I used to skip workouts because I was working late or because of injuries or CNS blow-out.
But recently I've started working out smarter, staggering my heaviest sets and drilling form on compound lifts to avoid injury. My injuries have virtually disappeared despite some fairly brutal sets (220kg x 10 DL last week). Learning how to properly brace my core with proper abdominal breathing and tension has helped immensely with deadlift-induced lower back soreness.
I've also started going the gym before work so working late is no longer an excuse for me.
The only nagging problem I have left is some slight rotator cuff tenderness, which has nagged me for years because of ego-wanking my bench press sets as a skinny youngster.
Face-pulls are meant to offset some of the bench press-induced stress on the rotator cuff muscles by strengthening the antagonistic muscles that form the rotator cuff (most soreness is caused by excessive load on two of the four muscles that make up the cuff ultimately leading to impingement and tendonitis).
Or so I'm led to believe, seems to be working regardless.
