Yeah, started at 5 too. For me it was probably physical. At one point I was at a gym – around the age of 30. I was doing really great on all the machines and freeweights. I have a naturally muscular frame and protein agrees with me so I bulk up easily… except….
overhead press.
It was the weirdest thing. Whatever weight I went to, from the max I could handle down to NOTHING, I could only get 7 or 8.
Then, nothing.
I couldn’t do a thing.
I’d rest for a minute or two and try again. MAYBE I could do 5.
Rest for a little. Then maybe 3
Then? None at all.
Consistent pattern.
Asked my trainer about it: he mumbled something about some extra bone that some people have in the rotator cuff that prevents them from being able to do more than a few… but I was a little skeptical. To this day, I have nothing else to go on.
Yet, as a teenager, I won 3rd place in State for my weight class for “Clean + Jerk”. Same kind of motion. The strength wasn’t a problem.
So, all I can figure is that any length of time holding my arms out (or up) at the shoulders was just something I can’t do.
So while in a generic way, perhaps the poker chip thing is right for a majority – for me, it just won’t happen.
I still want to know what the heck it is with the shoulders – but whatever. Never hindered me.
My PTSD over the poker chip thing is _probably_ because both that piano teacher + my typing teacher later mocked when I said it hurt. Thing is: it did. But most teachers teach generically.