This is going to be long and a primer only. It should get you started in looking at your lifts and start dialing things in.

Lifting is at the core of what we do as men. I think it’s essential. Socrates said:

No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable of.

This is more dialog as there are a lot of men here that have experience, and each have developed a bit differently. There are a couple professional trainers that I am aware of so they may also weigh in.

In my 20+ years of lifting I listened to a lot of people and refined my techniques. When I started there was none of this knowledge of mobility work, nor the idea of perfect form. Yet back then the idea of hitting 900+ pounds on a lift as unheard of. Despite my experience, for years I would reach the 450 range and then have to stop due to pain or injury. I thought maybe I just couldn’t do this sport. Then about 2 years ago I got tired of it. I decided to look for an expert.

Within the first 6 months I was hitting near 500. A year later? Up past 650. Form, and proper development of the joint is an absolute must if you want big numbers. I had strength what I didn't have was a dialed in form, prop accessory muscle work. Gear does nothing for this. Supplements help but they won’t alone do it. You want big lifts or to continue without injury you need to learn some basic physiology and start applying it to your sport.

The first area I want to discuss is your shoulders. Over time i may post something about squats and deadlifts (deads are my jam). I am reading a lot of shoulder injuries on the sub. Not surprising since 93% of shoulder injuries in powerlifting (which is what SL 5x5 is) last over 4 weeks and the shoulder is the most common. Tackling this head on is important. I myself am nursing an AC Joint separation, unrelated to lifting but it does have it’s effect. Shoulder injuries are mainly due to improper form and improper development.

SL 5x5 is an excellent beginner program. It gets you strong pretty quick if you are religious about it and it will get you to where you want to be in order to branch out. Going the muscle head (ripped as fuck) route of the ironmonger route (power/strong man). What isn’t talked about is how to prepare your body for heavier weight or even the constant toll you are going to be putting on yourself. It takes its toll on your joints. Despite what the crowd says if you have been a fat body all your life just hitting the weights is not going to help you develop over time. You need to approach this methodically if you want to continue pain free.

I’d argue that above 350 and you need to start supplements. Calcium, magnesium (this is leeched from you when you lift heavy), and zinc. In addition to all this you need to start strengthening the shoulder. you need to add accessory muscle work to your program. I know what the god of SL says, that doing these heavy lifts also improves this, BUT it only gets you so far. Here is my typical shoulder/Chest workout as an example:

Exercise Sets x Reps
Chin up grip lat pulldowns 4 x 12
Palms down, wide grip, chest supported row 4 x 8
Inclined rear delt swings 4 x 12
Standing OHP 4 x 3
Floor Press 4 x 3
Dips 4 x Failure
Hyperextensions 4 x 20
Plate crunches 4 x 20
Bench Press 4 x 4
Inclined Press 4 x 5

This changes on my second day of Chest/Shoulders by adding

Exercise Sets x Reps
V Bar Lat Pulldowns 4x 8
Palms up Chest Supported row 4x15
TRX Y 4xFailure

With my AC joint issues I don’t bench too hard. The emphasis of this workout is to keep shoulder stability. I also have a good 20-30 minutes of mobility stuff my coach has me doing. This is designed to improve lat and pectoral strength to provide shoulder stability during heavy lifts. Weakness in these areas will most definitely impinge your improvements as you go higher and higher in weight. You can tell you have issues with these muscles groups by looking in a mirror. If you are shoulders are titled anteriorly or posteriorly (front and back for you non-smart people) then you have weak areas you need to address otherwise you will begin to experience shoulder pain at some point.

Shoulders rotated forward are common for lifters. Which is why I wear a shoulder retraction harness around the gym.

Let’s discuss your form. I could go into great detail here. Benching is probably a far more technical form then any of the other lifts, but I want to stay focused on shoulders. We all assume we know how to bench. Men have been doing for decades. Well again if you want to go higher without pain then you have to give proper consideration to form.

The scapula must be retracted when benching. Achieve this by squeezing them together as if you are trying to get them to touch. Doing this gives the shoulder stability. When they are not retracted, your entire shoulder is not securely stabilized by the bench. This means that the shoulder joint is solely responsible for the support of the bar load. You don’t feel this at the typical 225-315 but go higher and it’s little wonder why there is pain. Your joints just can’t support all that weight alone.

You need to assess your shoulder mobility and it’s complete range of motion. You must be able to rotate the shoulder in its complete range of motion without pain. If you are tight, lack flexibility, and are just in general stiff then you have issues you need to work out. There is a difference between flexibility and mobility. Both are important to work on.

I have always said I can tell someone who has lifted. There is an appearance about them. Most of it is from having these tight areas, and lack of flexible joints. With shoulders most lifters are rotated in some way, forwards or back.

Here are some good resources to check out.

Lifting with AC joint Pain

Good Shoulder Warm Up Routine

Bench Press Technique

Like I said this is a primer. You need to do your own research and understand the details of what you are doing. I have always believed that how a man approaches lifting is how he approaches life. Have to take care of the little things before you can do the big things.