Flat Bench- Tweaked Shoulder

[Trapmonster]

Rotator cuff injuries come on flat bench because the lifter isn't doing his proactive part in shoulder protection. Take a page from powerlifters. Pinch your damn traps together. That automatically moves your shoulders to a rear ward position of strength. If your traps are tight you will have a harder time unracking the weight yourself. Get tight stay tight. Thank me later

PS decline bench is the most useless fucking exercise in the entire gym

I do this with my shoulders unconsciously just because the movement feels right. I disagree with decline being worthless because I've see guys with real nice top halves of chest with the bottom being pointy instead full pumped. I like my chest to look evenly from top to bottom. Not saying everyone's chest responds this way, but I personally wouldn't find my chest attractive if I had a pointy bottom sort of where the nipples sit like I've seen with some people.

 

[rubisean]

I have a torn rotator cuff, flat bench hurts on heavy days.... after the first set it gets numb.

Seen a sports medicine doctor that works on the buccaneers and he suggested surgery.
He gave me an alternative to stretch with bands and see if.tjat helps, I try to warm up with them buy most times I just lift and let it get numb.

Dbol Breakfast of Champions

 

[gr8whitetrukker]

I do this with my shoulders unconsciously just because the movement feels right. I disagree with decline being worthless because I've see guys with real nice top halves of chest with the bottom being pointy instead full pumped. I like my chest to look evenly from top to bottom. Not saying everyone's chest responds this way, but I personally wouldn't find my chest attractive if I had a pointy bottom sort of where the nipples sit like I've seen with some people.

Dips are a far far better choice for Pec development than decline bench. If you work the pectorals they will grow as a whole. The two important exercises being flat&incline. Dips being the 3rd

 

[Trapmonster]

Dips are a far far better choice for Pec development than decline bench. If you work the pectorals they will grow as a whole. The two important exercises being flat&incline. Dips being the 3rd

I'll look into incorporating flat and see how my progress goes. So far I've had good results with my program, but I'll switch it up to see how it affects my growth.

 

[rubisean]

Dips are a far far better choice for Pec development than decline bench. If you work the pectorals they will grow as a whole. The two important exercises being flat&incline. Dips being the 3rd

I agree, dips are awesome but kill my shoulder. I wish I could do them, as they do swell up your chest for sure.

Dbol Breakfast of Champions

 

[weighted chinup]

I broke my humeral mid-shaft during a set of weighted dips. Torquing the arm or any kind of twisting with that much weight can be risky business and the tendency might occur for some when they are struggling with the weight on a movement like that is to torque or twist their arms some.

They are a great lift but my preference has returned to flat barbell bench for obvious reasons. Dips have unfamiliar mobility requirements for some lifters to do safely weighted.

I don't have any qualms recommending those who can perform them safely to do weighted dips though, if you refuse to do a movement just because someone you know injured themselves doing it eventually you won't be doing anything at all.

 

[Trapmonster]

I broke my humeral mid-shaft during a set of weighted dips. Torquing the arm or any kind of twisting with that much weight can be risky business and the tendency might occur for some when they are struggling with the weight on a movement like that is to torque or twist their arms some.

They are a great lift but my preference has returned to flat barbell bench for obvious reasons. Dips have unfamiliar mobility requirements for some lifters to do safely weighted.

I don't have any qualms recommending those who can perform them safely to do weighted dips though, if you refuse to do a movement just because someone you know injured themselves doing it eventually you won't be doing anything at all.

How much weight did you have on? I love to work on weighted dips and pullup, but youre scaring me now haha. I have gone up to 70 lbs with dips and I do feel some strain but nothing too bad. Yet.

 

[weighted chinup]

How much weight did you have on? I love to work on weighted dips and pullup, but youre scaring me now haha. I have gone up to 70 lbs with dips and I do feel some strain but nothing too bad. Yet.

It was my second set.

115lbs @ 215lb bw for 3x3 @ 90%.

It was a weight I could hit on a shitty day no problem too.

Weighted pull-ups are easier imo, I don't remember what I got up to for 4x3 prior to the fracture, It's in my log, I believe 70lbs at 215lb bw for 4x3 and chin-ups were 102.5lbs for the same rep range at the same bodyweight.

Everything in my upper body would ache when I would let go of the bars on weighted chins and pulls at that weight though, felt like I got hit by a car each time. They don't scale with heavy weighs very gracefully or maybe I just suck. Only became noticeable when doing 90% work with those lifts though. 85%,80%,75%, no problems and the lifts feel excellent at those intensities, which are the intensities I currently use now.

 

[rubisean]

It was my second set.

115lbs @ 215lb bw for 3x3 @ 90%.

It was a weight I could hit on a shitty day no problem too.

Weighted pull-ups are easier imo, I don't remember what I got up to for 4x3 prior to the fracture, It's in my log, I believe 70lbs at 215lb bw for 4x3 and chin-ups were 102.5lbs for the same rep range at the same bodyweight.

Everything in my upper body would ache when I would let go of the bars on weighted chins and pulls at that weight though, felt like I got hit by a car each time. They don't scale with heavy weighs very gracefully or maybe I just suck.

I caught a case of tennis elbow from chin ups. That crap lasted about 8 months.
I'm so nervous to do.chin ups any more, not sure if any of ya'll have had tennis elbow but is sucks.

Dbol Breakfast of Champions

 

[Trapmonster]

It was my second set.

115lbs @ 215lb bw for 3x3 @ 90%.

It was a weight I could hit on a shitty day no problem too.

Weighted pull-ups are easier imo, I don't remember what I got up to for 4x3 prior to the fracture, It's in my log, I believe 70lbs at 215lb bw for 4x3 and chin-ups were 102.5lbs for the same rep range at the same bodyweight.

Everything in my upper body would ache when I would let go of the bars on weighted chins and pulls at that weight though, felt like I got hit by a car each time. They don't scale with heavy weighs very gracefully or maybe I just suck. Only became noticeable when doing 90% work with those lifts though. 85%,80%,75%, no problems and the lifts feel excellent at those intensities, which are the intensities I currently use now.

It is a whole different world of feels. I guess I've been lucky because I always go for 5 or more. I've only gone 90% about 2 or 3 times. That was when I went up to 201 with 70 lbs attached. Hit it 2.5 times and my collar bones and rotator cuffs hurt. Actually hurt, not soreness

 

[Trapmonster]

I caught a case of tennis elbow from chin ups. That crap lasted about 8 months.
I'm so nervous to do.chin ups any more, not sure if any of ya'll have had tennis elbow but is sucks.

Dbol Breakfast of Champions

That shit sucks, I've had it twice, and this last time felt way worse than when I broke my hand in half, with that painful pulsating throbs

 

[Northern Nutrition]

PS decline bench is the most useless fucking exercise in the entire gym

Decline barbell bench is for guys who cant press three plates, so they get on the decline and press it then say, 'there i did it.'

 

[RodgerThat]

Decline barbell bench is for guys who cant press three plates, so they get on the decline and press it then say, 'there i did it.'

I can't press 3 plates but I wouldn't do decline it's a stupid movement why would anyone want to have blood pool in their face while exerting energy with a heavy barbell placed over their watermelon. Sounds like a cracked skull to me. Weighted dips all the way BW+90 for 8 reps is way more impressive then decline with 315 IMO

 

[Northern Nutrition]

I love dips (weighted or not). My PB is 53 @ 224lbs. Now with the rotator cuff issue im still holding my own with 40 clean @ 212lbs.

 

[gr8whitetrukker]

I get 22 clean ones then I'm begging for a twinky

 

[Crystal234]

Rotator cuff injuries come on flat bench because the lifter isn't doing his proactive part in shoulder protection. Take a page from powerlifters. Pinch your damn traps together. That automatically moves your shoulders to a rear ward position of strength. If your traps are tight you will have a harder time unracking the weight yourself. Get tight stay tight. Thank me later

PS decline bench is the most useless fucking exercise in the entire gym

Wil try this today. Thank you!

Why is decline useless? I see some of the biggest guys at my gym using it often (along with flat and incline). I know that probably doesn't mean much. Just an observation.

 

[Crystal234]

I try to warm up with them buy most times I just lift and let it get numb.

Have you noticed a difference after warming up with bands? I'm guessing not since you said you usually just lift and let it get numb.

 

[gr8whitetrukker]

Wil try this today. Thank you!

Why is decline useless? I see some of the biggest guys at my gym using it often (along with flat and incline). I know that probably doesn't mean much. Just an observation.

The decline barbell is such a limited movement that getting a decent contraction is like a fart in the wind. Dips are a far better choice. Flat &incline are really all you need. From experience imo

 

[Crystal234]

Decline barbell bench is for guys who cant press three plates, so they get on the decline and press it then say, 'there i did it.'

That would be me. Lol

 

[gr8whitetrukker]

I mean if YOU can pull out a decent set of contactions out of decline benches then by all means do them. However I suspect dips bent over at as close to 90° as you can get will be far more valuable than declines. Just my observation.

I've seen some recommend dumbbell declines but no way in hell am I grabbing a set of 150's and turning myself upside down to press them. Dumbbells are awkward enough. I don't need a PhD in stupid to realize that's a bad idea