Q: I have had shoulder tendinitis now for three months. If I wait till it completely heals I might have to wait another 6-9 months before I can weighttrain again.I dont have the patience to go one year without weightrainig and lose all the muslce that I have gained in the past. I have decided to weight train anyway.I can only lift40%(40 lbs weights) of what I used to lift before the injury. But at that level I am not going to gain any muscle anyway so I am not sure if its worth it.what would you do? Since its my right shoulder which is injured can I weighttrain each arm separately. My left arm can withstand about 2.5 times the weight of the injured arm.

A: I would let it heal, even if it takes 6-9 months. Shoulder tendinitis in general only gets worse with stress. As you yourself said, working the shoulder at 40% capacity isn't going to do anything for you muscle- or strength-wise anyway, but it may make the tendinitis worse. Talk to a physical therapist to identify what exercises you can do safely. All shoulder work and probably bench presses are out. You may still be able to do legs, back, and some arms (though a lot of bicep work stresses the anterior deltoid, especially as your elbows come forward). Again, talk to a physical therapist to identify exercises and movements to avoid and for those 6-9 months just focus on those that you can do safely without jeopardizing the healing process.

To address your concern of losing delt muscle mass, just make sure you don't lose weight while you're healing. Without weight loss, local muscle loss will be minimal. You probably will lose a little muscle anyway, especially since it sounds like you're very highly trained, but rebuilding it is always easier than gaining it for the first time. You will also lose quite a bit of strength since your nervous system will be detrained for those movements. Again, it will come back fairly quickly once you restart exercising. So just focus on eating well enough to not lose weight and your shoulders will be back to normal muscle/strength levels soon after you heal and restart exercising. Good nutrition will also speed up the healing process a bit.