Topic: Sore Shoulders and Wrists

[Frank Barosky]

I recently started training the Olympic lifts after a number of years of doing mostly relatively light powerlfting training (squats, benches, and some power cleans). I'm now training the snatch and C&J. However, at 60 years old and not really having done overhead lifting for about 40 years, my shoulders and wrists are giving me fits.

Have any of you seasoned lifters run into this if you just started lifting or returned to lifting after years away from it? Does the older body adjust or does it just get worse? If you've had these problems and found a way to eliminate or ease them, I'd like to hear what worked for you.

Thanks for any info you might share.

[Mark Winchester Sr]

Get ya some Power Surge wraps from Inzer.  Cheap and really good stuff.

[Jim Hooper]

Frank,

Its great that you are taking up Olympic lifting at age 60. 

Starting at 60, or any age past 30 or so for that matter, there's going to be some age-related pushback from your body, especially on the flexibility front.  But there are lots of guys your age and much older doing these lifts, and who started late in life, so yes it sure can be done.  Its just going to take more time to get used to it than if you were younger person, and you'll have to be more careful about getting from here to there without injuring yourself (i.e., tearing some connective tissue by stressing it too much).  Here's some things you might consider.
1.  Ice.  Crushed, in a plastic bag, all over the area that hurts, post-training.  It reduces inflammation (swelling). 
2.  Emphasize using the controlled or static type movements (positional squats, OHS and FS) to develop the flexibility before hammering your joints in unaccustomed-to positions with the full lifts.  For the first few months, consider limiting your loads in the snatch and clean to no more than the weights that you can overhead squat and front squat comfortably and in good form for several reps.  If you cannot (yet) overhead squat or front squat anything comfortably, no worries, it will come -- just focus on those movements and the pulls, get great at them, and look at the process as a 2-3 month adaptation phase before you lauch into the full lifts.  They will still be there, and you will have a lot more fun with them and get stronger faster in them if your flexibility and mechanics in the critical positions is solid and comfortable first.
3.  Depending on what you want to achieve in the sport, in terms of the lifts, you may want to use the power versions of the lifts, or at least do them for some part of your training.  Many lifters find they are less stressful on the joints overall.  You can use them to build power while you develop mobility for the full versions with OH and Front squats, then move to combining them with the squats, and then finally move to the full lifts safely/pain free.   
4.  Thorough, deliberate warmups are key.  That means a 5 min or so general warmup to elevate your temperature and get you "moving" (calisthentics, kettlebell or dumbell swings, riding a stationary bike etc.)  Then move to static and dynamic stretching movements (lunges, squats, duck walking, shoulder stretches, overhead squats, and pulling movements with a stick, that sort of stuff) for all the major joints.  Then stick or empty bar work in the positions of the lift you are about to train (starting slow and building speed).  It may be helpful to do the positional squats (overhead, snatch grip, and front) with moderate weights for a few sets before you do snatches or cleans, just to thoroughly warm up the positions. 20-30 minutes is not too much when you are starting out.   You ought to be pain-free and mobile at the end of that warmup process (if not, see below). After a while, your body will get used to Olympic lifting and less warming up will be necessary.
5.  Wraps on the wrists, and neoprene sleeves for your knees, can be useful in keeping joints warm and just feeling better while you lift.  I don't think there's anything equivalent for shoulders, other than warming them up thoroughly with static and gentle dynamic stretches.
6.  Be patient and persistent; it may take weeks of painstaking mobility work to feel appreciably better, and months before the critical positions feel "good."   If you can do flexibility work every single day, even your active rest days, all the better.  Eventually, it will come in, and it will be an all-smiles hoot to do these lifts.
7.  Don't hesitate to experiment with different grip widths.  Altering the width can make a huge difference in the stress on your joints.  I believe this is an individual matter that has to be discovered by each individual for their own unique anatomy.  Make changes gradually, an inch at a time, and see if they feel better.  It has got to work for your particular anatomy.  I had gruesome shoulder impingement for months several years ago -- it disappeared almost immediately when I widened my snatch grip by a few inches and has never recurred.
8.  Heed pain.  In my experience, pain that persists even after a gradual warmup -- is a big red light.  That's your body telling you that it cannot and is not going to cooperate, period.  Pushing on in that situation is probably not a good idea.  Forget "no pain, no gain" and "feel the burn" BS from bodybuilding rags and Jane Fonda videos.  That stuff is not applicable in this sport -- when these lifts cause acute pain in any joint, that's always, 100%, a sign that there is a problem, not some red badge of courage to soldier through.   The lifts should always feel like an explosive effort, but they should never make you wince in pain.  The last thing you want to do is rupture a tendon or tear a ligament.
9.  How to know when you are "injured."  I am not a medical doctor, but I do know that if you are having serious pain in the joints long after you've finished training, pain waking you up at night, joint pain that smarts when you are just doing the ordinary things in daily life, etc., that's usually a sign of injury -- something is torn or severely irritated --, not normal training stress, and I would see a sports-medicine specialist or orthopedist with expertise in that joint if that were me.

[Frank Barosky]

Jim,

Thank you for taking the time to provide a very helpful and encouraging reply. I will incorporate your suggestions into my training.

Frank