Help with benchpress pain

[Deezznutzz]

I'm getting some pain and I can't tell if it's really from the front side or the back side but it's right under my armpit. I think it's more towards the back side. Nothing major but I took off a month from bench pressing and yesterday I lifted with lighter weights ...it didn't seem too bad but the pain is where my back hits the bench. I have proper form with my shoulder blades push together in my shoulders down and right where the left side of my back hits the bench ...that's what is hurting. I had to take a month off. Anybody got any tips.

 

[theotherguy]

Does it only hurt when benching? does it hurt during other exercises? pull downs? pulls ups? pull overs? rows of any type? It's very hard to make any sort of determination of what is actually happening. I had a lat tear right at the musculotendious joint, just outside of that yellow circle. Before it tore, pull ups hurt really bad, and so did any sort of pull over type of motion, but only in the bottom 1/4 of the ROM

 

[Deezznutzz]

So far it only hurts where that part of my back touches the bench doing the bench press. I have not tried any pull-ups lately cuz I hate Pull-Ups. I guess I can try some later. It's feeling a lot better I was able to bench press yesterday with not as much pain after taking a month off I think it's on the mend but I'm just going to keep lifting light until it goes away. It hasn't affected bent over rows pendlay rows or deadlifts and even military press doesn't seem to hurt it

 

[Deezznutzz]

Weird thing is when I first injured it I mean I could still work out but I knew I needed to give it some rest. It kind of seemed like it was in my shoulder but I couldn't really tell where the pain was coming from. Now that is nearly healed I can tell it on that back side of my armpit

 

[theotherguy]

IME, the best thing you can do is find passive and active stretches that get the blood flowing to that area, but do not stretch or move to the point of causing pain. As your painless ROM increases, you can keep pushing the movements a little further. Staying away from exercises that hurt is a MUST, or at a minimum keep the weight below the point of pain.

If your 1RM bench is 400, but you feel pain anytime you go over 225, then don't go over 225. It sucks and it's a big hit to the ego, but you'll be better off for it, and you'll be surprised at how little strength you lose... in fact, I have actually made strength gains coming out of rehab.

 

[JesterBOB]

I agree that it is necessary to remove all the exercises that cause pain and it takes time and wait.

 

[koolio]

Have you experimented with trying a bench press in a machine where you sit upright?...have you tried not squeezing your shoulder blades together?...

 

[Deezznutzz]

Have you experimented with trying a bench press in a machine where you sit upright?...have you tried not squeezing your shoulder blades together?...

Yes I squeeze em together. That's when it hurts.Pains gone now. Just took off four weeks and resumed at a lighter weight.

 

[koolio]

Sounds like you strained something...I know that my lower back has been hurting from trying too hard to getting a big arch...

 

[JesterBOB]

Have you experimented with trying a bench press in a machine where you sit upright?...have you tried not squeezing your shoulder blades together?...

YES. I tried it, but I feel this option is worse.

 

[JesterBOB]

Yes I squeeze em together. That's when it hurts.Pains gone now. Just took off four weeks and resumed at a lighter weight.

The right decision is to reduce the load and not provoke it.

 

[barbell001]

The only thing I can think of here is that you had a slight shoulder injury and the pain was radiating down and being felt in your lat. If the lat was injured then you would have felt it when doing back work I'm sure of it.

 

[Demondosage]

Don’t push your back against shit, just do push-ups for awhile and see how that works

 

[JesterBOB]

The only thing I can think of here is that you had a slight shoulder injury and the pain was radiating down and being felt in your lat. If the lat was injured then you would have felt it when doing back work I'm sure of it.

I'm leaning towards that as well, which is probably the reason. I thought for a long time what the reason was and came to the same option.

 

[JesterBOB]

Don’t push your back against shit, just do push-ups for awhile and see how that works

In general, I think he should not do anything that causes pain. Better to wait. as I wrote earlier.

 

[Demondosage]

In general, I think he should not do anything that causes pain. Better to wait. as I wrote earlier.

I respectfully disagree for one main reason, blood flow to an area helps it heal. Some light work still gets blood to the area and it can also move out the damaged tissue/scar tissue.

I’d also recommend some ultrasound sessions with a chiropractor

 

[theotherguy]

I respectfully disagree for one main reason, blood flow to an area helps it heal. Some light work still gets blood to the area and it can also move out the damaged tissue/scar tissue.

I’d also recommend some ultrasound sessions with a chiropractor

It seems injuries get worse, or at best, take longer to heal, when we avoid using the injured body part altogether.

 

[SquatRaws]

The area you are showing in the picture is where both your external rotators are the infraspinatus and teres minor. If you don't know when you hurt it for example maxing out and got out of position and hurt ever since. and its more of a story like I don't know what I did just started bugging me slowly and started getting worse. The second story is the classic over use injury.

Over-use could come from doing too much volume OR doing some repeatedly in a bad position. Lets say loading up your two tiny little external rotators with a weight meant for the combination of your chest shoulders and triceps all together. Then repping it out on bench.

I see people make this one very small mistake on bench all the time. As the bar approaches their chest usually about an inch away from their chest. Their elbow is directly under their wrist and the bar. (everything is good up until this point). Then to get the last inch of movement they kind of relax and let the bar drop towards their feet just a tinnnnyy bit and keep their elbows where they were or let them flare out.

What happens is the bar is no longer above your elbow. If the bar is no longer above your elbow it causes a rotational force. (this is called a moment arm). Your shoulder is going further into internal rotation and you just performed a small eccentric contraction with your external rotators. Its only a tiny deviation so its barely noticeable but the torque created is mass x distance away from your elbow. The distance is small but the weight is big compared to what your external rotators can handle. Now you have to press back up from this postion. Repeat this for set x reps x workouts and you get an overuse injury.

To fix the mechanics try tucking your elbows a little bit and letting the bar fall a little higher up on your torso. This way when you're loaded up at the bottom of the press your forearm is angled slightly backwards. This way you'll be pressing the bar back toward your shoulders instead of externally rotating it back.

Remember a Bench press is not straight up and down it starts bar, wrist, elbow all stacked over your shoulder. Then at the bottom its bar wrist elbow stacked over your sternum. There is about 6 inches of horizontal distance from your sternum to your shoulder that the bar has to travel during the movement.

Short term fix is moving your grip in a couple inches and tucking your elbows more. Its a lot harder to go into internal rotation this way. You'll still be able to train and get stronger while shit heals. but you have to fix your mechanics after it gets better.

 

[JesterBOB]

I respectfully disagree for one main reason, blood flow to an area helps it heal. Some light work still gets blood to the area and it can also move out the damaged tissue/scar tissue.

I’d also recommend some ultrasound sessions with a chiropractor

Yes, the right things, but there is a fine line between the correct load and the load that causes even more injury.