8 Ways to Prevent Injuries

The shoulder is the most complicated joint in the whole body, and most serious lifters will commonly trip some shape of shoulder ache at some factor all through their education career.

One of the most frequent sources of nagging shoulder ache is the barbell bench press.

Although this is one of the most frequent “staple” lifts in most coaching routines, it can location a lot of undo stress on the shoulder joints when carried out incorrectly.

It would possibly appear like a very easy exercising on the surface, however the truth is that there are many small subtleties to take into account if you prefer to maximize chest stimulation and limit damage risk.

If you’re being held lower back through cussed bench press shoulder ache that won’t appear to subside, this submit will define eight hints you can practice to get lower back on the street to bench urgent pain-free.

8 Tips To Eliminate Bench Press Shoulder Pain

1.  Do A Proper Warm Up

bench press warmup

Performing a ideal warmup can limit shoulder ache by using growing core temperature, lubricating the joints with synovial fluid, enhancing vary of motion, and activating the muscle mass and central worried gadget earlier than these heavy benching units to come.

This is an frequently ignored issue of a protected and advantageous exercise however can go a lengthy way in lowering harm hazard and enhancing normal exercise quality.

I won’t go into all of the specific important points here, however you can take a look at out my whole step-by-step higher physique warmup for a easy 10-15 minute sequence you can use earlier than your bench press sessions.

It consists of a suitable combination of dynamic movements, self-myofascial launch exercises, and stretches to get these shoulders warmed up and prepared for the work ahead.

2. Stop Going So Heavy

Here’s the bottom line…

If you’re unable to bench press the weight the usage of acceptable structure and a full vary of movement barring the assist of a spotter, it’s too heavy for you. Period.

Every time I enter the gymnasium it’s a digital assurance that at least one man will be there pumping out sloppy, uneven partial reps (aka “ego lifting”) on the bench press whilst his coaching friend lifts 1/2 the weight for him, but it receives no much less cringe-worthy each time I see it.

Going excessively heavy isn’t going to construct your chest greater correctly if your shape is being compromised as a result. All it’s going to do is expand the pressure on your shoulders, elbows, and wrists whilst reinforcing your terrible lifting technique.

If you’re serious about getting rid of that undesirable bench press shoulder ache for good, it’s quintessential that you go away your ego at the door and solely use weights you can virtually deal with in suited form.

3. Tuck Your Elbows

bench press elbows

While flaring your elbows out at ninety diploma angles theoretically locations greater anxiety on your pecs due to the expanded vary of motion, it can be pure suicide for your shoulders as you development to heavier and heavier weights.

You can also experience fantastic bench urgent with flared elbows proper now, however it will nearly surely capture up to you as the stress accumulates with every passing week and month.

The aim when bench urgent must be to strike a wholesome stability between stimulating your pecs efficaciously whilst defending your shoulder joints at the equal time.

You don’t want to overly exaggerate this (doing so will shift greater of the stress onto your triceps), and an perspective of about seventy five ranges must do the trick as viewed above.

4. Retract The Scapula

bench press retract scapula

When you bench press with your shoulder blades flat in opposition to the bench, your shoulder joints stop up taking on a lot greater stress than they want to.

This is due to the fact the shoulders lose their strong contact with the bench and have nothing to accurate pressure backward against.

In order to stabilize your shoulder joint and forestall workable injuries, make certain to retract your scapula and keep that role for the duration of the whole exercise.

A appropriate cue for this is to squeeze your shoulder blades collectively and then think about that you’re “putting them in your again pocket”.

Keeping a small arch in your decrease lower back will aid with this as well.

5.  Use The Correct Grip Width

bench press grip width

Going too huge or too slender on the bench press locations your forearms into an unnatural attitude that no longer solely decreases your power however additionally will increase the stress on your wrists, elbows, and shoulders.

Everyone has a one-of-a-kind physique shape in phrases of limb length, and for that cause there’s no single grip width that will be best for everyone.

The central purpose is to grip the bar the use of a width that reasons your forearms to be vertical at the very backside of the exercising with your wrists and elbows at once stacked on pinnacle of every other.

Play round with this the use of a lighter weight till you locate the acceptable width, and you can additionally videotape your self from at the back of the bench to make positive you’ve observed the right position.

6.  Pull Just As Much  Than You Push

Most trainees spend way too a lot time on pushing exercises, and too little on pulling exercises. This can reason muscle imbalances over the lengthy time period that ultimately lead to bench press shoulder pain.

This is specifically actual when it’s paired with sitting at a desk in a hunched over role like so many of us do, main to expanded tightness in the pecs, biceps and top traps.

When these muscle tissues overpower your postural (back) muscles, you can also enhance a kyphotic posture which will in flip purpose immoderate anxiety in your shoulder girdle and feasible shoulder impingement.

Shoulder impingement syndrome is an harm in which the tendons of the rotator cuff muscle groups are infected and irritated, main to pain, energy loss and lowered vary of motion.

Aside from making sure that you hold suited posture at some stage in the day, you can additionally counteract this by way of performing at least the identical quantity of quantity on pulling workouts as you do on pushing exercises.

Exercises that instruct your decrease and center trapezius, rhomboids, and rear delts are particularly important, such as rowing variations, face pulls and reverse flies.

7. Strengthen Your Rotator Cuff Muscles

A typical motive of bench press shoulder ache is an imbalance between the foremost movers (chest, shoulders and triceps) and the rotator cuff, a team of 4 smaller muscular tissues accountable for stabilizing the shoulder joint.

These 4 muscle groups are the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, and subscapularis. The infraspinatus and teres minor – each exterior rotators of the humerus – are regularly underdeveloped.

You’re only as robust as your weakest link, and if you’ve been struggling from bench press shoulder ache that won’t go away, strengthening your rotator cuffs can be a beneficial step in the process.

The entire small print of perfect rotator cuff coaching are past the scope of this article (you can discover lots of facts with a bit of similarly on line research), however one of the principal workout routines to center of attention on is a primary exterior rotation:

Image end result for exterior rotations

Keep the weights mild and function the motion the use of a strict, slower cadence for greater reps.

Just make certain to retailer this (and any different rotator cuff workout routines you include) for the stop of your coaching session, as you don’t desire to pre-fatigue your rotator cuffs earlier than your proper exercise on the grounds that this will possibly minimize shoulder stability.

8. Focus On The Dumbbell Press Instead

If you’re a powerlifter, barbell bench presses are an apparent must.

If you’re coaching particularly for muscle increase however, a general barbell bench press is no longer a obligatory carry that you actually have to do.

Despite their popularity, barbell presses don’t possess any “magical” muscle constructing benefits, and if they proceed to worsen your shoulders no matter making all of the adjustments above, switching to a dumbbell press is in all likelihood a smart move.

Dumbbell presses enable for a greater herbal vary of action when you consider that you can press in an arching motion as hostile to being locked onto a constant bar.

Dumbbells additionally enable you to tuck your elbows extra easily, and if your shoulder ache is particularly bad, you can even press with your fingers in a impartial role for an even greater shoulder-friendly variation.

If you aren’t geared up to ditch the barbell press altogether, the different choice is to simply use a dumbbell press as your principal chest workout and function your barbell presses afterwards with a barely lighter weight as soon as your chest, shoulders and triceps are greater fatigued.

Bench Press Shoulder Pain: Conclusion

Any nagging damage can be pretty an annoyance for the serious lifter, and bench press shoulder ache is no exception.

Luckily, most trainees can substantially lower or even cast off their ache altogether the usage of the proper information and approach.

Implement the eight guidelines above and you need to see a marked enchancment inside a few weeks.