Chest Pain when benching

[Peckboy69]

4 weeks out from a USAPL National Qualifier.....only 3 weeks left to train before the competition.......I am having nagging pains in the left side of my outer pec when i bench.....its right on the outside of my pec, right by my armpit. I am on a twice a week bench program and now im afraid to bench...i want to take a week off....but i only have 3 weeks left to train before the comp......im hoping i did not tear anything.....i hope it is just a slight strain.....any opinions on what to do, if anything to aid the recovery time of my chest? Thanks Guys!!!

 

[pmiller383]

Does it feel tight during your the concentric phase of the lift?

Do you bench in a shirt or are you raw?

If I were you I would try and find a massage therapist in the area who specializes in athletes because they will be able to loosen up the muscles and hopefully prevent you from tearing your pec or a tendon.

Also you can definitely back off for a week and just work your upper end by doing higher boards. If you are benching correctly then you should really notice the issue if you stay around a 3 and 4 board press. If you're a raw bencher then try using a 1 board or a half foam roller on your chest while benching and don't go crazy with your numbers, just maybe work up to your opener and stick with singles. Remember you aren't going to build any noticeable strength in the next few weeks but you can easily set yourself really far back.

Personally what I do now is before every bench session I use a lacrosse ball to roll out my chest and a trigger wheel to roll out my biceps. I also apply some lineament to help loosen things up and I really exaggerate my warm up to make sure everything is loose. Finally I do some general stretching nightly to keep the area loose and make sure I have the adequate ROM needed to bench safely.

 

[SW4GG3R1F1C]

twice i have had a similar pain on both sides of my chest. the first time was in august and the second time was in november. each time i was in the middle of benching and it felt like the muscle cramped mid bench. my chest was pretty much useless for the next couple weeks. i could start to work chest again but it would just aggravate it more so i took more time off. i probably took about 6 weeks off of chest before i could start to affectively hit chest again. at its worst the pain went from the out side of my chest through my shoulder and into my bicep. it only got that bad when i started to work chest again to soon.

the second time it occured i tried to get mri and when i told the doc i had a pain in my chest he freaked out n told me to go to the ER because when a doctor hears chest pain he thinks heart attack and refused to give me a mri. i went to a few not so conventional doctors and from the best i found out i strained or maybe even partially tore my pectoral minor. it is a little muscle that is underneath the pec major.

the treatment that helped the most was some type of ultra sound combined with electro shock treatment. it drastically helped my chest feel better. i got it done through a chiropractor
good luck

 

[OVERHAUL]

Most likely your form has you using too much of your chest in the lift. Give it a couple of days of recouperation to see how you pull up. This is what I do from time to time, whilst I just up my fish oil, protein and glucosomine as well. You're not going to get weaker. The fact you're in two minds as to how much damage you've done tells me it's probably not a worst case scenario.

When you want to train, consider using a narrower grip till you're firing on all cylinders again.

Definitely the myfascial release techniques pmiller outlines will help you as well.

Good luck.

 

[Peckboy69]

Thanks alot guys....I am going to take friday off of bench...focus on my legs and try light chest next monday and see what happens........ive trained to hard for this to be a retard and try to lift when not 100 percent lol......i am so close to 3 national records for my raw 165lb class.....i just have to stay smart thanks a ton guys!!!!!