MD Training Camp: Dorian Yates #2

Eating & Training to Build Mass

Training Through Shoulder Pain

What types of movements would you recommend for training my shoulders and chest? Here is my problem: I am 44 years old and have recently been to an orthopedic surgeon for extreme shoulder pain. After testing, he said I have no cartilage left in my left shoulder and I need to have total joint replacement. I am on Celebrex for the pain and it helps immensely, but I still cannot do any pressing movements whatsoever. I have limited range of motion and can’t even do squats, because I cannot rotate my arm back far enough to grab the bar to stabilize it. I do not want to have the replacement surgery, so what types of movements will still allow me to hit my chest and shoulders in place of pressing movements?

I have had shoulder problems and surgery as well, although my problem was different (torn supraspinatus, AC joint repair). I would recommend taking a joint complex containing glucosamine, chrondroitin and MSM to help with repair and inflammation. I am not recommending staying on any pharmaceutical product too long, or else you risk side effects. Work on range of motion stretches, light rotator cuff movements and possibly cable flyes, if they are pain free. I haven’t done pressing movements for a few years now myself, but I have been able to maintain a good amount of shoulder and chest mass strictly with isolation movements like lateral raises and flyes.

Eating and Training to Build Mass

Dorian, I’m 16 years old and I’ve been training and dieting for one year. So far, I’ve gained 21kgs [46 pounds], not all muscle. I’m slightly taller and gained a little fat as well. It’s all mainly gone to my chest, back, shoulders and legs. My arms, mostly my triceps, haven’t gained very much size and are lagging a bit. Everyone says I should do close grip-bench presses and dips. I was wondering if you had other ideas. Thanks and by the way, you’re my favorite Mr. O ever.

Twentykilos is a massive gain in one year, so I would expect some of that to be fat. You shouldn’t be fanatical about eating clean at your age, but I am guessing you’re eating more than your body requires. At the same time, I don’t want you going off and starving yourself, either. Unfortunately, people often go to one extreme or the other instead of making gradual changes.

If you keep a food log for a couple of months, you should be able to find a good caloric amount that allows you to keep making gains whilst leaning out a bit as well. The first thing you should do is take out 500 calories from carbohydrates, and give that about four weeks to see how it works. If you get leaner and are still making progress, stay with that. Otherwise, you may need to take it down some more.

As far as triceps, I’ve never been a big fan of the close-grip press, or even dips for that matter. They come too close to duplicating standard types of presses for the chest. You’re better off with more isolated movements like the French press (lying barbell extensions) and cable pushdowns. But don’t worry about things lagging when you’ve only just started out, as you have. If you work hard on the compound movements and throw in a couple of isolation exercises here and there on top, you should develop pretty evenly.

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