Quote:
Originally posted by randywebb
This is actually pretty common. Try rock climbing or just switch over to dumb bells. Both will force you to use ("recruit") a lot of the small muscles that stabilize the big ones. The machines probably the worst for isolation (or the best if you want to isolate for various reasons).
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I do dumbbells also. I do at least two exercises per muscle group, and I switch which two exercises I do every week. The only thing in my workout that stays the same from week to week is that I do "light" bench presses on Mondays and "heavy" bench presses on Fridays. Every fourth week I do no weight lifting and only do cardio. It gives my muscles a chance to really rest. I think this has saved me from some stress/fatigue-related injuries. I've been weight lifting for 13 years. The last 11 years, I've never taken a break longer than two weeks. I listen carefully to my body and when it says "not this week" to an exercise, I try something different for the same muscle group. Sometimes my body still tells me no, and I skip that muscle group that week.
When I hear the phrase "work through the pain", I immediately think of expensive, painful surgery later in life...