Joints crack/ache during workout

[thatdog]

Looking for some advice from people who know more about this stuff.

 

I've been on a diet for 3 months now and losing a reasonable amount of weight but recently got more motivated to step up my levels of exercise (before was just going on walks). I know I'm very unfit and being a heavy smoker doesn't help. Thing is I started doing some more intensive stuff such as free weights, pushups etc. pushing myself as much as possible. I've noticed that whenever I do weights, i get a fairly loud cracking noise from my right shoulder. It doesn't hurt but sounds pretty worrying. Does this indicate that I shouldn't be doing these activities or i should be starting off a little easier? (I've read elsewhere that it's more important to be pushing yourself as much as possible to build muscle tone so unsure if i'm just thinking of this as an excuse to cut back and make things easier). Also, not always but sometimes when I do pushups or go hard on the bike i find that the joints in my knee hurts for a while after. Once again is this dangerous?

 

I feel a little stupid asking this but it's the first time in year I have actually had the motivation to start working on my body properly so I really don't want to give up already, but I obviously don't want to start causing myself long term damage either.

 

any advice on what to do would be greatly appreciated.

cheers

[Ominkipenessy]

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[tman666]

Sometimes my joints creak and crack too. It's very important to get a good warm up before you lift or do anything physically strenuous. Your joints are cushioned by synovial bursa, which are sort of like little "fluid sacks". Warming up will increase blood flow and improve synovial viscosity.

 

Have you ever dislocated your shoulder? Hopefully the clicking isn't related to loose cartilage within the joint or a torn rotator cuff. If it persists, begins to hurt, or limits your range of motion, you need to lay off the pressing movements and probably see an orthopedic doc.

 

If it doesn't limit your mobility or cause pain, I would continue to lift, but use caution. You might want to stay at relatively lower weights for a while and focus on using higher repetitions.

 

Also, make sure that you're doing at least as much pulling movements as you are pressing. This means that if you're doing 30 total reps on bench press, you need to make sure that you're doing at least 30 reps with a rowing movement in the same plane of motion. A better rule of thumb is to keep pressing volume on the lower side, while keeping pulling movement volume high, or even double your pressing volume.

 

Your bench press form can also have an effect on your shoulder health. Make sure that you keep your upper back as tight as possible on the bench. Flex and squeeze together your upper back before you unrack the weight.

 

Using a narrower grip will help too. Wide grip bench press is much harder on the shoulder joint. You won't be able to press as much weight (probably) with a narrower grip, but you'll be saving your shoulders.

 

Another form problem that many people have is flaring their elbows. Keep your elbows slightly tucked. They don't have to be against your sides or anything, but they should be tucked in about 30 degrees.

 

Using this form is a good way to do pushups as well. Again, keep your "pulling" volume as high or higher than your pushing movements to help ensure that your shoulder joint is stabilized.

[thatdog]

Cheers for the advice Tman. One possibly stupid q though. I actually am doing all my exercise from home atm. i have a pair of 6kg weights i started with and just make do atm with higher reps Otherwise I'm just attempting pushups/situps/ etc. Any suggestion for what kind of activity do do at home for pulling?

[perfectlyunique]

I did beauty therapy at college and one of my friends asked our tutor about joints cracking as she thought it was linked to arthritus. Our tutor said apparently joints cracking isnt anything to worry about it just air trapped inbetween the bones/bone joints which causes a clicking sound when moved.

[tman666]

Ah ok, thanks for the clarification. I would focus mostly on push up variations for your "pushing movements". There's a million different variations out there that you can do with bodyweight exercises. Don't forget to do squats too.

 

As far as pulling, pull up bars are easy and cheap to improvise. I built mine by buying a 1 inch diameter heavy duty water pipe at the hardware store (about 10 bucks) and spanning it across a couple of rafters in my garage. I then bolted the pipe to the top of the rafters (about 2 bucks worth of screws/hose clamps). I also wrapped the bar with a high friction athletic tape, which cost about 4 bucks.

 

You can also buy pull up bars that attach to the top of door frames, but I've never used one so I couldn't tell you how well they work. I would caution against the "jam it into the door frame" type and lean more towards a "leverage" type device.

 

Another thing you could do for pulling is getting a sturdy five gallon bucket (like a paint bucket) and a couple 50 lb bags of sand. Wrap the handle of the bucket with a wash rag and some duct tape so it doesn't dig into your hand as much. Fill up as much sand as you need into the bucket and use it like you would a dumbbell for bent over rows.

 

There are a lot of good ideas on RossTraining.com for homemade gym equipment: http://www.rosstraining.com/articles.html

 

For example, you could get an old tire, a rope, and a sledge hammer. Sledge hammer hits on a tire will work your back and just about everything else in your body. Sprints while dragging a tire behind you will destroy your legs and blast your conditioning to the next level.

 

As you can see, intensity is the key here.

[poorguy]

I actually talked with my doctor about this very thing. He said of course with age things will creak or what not. With that though he said for example when people squat down with their knees and you here that crack crack he said typically its because they simply arent drinking nearly an adequite amount of water on a daily basis. Water acts as a lubricant for joints and tendons. So I began drinking 100ounces a day everyday and he was right....that was the entire reason