

“You need to take this supplement-nothing else worked until I tried this.” When you ask your friends what to do, everyone has a different opinion. It hurts just enough to keep you from making any progress in the gym, but not enough for you to stop lifting entirely. Weeks go by, and now your shoulder hurts when you type, hold a steering wheel, brush your teeth, or do just about anything with your gimpy arm. You’ve had aches and pains before, but this is different. The same thing happens a week later, though, and this time the pain gets progressively worse with each set. It only lasts for a moment before you slam the bar back onto the rack, so you shrug it off and keep going. You unrack the bar, lower it to your chest, and right at the bottom a sharp pain shoots through your shoulder. It’s bench day, and you’ve just loaded the bar with enough weight to set a new PR.

