Working tuck front lever on rings, holding maybe 12 seconds. Around the eighth second I get a distinct pinch right at the front of the shoulder joint, sharper than muscle burn and it lingers for an hour afterwards. It's worse on rings than on a bar. I've dropped volume by half and it's still there. Is this something to train around or stop entirely?
How's your pushing volume? A lot of people building levers do almost no pressing, and a back-dominant program with weak anterior support is a common setup for front-of-shoulder trouble. Dips and push-ups aren't a distraction from lever work.
Rings being worse than bar points at stability rather than strength. Add scapular work directly — scap pulls, ring support holds with active shoulders, and german hangs done very conservatively. Build the position before you load it.
Fair correction, that's a reasonable flag. Scrap the german hang from my list.
Careful recommending german hangs to someone with anterior shoulder pain though. That's a lot of end-range extension and it can aggravate exactly this. I'd leave it out until they've been assessed.
Small mechanical thing: check your ring turnout and where your elbows are pointing. Elbows flared out with rings turned in loads the shoulder very differently from elbows in with rings turned out.
@barbell_bri · 10mo ago · 3 replies
Sharp and lingering an hour afterwards is a stop signal, not a train-around signal. Anything that outlasts the session by that much is worth getting looked at by a physio who works with gymnasts or climbers — not a general one, because most will just tell you to rest and you'll be back here in six weeks.
While you're waiting: the front-of-shoulder pinch in levers usually comes from letting the scapula slip into protraction and the humeral head drift forward as you fatigue. That's why it hits at second eight and not second two. Cut hold time to five seconds, do more sets, and film yourself from the side — you'll probably see the shoulder round forward right before the pinch starts.
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@barbell_bri · 10mo ago
Then five second holds with perfect position is your actual training for the next month. Stop the set the moment the position breaks, not when you fail. Still see someone about it.
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@treadmill_tara · 10mo ago
Filmed it and yeah, the shoulders visibly roll forward around the point where it starts hurting.
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