Rotator Cuff problem when doing dumbell press

I've recently been experiencing this problem with my rotator cuff whenever I try to dumbbell press which causes my left shoulder/arm to give up which is really infuriating me as I've never had a problem with this before. it hurts sometimes too.

I used to do above 20kg on dumbbells and now struggling with hitting 8 reps with 20kg before my left arm just gives up.

I've heard that its something to do with my external rotations. Any ideas on how I can improve on this? I arch appropriate and have my leg planted on ground and try to get my shoulders back and always warm up doing internal and external rotations.

Ask woody. Rotator cuff issues cna take several months to recover.

Indeed. My pushing strength used to absolutely suck, my shoulders were always a limiting factor and when I used to train with heavy pressing movements a lot, my rotator cuffs would get really aggravated and I'd seemingly stop gaining strength on pushing exercises. I took a step back and trained chest with machines only for about a year and didn't do any mega heavy overhead pressing work, mostly stuck with lateral raises and variations of it,and did my rotator cuff work regularly. I made nice gains in my chest and shoulders in that time, and now I'm back to training pressing movements regularly without shoulder problems apart from the odd niggle here and there. Just hit a 3 plate bench this week!

I'm more from the common sense if you have an injury dont make it worse school of thought.

the fact you have rotator cuff problems can be down to just being unlucky, an accident or overuse. Its also down to part of your existing routine not exercising a few muscles sufficiently and so they have exposed a weakness. There are lots of routines and physio advice on youtube and the internet for strengthening exercises, but the OP pushing through and with 20kg dumbbells made me wince. You find you need your shoulder for an awful lot of exercise, so look after it and if that means a rest, then you might be doing more lower body exercises for a while.

I would give it at least a week of rest. ID which part is injured and then id some specific strengthening exercises plus start with much lighter weights.

Rest it mate, rotator cuffs are a b*tch to seriously injure.
Give it a while then try again, if it still hurts then see a PT about your form or a physio about your shoulder.
Are you sure it's your rotator cuff?

If I were in that situation, then I would rest the shoulder as you have an injury. When it felt comfy then I would focus on rotator cuff strengthening exercises. If you carry on the present way you could be making it a lot worse and doing damage. Listen to your body. You sound as though yu are pushing through an injury, which imo is sure to make it worse and do more damage. You will realise how bad it can get when you cant use your shoulder.

Ask woody. Rotator cuff issues cna take several months to recover.

I would definitely see a Physio about that - as soon as you're getting any kind of pain from exercise (not just the usual post-workout muscle soreness) then it's a good time to take a break and find out what the problem is.

Don't forget that sometimes the place where you feel the pain isn't necessarily the source of the problem or injury - you might also be experiencing referred pain from a muscle somewhere else in your back which you're not able to feel; a good Physio would be able to diagnose this for you. The risk of exercising without knowing exactly what you're dealing with is that you might end up making it a lot worse without realising.

Best thing to do is warm up your RC with some external rotations against gravity with a light weight.

Also reduce the weight on your dumbbell press but slow down the eccentric contraction phase a lot. The RC is made up of muscles meant to dynamically stabilise the shoulder. Slowing down the movement will mean they can do their job more effectively.

You will also get more muscle growth but slowing this movement down even with the lighter weight.

Indeed. My pushing strength used to absolutely suck, my shoulders were always a limiting factor and when I used to train with heavy pressing movements a lot, my rotator cuffs would get really aggravated and I'd seemingly stop gaining strength on pushing exercises. I took a step back and trained chest with machines only for about a year and didn't do any mega heavy overhead pressing work, mostly stuck with lateral raises and variations of it,and did my rotator cuff work regularly. I made nice gains in my chest and shoulders in that time, and now I'm back to training pressing movements regularly without shoulder problems apart from the odd niggle here and there. Just hit a 3 plate bench this week!

I'm more from the common sense if you have an injury dont make it worse school of thought.

the fact you have rotator cuff problems can be down to just being unlucky, an accident or overuse. Its also down to part of your existing routine not exercising a few muscles sufficiently and so they have exposed a weakness. There are lots of routines and physio advice on youtube and the internet for strengthening exercises, but the OP pushing through and with 20kg dumbbells made me wince. You find you need your shoulder for an awful lot of exercise, so look after it and if that means a rest, then you might be doing more lower body exercises for a while.

I would give it at least a week of rest. ID which part is injured and then id some specific strengthening exercises plus start with much lighter weights.

If you actually have messed your RC up, go to a sports physio. They are 100% worth the money if you have a good one.

You need to stop doing dumbbell OHP immediately. Stop doing it until you've healed. You will only mess with yourself more by continuing to use it. I'd also advocate not benching. Tough it out.

I have a completely different attitude to RC injury rehab

Facepulls everytime you're in the gym (up to 4x a week) at the end of your routine 3-4 x 10-20 is what I usually do. Keep it light, keep it relatively easy until your shoulder is nearing 100%

Lots of OHP, I do it as my primary movement. This is with a barbell stood.
I don't bench much because of my shoulder issues and I don't really do much chest work in general. I also do some lateral raises.

Build big all round strong shoulders is how I've done it.

Also buy yourself a foam roller and foam roll lots. Also buy your self a flexibility band from strength shop and do shoulder dislocates and pullaparts before you do any upper body strength

I don't think a lot of people realise the damage they can do tbh. They just see it as an achey shoulder and that's just life. If it hurts then don't do it. Improving your RC strength really isn't a tough routine to manage either, even just tacking on a couple of sets of 20 reps on face pulls to the end of every workout can work wonders IME, even if I'm absolutely exhausted it's still easy to handle even if I have to do them sitting on the ground

If you actually have messed your RC up, go to a sports physio. They are 100% worth the money if you have a good one.

You need to stop doing dumbbell OHP immediately. Stop doing it until you've healed. You will only mess with yourself more by continuing to use it. I'd also advocate not benching. Tough it out.

I have a completely different attitude to RC injury rehab

Facepulls everytime you're in the gym (up to 4x a week) at the end of your routine 3-4 x 10-20 is what I usually do. Keep it light, keep it relatively easy until your shoulder is nearing 100%

Lots of OHP, I do it as my primary movement. This is with a barbell stood.
I don't bench much because of my shoulder issues and I don't really do much chest work in general. I also do some lateral raises.

Build big all round strong shoulders is how I've done it.

Also buy yourself a foam roller and foam roll lots. Also buy your self a flexibility band from strength shop and do shoulder dislocates and pullaparts before you do any upper body strength

Yeah, I'm on deload this week and I'm going to give a rest on the OHP and bench. And as everyone said to focus more on the external rotation strengthening for a while. I do face pulls as often. But I'm going to have to do them everyday then since I have a 4 day routine.

Thanks everyone.