Rigg once bench-pressed and shoulder-pressed several hundred pounds, so when his left shoulder pain got so bad he couldn’t handle a 10 lb dumbbell, the pain wasn’t the only thing that hurt. As he put it, “It messes with your mind.”

When he started his rehab in March, the sharp pain sat right in the front of his shoulder. Some days he couldn’t lift a glass of water. Pulling a shirt over his head was a struggle, and while driving, he had to walk his fingers up to get his left hand onto the steering wheel. Up to that point, his only real option had been going back to the doctor for cortisone shots, which he knew was a band-aid. He didn’t want shoulder surgery.

After the first 12 weeks, his mobility was clearly better. Movements like the lying side open book, which he struggled with at first, now felt doable. But the pain hadn’t changed much, and he still couldn’t do any pressing. Like most of us, he wanted a quick fix, what he called a “microwave answer,” and the slow progress left him discouraged.

Still, he decided to keep going into the next phase.

The Turning Point

Things really started to click once he began doing three banded exercises every morning and evening. One was scap CARs, with a band looped around his shoulder while he rotated it each way. Another had him standing on the band, lifting up and over and out to the side. He said that pushing down against the band took away about 99% of his pain.

He paired those with a pec stretch, a lat stretch, and a rear delt stretch, all done twice a day. The second phase was also more shoulder-focused than the first, which had included a lot of neck work and foundational building. Over the last five to six weeks, he made what he described as leaps and bounds of improvement.

Results

• Pulling shirts over his head is no longer a problem
• His sleep is back to normal
• He can reach out and pick a book off a shelf in front of him
• Putting his left hand on top of the steering wheel is easy again
• He no longer does everything right-handed and feels confident using his left arm
• His strength has improved noticeably, and he avoided shoulder surgery

What Changed And Why It Worked?

The first 12 weeks laid the foundation by improving his mobility. The second phase built on it with strength. The banded mobilizations helped move the joint and gave him better feedback on where his shoulder needed to be when reaching overhead. Once he gained that new range of motion, he could load into it, and that’s how those changes stuck.

He also admits he would never have figured those exercises out on his own. He’d likely still be getting cortisone shots. Accountability played a big role too. When you’ve invested in a program, you’re far less likely to skip a session just because it’s late.

What He’d Tell Someone After Their First 12 Weeks

He doesn’t hold back here: “You’d be a fool to stop at that point.” The first 12 weeks are about building up. If you stop there, you’ll be disappointed, because for him, the real strength gains came later.

Compared to where he was in March, it’s a night and day difference. The man who couldn’t lift a glass of water can now reach, lift, and use his arm with confidence. For him, that’s “100 times better,” and he’s very grateful he stuck with it.