Pullup pain

B

blakk_bug

0
I'm a 6' 150lb guy in my early 20s. I've always been relatively active physically (long distance running), but am new to strength training.

I just got a chinup bar to include pullups and chinups in my routine. I wasn't able to do any so I started doing negatives. However, I have a slight pain in my right arm, near the armpit where the lats join into the shoulder from below. Is this normal? It feels like a sprain. I rested for a day, and it seemed to go away, so I tried again today, but it is still slightly there, should I rest for longer?

Also, I've noticed that in both the pullup negatives, and my pushups, my right hand involuntarily takes much more of the load than the other arm. After noticing this I've tried to maintain really good form and consciously make an effort to put equal load on both the hands, though it still feels like the right is taking up more of my weight. Are there any good bodyweight exercises to rectify this problem?

Thanks
 
It's quite normal to develop more strength in one arm than the other.

Edit: Best advice is to use dumbbells to develop more strength in the other arm.

How are you holding the pull up/chin up? You you're just wrapping your thumb and everything around the bar, then you are doing it incorrectly and that is why you're having pain.

Here's a picture of proper pull up grips:



Notice how his hands are holding the bar and where his thumb is located.

Edit: I do pull ups/chin ups nearly every day about 11-12 in total. It's quite painless to me. It's normal to feel pain at first, perhaps, but it should be sore, not painful.
 
Last edited:
NBS 4life said:
You doing them slow and controlled?
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Yeah, I was doing them really slow, except that now because my arm hurts I can't be slow in the very last part of the lowering, ie. when I'm very close to a dead hang. However, I think that I'll give it a rest and try again.

Dallen: I think you're right about the grip, I think that that was part of the problem. I now know the right grip to use.

Thanks for the tips :)
 
NBS 4life said:
I was just checking you wernt bouncing at the bottom and putting stress on your shoulders and stretching out your lats
Click to expand...
That makes sense NBS.

The pain is going away now, in retrospect now I think it was mainly because I was being stupid and didn't warm up at all, and considering that I'm new to pullups it just put too much load on my unprepared muscle.

At least I'm glad that I think I learnt my lesson without any major injury.
 
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