I’ve been dealing with something again recently that I haven’t had to think about in a while.

My left shoulder.

About 20 years ago I had a motorcycle wreck that left me with a completely separated clavicle at the AC joint. It never really “goes away” — you just learn how to work around it.

For a long time, that’s exactly what I did — built up the surrounding muscle, stayed consistent, and managed it when it showed up.

Lately though, it’s been a little different. As things have started progressing again, the shoulder has started pushing back a bit.

Nothing major. Just enough to notice. Enough that ignoring it would’ve been easy.

A little more pain on certain movements.
A little less stability.
Just enough to remind me it’s still there.

A few years ago, I probably would’ve ignored it and kept pushing.

This time I didn’t.

I made a few small adjustments.

Right now, shoulders, biceps, and triceps have their own day. Before I get into anything heavy, I’m spending the first 30 minutes just warming the shoulder up.

Nothing complicated. Just getting things moving and stable.

One thing I’ve been using consistently is the spider crawls — something I picked up from John Meadows.

It’s simple, but it does a good job of getting everything firing before I start loading the joint.

(Here’s a quick demo if you’ve never seen it:) John Meadows demonstrates spider crawls

Between that and just paying more attention to positioning, I’ve been able to keep training without letting it turn into something worse.

Nothing dramatic. Just small adjustments.

It’s a good reminder that old injuries tend to show back up when things are going well — not just when they’re going poorly. And if you ignore them at that point, they usually don’t stay small.

Most guys who’ve been training long enough have something like that. Curious what yours is.

— Rob
Coach
Iron After 40