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Bench Press: Avoiding Shoulder Injuries

O

Oli

Member
At first I thought it was a myth from gym rats who do stuff like bench to their collarbone (and a lot of it probably is) but I've noticed a lot of powerlifting veterans and serious bodybuilders have serious shoulder injuries.

I love benching - I want to do it until they put me in a wooden box. Can anyone with long term experience give tips on how to avoid shoulder issues? here are some I've found around the place:
- Use different variations of the bench press (this one would be hard to do as I mostly do 5/3/1 and PPP sort of stuff)
- Limit the amount of pressing you do (bench and overhead but then dont go crazy on the incline and decline)
- Balance overhead pressing with bench pressing

Are there any more/better strategies or is injury merely the price you pay?
 
When using the press as an assistance exercise two thing occur.

You develop strength in the prime pressing muscles. ( deltas and triceps) plus, you bench less often ( or should be) hence saving a bit of wear and tear on the shoulder complex.
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Use a closer grip. The angle between the humerus and your torso should not be 90 degs. I see this far too often. 50-60 is more workable.

Contrary to popular belief - it is not necessary to have the barbell drop down to nipple line during a bench press because:

1: Strength transference of around 15 degrees occurs with the bench press exercise, which means the barbell does not have to descend as deeply as the nipple line for complete muscle strength development;

2: If the shoulder capsule is excessively loaded (i.e. which may occur if the bench press finishes excessively low on the down phase and the BB hits the chest), shoulder impingement may occur. Shoulder impingement involves the humerus migrating upward in the shoulder capsule and causes compression of the subacromial bursa. Subsequently, tendons of the rotator cuff muscles (especially the supraspinatus), which should comfortably glide through the subacromial space and perhaps the biceps tendon, experience excessive loading (i.e. they get squeezed or impinged) between the head of the humerous and the acromion and develop tendinopathy. In resistance training exercises, the primary mechanism for shoulder impingement involves poor scapula control and glenohumeral instability;

3: In addition, we are trying to teach movement efficiency and alignment. So, the only time you would lower it nipple line id if you are a power lifter (as they are the rules).
 
dave said:
More work for your back.
Click to expand...

Specifically lower rhomboids and lower traps!
think rope neck pulls, read delt flys, band pull aparts, diesel complex, etc with active scapular retraction.
It all helps prevent excessive internal rotation. Another optionis to add in some chest stretches whilst doing trap and rhomboid work during the rest periods to potentiate their contractability.(A nice trick i picked up from poliquin)
 
n00bs said:
I used to bench quit close but recently changed to Alot widergrip. Is this where most problems come into play?
Posted via Mobile Device
Click to expand...

How wide? Outside of the rings passed the knurling? I would get someone to check out the angle between your torso/upper arm.
 
If your 2 inches inside the ring then thats a pretty normal grip maybe even abit close...I normally go about 1 inch in from the ring.
 
n00bs said:
About 2 inches in from them
Posted via Mobile Device
Click to expand...


Should be okay. Hard to give a one size fits all (really depends on your arm length as well)

I would never bench outside of those rings.

A bit of info for anyone who's interested, this is a study done on varying bench press grip widths.

 
Last edited:
I'm a tall dude, so tend to grip with either middle or index finger on the rings. I've had one shoulder surgery and that was before I got into the lifting side of things. I just make sure to warm up the shoulder(s)/girdle before hand, keep scapula retracted and chest up and out and don't feel any shoulder pain or ever get twinges at all. The only time I had a problem with bench is when I first started and my form was horrible.

Also closer grip benching causes my right shoulder to come forward, no matter what I do I can't keep it stable. That's a bad position for shoulder health, so I try not to do it ofter. I am talking super close grip though.

"Dislocates" are a great warm-up for 'em.
 
Yep, I had surgery on my right shoulder (two keyholes front and back) to remove floating cartilage. Overuse (benching, pressing) from ~2002-2005 was the beginning, falling on an outstretched arm then someone falling across it during MMA finished it off. It's a long way back after a shoulder injury, very important to take care of them.

Feels the best it has in years at the moment
 
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