bench hurts shoulders....

[oracle_man]

I'm tired of hitting the flat bench and only end up with sore shoulders. How can i isolate my pecs and minimize shoulder work?

oracle_man

 

[jverch]

One thing I noticed with my benchin is to make sure chest is sticking out and not to pull shoulders forward...this helped me remove some stress from shoulders and has cause some of my pain to go away.

The other thing is I don't touch my chest with the bar because it overstreches my shoulder with my bio-mechanics. It can put a lot of torque on the joint when stressed like that. I come 1-2 inches above my chest.

Good luck.

 

[JDog45]

The other thing is I don't touch my chest with the bar because it overstreches my shoulder with my bio-mechanics. It can put a lot of torque on the joint when stressed like that. I come 1-2 inches above my chest.

Good luck.

Same with me. I was getting **** for not letting the bar come down to my chest or when doing dumbbell presses, letting them come down very far either. For me it was definately worth not having the pain in the shoulders to sacrifice a couple of inches of movement.

 

[natedogg]

I'm tired of hitting the flat bench and only end up with sore shoulders. How can i isolate my pecs and minimize shoulder work?

oracle_man

There are a few things you can do that have helped me tremdously. One, use dumbbells instead of barbells. Dumbbells give you a more natural range of motion. It also hits your stabilizer muscles a lot better or muscles you usually don't use when using a barbell. If you're worried about going down too far using dumbbells you're using too much weight or you need a spotter. Also, you can't cheat with dumbbells like you can with a barbell using your chest as a trampoline in the positive part of the lift. I'm also fond of working out uni-laterally or working each side seperately to evenly distribute stength to both sides. On a barbell your stronger side will make up for the weaker side always causing a strength difference and usually a size difference in both sides. Two, do rotator cuff exercises. I usually do just the db external rotation which has definately helped a lot with soreness and pain(type "rotator cuff exercises" into a serach engine, you'll find plenty of info). These sites will explain to you why your rotators are so important in training. If you want to isolate your chest more do flyes or something. Either way, most if not all chest exercises involve your shoulders.

 

[Cuffs]

I had to change to incline bench bench press, and dumbells for the flat. This switch greatly helped my shoulders.

 

[size]

I had to change to incline bench bench press, and dumbells for the flat. This switch greatly helped my shoulders.

:thumbsup:

 

[darius]

I had to change to incline bench bench press, and dumbells for the flat. This switch greatly helped my shoulders.

I love incline bench press.

 

[natedogg]

I usually just do incline presses myself. Still trying to build that Arnoldesqe chest. Shyeah...right.

 

[FishBonz]

Keeping your elbows in when flat benching takes a lot of the lift off the shoulders and puts it on the pecs and triceps.

Also, doing heavy decline bench with a narrow grip and keeping your elbows at your side teaches you to push the bar away from your shoulders and to use your triceps more.

 

[MorganKane]

I'm tired of hitting the flat bench and only end up with sore shoulders. How can i isolate my pecs and minimize shoulder work?

oracle_man

I am having the same problem.
I had decompression surgery in my right shoulder and need it badly in my left.

The right one is much better but not 100% and probably will never be.

Now the left one is really painful so bench and shoulder exercises are affected but I do what I can.

I find that using dumbells helps vs barbell. For me going to failure means that I can't lift anymore because of left shoulder pain.

Decline bench is the least painful for me and I prefer doing that one is the machine instead of with barbell/dumbell. I make sure that I keep my elbows towards my body, its sure helps.

I have to in away improvise my workouts dependent on how my shoulder feels but I make the best of it.

Hopefully, I will have my left shoulder fixed by the summer.

Also, make sure you take some supplements for the joints, something like glucosamine - it seems to help me but im not sure yet :think:

Good luck......

 

[MaDmaN]

I had to change to incline bench bench press, and dumbells for the flat. This switch greatly helped my shoulders.

Common problem especially with us ole timers..

Cuffs nailed it...ya what he said :goodpost:

 

[oldfart]

Keeping your elbows in when flat benching takes a lot of the lift off the shoulders and puts it on the pecs and triceps.

Also, doing heavy decline bench with a narrow grip and keeping your elbows at your side teaches you to push the bar away from your shoulders and to use your triceps more.

:goodpost:

 

[Chemist63]

I would think that Incline BB Bench would cause more shoulder pain with the angle. It does for me and I only do DB for incline. Warming up and stretching is the key for me.

 

[Greenguy]

The other thing is I don't touch my chest with the bar because it overstreches my shoulder with my bio-mechanics. It can put a lot of torque on the joint when stressed like that. I come 1-2 inches above my chest.

Good luck.

I have problems with both shoulders, and my solution was to limit the Range of Motion by using a power rack with safety bars that won't allow me to go any lower than upper arms paralell to my torso level. I find dumbell bench presses to be more troublesome because it is harder to limit the degree of descent...

 

[glenihan]

I would think that Incline BB Bench would cause more shoulder pain with the angle. It does for me and I only do DB for incline. Warming up and stretching is the key for me.

it depends what the shoulder injury is ... for me personally flat hurts my shoulder MUCH more than incline

 

[Poobah]

For me.. the trick was putting as many days as possible between shoulder day and chest day. For awhile there, It literally brought a tear to my eye trying to push off. But since switching up, my shoulder as steadily improved. and now Is completely pain free. (thank the lord, and knock on wood. *knock* *Knock*).

 

[joshingyou]

I do Rotator Cuff exercises & theraband excercises along with reg. shoulder routines. I mix it up but stay consistant

For pressing movements I stick with machines. More control, less issues with the shoulders. I vary the intensity by the movement and counts. such as 1 count out 5 count back (= one rep), half reps, etc. I get a very controlled pump. feels great.

 

[-2z-]

I had to change to incline bench bench press, and dumbells for the flat. This switch greatly helped my shoulders.

This is exactly what I did as well. Also, I do rotator cuff exercises before any pushing day as a warm up.

 

[az2u]

Common problem especially with us ole timers..

Cuffs nailed it...ya what he said :goodpost:

I quit benching for four months and did barbell inclines instead. Flys also hurt my shoulders so I dropped
them from my chest work out. Started benching again and my shoulders feel great.

 

[kwyckemynd00]

I had to change to incline bench bench press, and dumbells for the flat. This switch greatly helped my shoulders.

Bump.

 

[Beelzebub]

i switch it up every 2 months or so. flat barbell with incline dumbbell/incline hammer press / or incline barbell with flat dumbbell/hammer press. the dumbbell's aren't an option currently, gym only goes up to 120's.

 

[natedogg]

gym only goes up to 120's.

Don't you hate that ****? My gym is the same. I going to have to switch to barbell's again which is something I really don't want to do. 120's for 15 to 20 reps plus isn't my style you know.

 

[jweave23]

I'll add another notch to the belt of incline bench. I do only dumbell incline press, and fly's (usually machine). Dips are good too, but as far as presses are concerned, I only do slight incline DB's. (BTW, 30 degrees, not 45, just a slight incline is best IMO).

 

[Beowulf]

I have had huge probs with rotator cuffs, but I have been consistently doing the monotonous RC exercises w/ cables and my delts are better than ever. I had a class with a PT who told me the problem is that most people don't have RC symmetry. THis can be attained by tons of RC exercises and DB Rear Lat Raises.

And stay away from the pec dec machine.