+ 2 Shoulder pain during bench
Hi everyone!
I am a 44 male and just started getting back into fitness. I took around 6 years off. I gained a some fat and decided to get back into it. Since I started working out again my bench has been of topic. When I bench I get shoulder pain. I cannot really tell if it's in the joint or if it's muscle. So I am going to try and explain the best I know. When I do incline, I keep my hands about 2-4 inches wider than my shoulders on each side, I keeep my elbows tucked and I bring the weight down to my chest slowly, and then drive up with a moderate push so I can focus on the pump. With that being said, I will get a burning sensation that kind of goes down my shoulders. It feels like it goes from the middle of the deltoid medial to where the deltoid medial connects on the side of the arm kind of by the bicept. I looked up rotator cuff tear and found some youtube videos on pain when raising your arms certain way and cannot conclude if that is it or not. I haven't seen a doctor because I cannot afford it. I am still paying off a ER bill.
This has been going on now for around 2-3 weeks. When I take shower, depending on how I raise my arm to wash my face or hair, I will get pain in the same area.
So my question here is this, is my form off or did I pull a muscle?
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It certainly helped with my shoulder and elbow pain. I'm not sure if i had any tears though.
Funny you mention the shoulder pain doing barbell incline because I get a strange feeling in my shoulders doing them. Overhead Barbell presses are fine but it's just incline press. I've never felt comfortable doing them
I hate saying this but if this gets worse or just bothers the hell out of you it's best that you go see ole Doc. Different areas of the rotator cuff if that's even the issue
Off 6 years. Wonder rear delt size/density. Rear delts keep joint in place
Out of curiosity can you do full depth dips? As in deep enough your hands could touch your front delts? Often times I see people who can bench relatively heavy loads but complain of dips hurting their shoulders. Culprit here being weak shoulders in relation to all the bench pressing musculature. Then they say “well I can’t do dips because they hurt my shoulders” but they need to take the ego hit and get on the assisted dip machine and do proper progressive overload with that full ROM until they can do dips unassisted and then eventually weighted.
I can say with almost certainty (there are obviously outliers and true injuries) that being able to do full ROM weighted dips will make it so your shoulders don’t hurt benching. Regardless if you flare or tuck your elbows.
That was a great question. I haven't done dips in a long time. However, I just set my rack up to do dips and I was able to do dips with no issue. Straight up and sligtly forward, I even tried narrow and wide. All had no issue.
The shoulder is working at a completely different angle in dips so I would be surprised if it aggravated that outer area, all dips ever did was hurt me tbh. Unless your shoulder anatomy doesn't get bothered by them I would steer well clear of them, thats from someone who has a good free standing dip station at home and also the handles that attach to a power rack lol
That’s like saying Nordic curls don’t mimic sprinting so they won’t help sprinting. Yet they absolutely provide injury prevention for sprinting/explosive movements that involve the hamstrings. If you can take your shoulder joint through an extreme range of movement WITH load then it’s “bulletproofed” for lack of a better term for other movements that involve that joint. Bench, shoulder press, upright rows, etc.
I would love to see what happened with your shoulders if you regressed all the way back to assisted dips doing extreme ROM with a weight that doesn’t “hurt” then progressively overload from there. We need to find a way to get you state side, so we can work out together and you become my little gym rehab experiment
DIP's are renown for fucking up shoulders buddy, it puts the whole joint in a bad position and can allow you to easily overstretch them. Maybe some guys with great shoulders and solid genetics can get away with them but many can't. My shoulders have always been very slow to recover, and I also think they are not angled ideally and set back and down well. Even in my natty days when I lifted relatively fuck all if I did deadlifts it would make my shoulders very sore for basically a week. I was also quite a highly ranked tennis player during my teens in the UK and had a very strong forarm which more or less dominated my game, I think that whipping action together with years of serving didn't do my right shoulder (my bad one) any good long term. Unfortunately for @anvil I no longer wear my tight little tennis shorts.
This is why I quit doing dips. I know its not the same angle but if I really want to hit that range bad enough, I'll do decline bench. Keeps most of the pressure on different muscles, way less stress on the shoulders.
I still do dips wearing the dip belt with plates hanging but dips can be bad for the shoulders no doubt. Especially anterior part of shoulder.
"I still do dips wearing the dip belt with plates hanging"... nice to know you're "taking it easy" jesus bro LOL
That's @DeeMan just doing some light physical therapy LOL
I didn't say the weight of the plates lol @TrestNBleev ...ok I admit lets say about 15 pounds lol. But nah sounds foolish I know but trust me I paid a price for it with one of my elbows. The damn thing gets inflamed after awhile. It isn't bad but just annoying at times. But that's been the case since my early 20's so I've gotten use to it.
Hey @DeeMan , you do you! I'm not one to judge. Maybe I'm just jealous you can still do them at all LOL
but I'll pay the price for it eventually. We are only human ...some of us are more stubborn humans lol. But in all seriousness you see former bodybuilders and weight lifters with all kinds of problems later in life like bad knees, bad back, bad shoulders etc. Not good. So guess we gotta try and be careful. But eventually it takes it's toll in one way or another
I’ve known BBers who got into pain meds for this very reason. Scary shit.
anvilThe ones I gave you for xmas?
@Stokes500 Yes or No to Bodyweight Dips being a shoulder pain aggravator or not advisable?
If I had a client with nagging shoulder pain I would keep them away from dips as your correct it will aggravate existing shoulder injuries , but under normal circumstances I highly recommend dips for chest development.
One of the first things I would look at with someone complaining of chest pain when benching pressing would be form, are they pushing the shoulders back and chest forward or are they over engaging the shoulders in the movement
Thing is with the whole shoulders back and down tucked into pockets position, is its very hard to do when unracking yourself and then holding it without coming out of position. Or maybe thats just hard to maintain when going heavy. Effectively when you are unracking yourself you are kinda lifting the bar from behind you, or directly from over your mouth if you can get it exact - even then its hard not to hit the catches on the way back up when benching yourself. If I had a handoff (not to be confused with anything else) it would make it so much easier, or one of those tilting arm benches!! lol
Big day tomorrow eh bud, are you going to post the results up on here?
I personally believe dips are renowned for fucking up shoulders because people don’t work their way up to them properly. They just immediately go straight into body weight or weighted dips, feel some pain, and tough through it. Whereas if they used the assisted dips machine with enough help to not feel pain and progressively overload from there, then they would never fuck up their shoulders doing them.
This concept coincides with deadlifts perfectly as well. How many people say “oh I don’t deadlift because it just fucks up my back” or “don’t squat with your knees over your toes because your knee will explode”….there is nothing inherently dangerous about putting a joint through a full range of motion. There is something inherently dangerous about doing it loaded with a joint that isn’t ready for it though.
In all our pursuits to big beefiness, I think we let mobility go to the wayside. Especially loaded mobility.
Ok I’m done pontificating now lol
This is a great point and why I did mine in so badly. Should have done the assisted first. Also not going all the way down to the bottom of the movement until I built up the muscles.
MMmmm thats probably more the reason as guys will just jump straight into them rather than warming up with a sub par bodyweight. I still think they cause too much straining on the front area though, they make my wrists painful too.
That’s fine. There’s plenty of other exercises to achieve the same purpose. How do strict OHP make your rotators feel? Or really close grip bench?
Oddly enough close grip bench is the thing that can cause an odd feeling in my shoulders. I gotta do them third or fourth in my work out so my shoulders are really warmed up for them to feel “good”
I can do seated military barbell press and close grip bench no problem, its just the soreness that occurs afterwards that keeps me from bench for a long time that I don't like. I find with close grip I can get a lot of soreness due to a lot of internal rotation I believe in the shoulder joint itself.
When you say soreness I’m guessing you aren’t meaning muscle soreness? Something deeper and more like with the structure of the joint itself?
Are you bench pressing heavy? Just asking. Doesn't matter because any amount of weight can aggravate a rotator cuff or cuffs because there's more than one rotator cuff. I would stay away from benching period and use plenty of ice to decrease inflammation and heal.
This injury is the only injury I've had bench pressing and I normally use a good amount of weight so chances of injuries goes way up. Hopefully your injury is minor like mine was. Easy does it, it takes time.
I start off with 135 for 15 reps to warm up, then I will put on 225 on for 10 reps 4 sets. I normally do Incline, flat, and decline. Inbetween each bench, I will do flys or pecdeck.
Ok I see. But like I said any weight has the possibility of causing problems at certain times. Think about it, sometimes folks will tear a rotator cuff just doing a normal movement and not ever realize it. To this very day I hate doing incline barbell presses because I can feel something crazy in my left shoulder going on but it doesn't bother me while benching or on dumbbell inclines
I didnt realise Bench Press was a thing nowadays haha. The risk vs reward is just not worth it nowadays especially with the equipment in the gyms where you can really focus on loading the targeted muscle really well without loading up and battering the joints, ligaments and tendons also I find you can really isolate the area better. I like to do some Dumbell work over barbells then like to use the plate loaded machines or Smith
Buddy, I have been dealing with this exact same sensation too for the past several months. I have found the longer I don't bench the more it tends to heal up, then if I lift heavy because I think I'm fine although I can press fine the soreness comes on over the next 24 hours again Lol Its a very strange feeling isn't it with it coming across from the outside of the arm into the front shoulder area. When you unrack the bar it can initially make the arm very unstable when you are locked out at first and can cause a slight wobble, lurching forwards a little. I mainly notice it as the bar descends down to the chest but then as you press back up it tends to be fine. It can definitely cause loss of strength on the way down though and sometimes it feels like you have to compensate for it with your opposite arm. I have come to the conclusion that its a problem with the infraspinatus muscle in the RTC and if you do the external rotation exercise where you have your arm by your side with your hand bent and extended forwards, then when you turn it to the side against a wall you will feel a pull in it, you can slightly feel it when doing internal rotation too into the torso. I think its just a case of letting it heal in time, there is probably a tiny tear in it but obv not a full one as optherise you would not be able to lift.
This was very useful! I do notice the samething. I think I will stay off the bench for 2-4 weeks and focus on core and legs between now and then. Maybe before hitting the bench start focusing on shoulders and arms a little more as well?
So I see you have 2 tears going on then mate? Did he give you any idea of what Grade they are such as 1, 1.5 or 2? If you lay off training totally until you see him next and do rehab exercises together with getting some good nutrition in you then you may well heal them up. Depends if you can lay off the shoulder work though. Get lots of EAA's and Isolate into you, as well as Collagen Peptides and Vit C. Cannot believe that cost $3500!!!! Christ ....
What you are going to have to try and avoid bud is any movement pattern that is similar to that of the bench press groove, so try stay away from things like barbell rows which are pulling your arms forward as this will strain that area too, in effect dumbell rows too. I guess any upper body exercise is going to stress it to a degree as the rotator cuff is designed to keep the ball in the shoulder socket and pretty much all the lifts are trying to pull it out to some degree. Your safest areas to train are going to be legs, core, biceps. Maybe do chest and shoulders but just stick at 50% 1RM weight for a few weeks.
^^^I felt like I was reading a page from my little pink diary with the bow on it. (Doesn't everyone have one of those?) Every single word right down to the shower scene. I have the same issue with the exception that I now believe the origin is completely muscular and not bone/joint. I also tried two things that seemed to help. 1) I warm the whole thing up by doing the movements. No shit, and I know I'm going to get some eye-roll here because it takes a lot of time to do this (wastes time LOL) - but seriously 10lb plates, 30 reps, 25lb plates, 30 reps, 2 wheels, 3 sets of 10, then onto my real set. It really works. Totally negates whatever workout you're actually trying to do but hey, getting old is no joke. Gotta do shit differently. 2) I started forcing my hands further down my chest, lifting up from almost underneath the nipple, closer to the upper abdomen. It keeps me from accidentally cocking my elbows out and it seemed to alleviate the shoulder pain somewhat. I also stopped pinning my delts because apparently those days are over.
Definitely the joint. It’s a rotator cuff strain. It will go away in a few days if you don’t overuse it. This is of course assuming it’s the same thing I get when I’m a bit overzealous with my bench and lateral raises.
It certainly sounds the same, but obviously I only know my own body and not exactly how yours is feeling.
Take it easy on anything that causes you pain for a week. If it doesn’t get better in a week then you might have to see someone about it.
So these types of injuries are common, especially when bench pressing. You mentioned tucking your shoulders which is important. Do me a favor..with your hand in front of you standing up, rotate your palm so that your thumb is pointing down, now come upward at a slight angle towards your side with that same arm. If you feel a sharp pain then possibly a rotator cuff. Problem is poor blood circulation so healing is slow. Look up different rotator cuff exercises and use high reps to get a good amount of blood to circulate in that area. Ice will also help. I say this but ultimately if severe your Doctor will have you take an MRI scan test. If confirmed, an Occupational therapist can help a bit more with this issue.
That was helpful. I just ruled out rotator cuff, thank Odin.
Good deal
I don’t think you pulled a muscle but I’m obviously not sure. Some things that can help if it’s the joint is some”shoulder joint mobility movements” look that up in YouTube and find like a 5-29 minute shoulder mobility warm up routine to start doing everyone you go to the gym. Then I do something like lateral raises with FIVE POUNDS like literally almost nothing, then rest for a minute and then I’ll do it with the tens. Then I’ll start my chest workout but I do not start with a pressing movement( like bench or dumbbell press). I’ll usually start with light cable work. Later in the workout when I get to incline bench, there’s now tons of blood in that muscle and joint. The combination of doing all these things has reduced shoulder discomfort for me about 90%. Some days I’ll still feel a little pain there and I’ll try some more warm up stuff but if I can’t get it to go away then I skip incline bench so I don’t make the “injury” or whatever it is, worse.
Hope this helps bud, if stuff like this doesn’t help at all then you may have an actual injury and need to see someone. Also you can try joint supplements, and staying well hydrated, taking collegen. Also some healing peptides like tb-500, bpc-157. Also I guess Anavar can help strengthen connective tissue also.
That's good money right there. +1 Crazy because the pain really does feel like pain from poor circulation. Never thought about it until I read that. I'm cycling TB and BPC in my shoulders soon to see if it does the trick.