hELP FOR FRIEND

[Hidngod]

I have a friend who works out with his son. The boy is ~20 yrs old. They've been working out for years in a home gym, and have never had any proper training. They mostly do various benching, ab, and squatting work. Some rowing. Rep ranges 4 - 8. They don't got really heavy, compared to most on here.
The problem is with the boy. He says he has joint pain, knees, shoulders, hips, elbows, wrists.
I'll get more info today, but can anyone think of why he might have this kind of systemic pain? Also, any OTC supplements to help?
I already suggested going lighter with higher reps, and taking Chondroiti/MSM. He seems a bit young to require these though.

[PeteM]

If they've never really trained properly as you point out, likely doing mostly pushing exercises - good chance they have built some tremendous muscle imbalances. Quite possible in the 20yr old as he is passing through the time when rate of strength gain and hypertrophy are peaking.
Hopefully this is the answer and it's not something more serrious. This may be a good place to start though.

[Hidngod]

Thanks, Pete.
A little more info:
They usually do 3 sets per exercise. ! warmup, 1 intermediate, and one working.
They also do pushups.
My buddy couldn't say what weight they use. They don't have many plates, so they just add plates as needed. The old man eats pretty well, the young guy,not so much, but better than most kids, I guess.

[Killer]

Wow. If he truly is in pain in all his joints, that is not good. There are some wasting conditions that can cause that, although I am not all that familiar with them. One wears your cartilage away.

I would tell him to go see an ortho and pursue this further.

[J. Adams]

Rheumatoid arthritis was the first thing that came to mind tbh. Painful inflammation of the joints is it most common symptom.

[dirty~d~]

At 20 he's pretty young for R.A., BUT it is possible.

HG - Do you happen to know if they have the proper diet and water intake for their activity level? Sometimes the answer is a simple one. Dehydration can cause joint pain... in all joints. Try to get more info out of them if you can. :)

[Hidngod]

Well, he seems to be well hydrated. They don't really work legs. And the only back work they do is pull downs with a light stack on their home machine.
He's 23. They've been working with weights for 8 years.
The only actual rowing they do is.....wait. Nothing. It's an incline, face down, rear delt thing.
I recomended adding barbell rows. And dropping the barbell curls.
I also recomended Deads, but the old man had more excuses than a victim at an Amway recruitment meeting. when I started talking to him about proper form he said
This is getting too complicated, Hidn.
And it turns out the squats they do are bodyweight, because they don't have a squat rack.
Seems I get the story one piece at a time.
So he's adding an exercise and dropping one. He's adding fish oil, and in a month if there's no improvement he's adding Glucosamine and MSM.

[Hidngod]

whoops, double post