contains pics and discriptions of them at or contact a CHEK practitioner in your area at

Elliott "The Primal Guy"
 
xtonymarsx said:
In addition to malkore's advice, take a 5lb weight, and do slow/moderate full range circles with your arms, 1 arm at a time. This will help get your rotator cuffs into shape
Click to expand...

good point. I would also add to make sure you're properly warming up the muscles too, via tony's recommendation, as well as light warm up sets before your working weight.

I like 50-60% of my working weight. too light to count as a real set, but should be heavy enough to pump some blood into the muscles so they're ready for a real workload.
 
Thanks for the advice, everyone.

Even doing full range circles without weights I get a popping sound in my shoulders. Should I start doing smaller circles to build up to full range ones or...?
 
how is your form on the "full-range" circles? make sure that your chest is up, head back and scapula depressed. this also helps lessen the likelyhood of any impingement problems later on. good form cannot be stressed enough... even in warm-up exercises
 
poor, likely

What's the best way to improve my form? Visit a gym? I don't exactly have money to spend, and won't for some time.
 
Dusty, your shoulders are going to pop no matter what until they get into shape. Using those 5lb weights while doing those circles will help get rid of the pop, but it still takes a while. Also, do the circles in both directions...and always stretch
 
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