
Originally Posted by
Luminaire
Ok my shoulder is pretty busted up and im wondering how to fix it. It hurts when i do bench and i go ALL the way down, 2 inches before the bar touches my chest and im good, it also hurts during military presses and it ESPECIALLY AND EXTREMELY HURTS when im doing any sort of pec flies. Any advice on how to rehabilitate it, I try stretching during the week and whenever im in the

Ill hit it with some warm water and give it a little massage and nothings working

and i really dont have time for physical therapy, and im on cycle so i really cant stop workin out... thanks for ne advice
Some advice:
1. Obviously, go get it checked. Better to catch an injury early than to let it go.
2. Time to rest for a while. Let your body heal.
3. Elbow position on bench press can lead to greater stress on your shoulders. There is debate on how the hands should be held and where elbows should be. If you want to reduce stress on your shoulders during bench press, consider the following (for flat and decline bench presses):
A. Your grip should place your ams in a position where your forearms are perpindicular to the floor at the bottom of the motion. In other words, when your upper arm (biceps/triceps) are parallel to the floor, your elbow should form a 90 degree between your upper arm and forearm.
B. While bench pressing, it puts undue stress on your shoulders when you try to position your arms so that the arm pit forms an angle close to 90 degrees between the torso and the upper arm (biceps/triceps). The safest place for your elbows when bench pressing is in a position where the arm pit forms a 45-50 dgree angle between the torso and upper arm (biceps/triceps). The farther your elbows are away from your torso, past an angle of 45 degrees, the closer the bar must move up your chest toward your chin (if your forearms are kept perpindicular to the floor--which is correct form). The further you move the bar above your chest-nipple line, the more stress you put on your shoulders.
C. Keep the bar at or slightly below the nipple line, with forearms perpindicular to the floor. This will put your elbows in the correct position.
4. When doing flyes, variations of bench presses, or variations of shoulder presses, there is NO NEED to go past parallel at the bottom of the rep (Parallel is the point at which your elbows are even with your shoulders). Once you pass the parallel mark, you're putting excessive stress on your shoulders, which will slowly tear up your shoulders without pain until they are so damaged that the lifter begins to experience chronic pain.
DO NOT WORK THROUGH THIS TYPE OF PAIN.
If you are unlucky to have reached this point--where you're experiencing pain--you need to stop lifting and see a doctor AND a therapist. You need to follow the therapists directions carefully. You should not lift again until it is healed or until the therapist directs you to resume lifting.
Once you begin lifting again after healing. DO NOT GO PAST PARALLEL.
Getting a "good stretch" during an exercises is often more dangerous than helpful. Once you pass parallel on pressing exercises, you are placing too much stress on the joints and tendons which--contrary to popular belief--takes away from the stress that's placed on the muscle you're trying to work.
Get well soon!