Deltoid pain from bench?

[Krb367]

Does anyone else ever get this? It doesn't happen every time, but the pain always comes after a chest day. Lower deltoid, outside of my arm close to where the top of my bicep is..

I can't seem to figure out exactly what movement I do incorrectly to aggravate. When I do though, it feels awesome. Sometimes its painful enough that I can't do any shoulder or chest for a week.

[marcus300]

I stopped doing BB flat bench years ago it just rips my shoulders to bits.

[Schwarzenegger]

whoa Marcus ur fukkin huge

u compete?

[GSXRvi6]

I used to have that problem, turns out it was how I was sleeping. I quit sleeping on my shoulder and the problem went away.

[kelkel]

If it's irritating you after every workout you may be on the road to some deep seeded inflammation if you don't ease up. Drop the exercise for a while and do other things. Let it heal now instead of paying the price later.

[Krb367]

I used to have that problem, turns out it was how I was sleeping. I quit sleeping on my shoulder and the problem went away.

Yeah I've noticed before the way I sleep will make an impact on the pain level. I need to try sleeping on my stomach or back only.. Wonder if sleeping on my shoulder is what is starting it, then I lift and make it worse or vice versa

[Krb367]

I used to have that problem, turns out it was how I was sleeping. I quit sleeping on my shoulder and the problem went away.

Yeah I've noticed before the way I sleep will make an impact on the pain level. I need to try sleeping on my stomach or back only.. Wonder if sleeping on my shoulder is what is starting it, then I lift and make it worse or vice versa

[Krb367]

If it's irritating you after every workout you may be on the road to some deep seeded inflammation if you don't ease up. Drop the exercise for a while and do other things. Let it heal now instead of paying the price later.

Its not every time kel. But this go around the pain was only gone for about 2 weeks. Could be a coincidence but it started again when I got back out here to the rig and did chest the first time. We sleep on rock hard twin size beds.. And I've also thought about our weight setup we have out here.. For dumbbell press we use the loadable Olympic dumbbells that take oly sized plates. It gets awkward trying to get setup and laying back with a 35 or 45 on each side.

[kelkel]

I understand. I really suggest you just find something that doesn't hurt and focus on that for now. I've been there and it sucks when the next thing you know you have a serious issue which halts training. Listen to your body!

[evander87]

Oh god yes!!! I used to get the worst pain in my shoulders after a good bench dumbbell or barbell. I had a PT point out that I needed to lock my scapula back thus reducing the delt in the pec exercise. My chest has since grown noticeably and while my lifts initially went down they have gone past where I was before.

I grab onto the bar. Lift my torso up. Pinch my scapula back and set myself back on the bench. Then lift.

Eat meticulous, train ridiculous for best results.

[MODO]

I used to be a personal trainer before going to grad school, and >90% of my clients that came to me with this problem had no idea how bad their bench form was. Particularly on heavy lifts people tend to drift up with the bar so the shoulders can pick up the slack of the tiring chest ------> bad. Also, most people drift the bar to the stronger shoulder to compensate causing an imbalance and eventually injury.

Many people who consider themselves experienced will be guilty of these sins without realizing it since they are too busy grunting and trying not to shit their pants on the last rep!

Consider paying for one session with a good trainer to focus on this. Alternatively, video your form. Just a thought man.

[kelkel]

I used to be a personal trainer before going to grad school, and >90% of my clients that came to me with this problem had no idea how bad their bench form was. Particularly on heavy lifts people tend to drift up with the bar so the shoulders can pick up the slack of the tiring chest ------> bad. Also, most people drift the bar to the stronger shoulder to compensate causing an imbalance and eventually injury.

Many people who consider themselves experience will be guilty of these sins without realizing it since they are too busy grunting and trying not to shit their pants on the last rep!

Consider paying for one session with a good trainer to focus on this. Alternatively, video your form. Just a thought man.

Good advice! Funny as well.

[NaturalUN]

Just use dumbells, or try lowering the weight and start from scratch, nail your form, could be as simple as that. Watch a few videos on bench press form, you might learn something off that? Or get a friend to watch you/film you and look at it and compare to the videos. Maybe you'll notice something they're doing differently.

Good luck bro.

[Beethoven]

I actually had a sloppy form on my bench, (didn't think so at the time) which caused a slap tear on one of my delts. I read an article about benching and proper form, applied it to my bench and no more problems.

[hellomycognomen]

Could be an inflamed tendon, weak rotator cuff, flaring out your arms as you press? who knows man.

[M302_Imola]

When doing any form of chest press pay particular attention to your shoulder to elbow alignment, especially at the bottom of the movement. Your elbow should not be directly in alignment with the shoulder, instead the elbow should angled slightly inward (toward your waist) to take the load of the front delt. This is kinda hard to explain, but I hope you get the idea.

[Krb367]

Thanks y'all, I appreciate all of the helpful advice. It's definitely some sort of inflammation issue.

Every comment I've read has helped me notice a lot of possible culprits.. I'm sure my form could use some tweaking. The past few hitches it's been cold, and having a 3-4 layers of clothing on doesn't let me get near as tight on the bench as I would like. And watching my motor hand bench the other morning, you can see the bench rock/shift slightly to one side when laying back into it with weight (due to one of the legs being bent.) Noticeably leaving one side of your upper half lower than the other.

Who knows. Delt is finally starting to feel better though, so hopefully it won't be too long until I can hit the chesticles again!

[M302_Imola]

If you do still have pain in the delt after chest day then I would recommend icing it immediately after your workout...20 mins should do the trick and help reduce inflammation.

[gearbox]

Stop doing bb flat.

Many other useful and better chest development exercises. No need to risk further injury. There is a huge reason why many seasoned lifters do away with flat bench. They see no added benefit but definitely added strain.

[MODO]

I use this on rough shoulder days http://www.howmuchyabench.net

[M302_Imola]

I use this on rough shoulder days Home of the Sling Shot

So this helps save your shoulders? Has this lead to strength increases with you?

[psyBorg]

Nice thread, I wasn't aware so many ppl had this issue with flat bench!

[MODO]

So this helps save your shoulders? Has this lead to strength increases with you?

Absolutely it has! It is like a spotter for the deep part of the movement. However, you have to be careful not to over use it or you will risk becoming dependant.

I still make sure I lift atleast one heavy set without it to prevent losing naked strength.

[MODO]

Nice thread, I wasn't aware so many ppl had this issue with flat bench!

Most often a GOOD trainer can correct this over time. But... not every trainer is competent enough

[M302_Imola]

Absolutely it has! It is like a spotter for the deep part of the movement. However, you have to be careful not to over use it or you will risk becoming dependant.

I still make sure I lift atleast one heavy set without it to prevent losing naked strength.

Good idea...thanks for the info.

I lifted chest yesterday and really concentrated on my elbow to shoulder alignment and made sure to not bow out my elbows on the negative and felt an amazing chest pump. My delts aren't the least bit sore this morn. SCORE!!!

[JinNtonic]

Heavy flat bench kills my shoulder. I have stopped flat bench completely. Not worth tearing it.

[MODO]

Good idea...thanks for the info. I lifted chest yesterday and really concentrated on my elbow to shoulder alignment and made sure to not bow out my elbows on the negative and felt an amazing chest pump. My delts aren't the least bit sore this morn. SCORE!!!

nice!

[rocco-x]

flat bb bench always kills my left delt but for some reason i can go pretty heavy on db bench,flat or incline with much less irritation.

[Krb367]

Well I laid off the barbell and heavy dumbbells for a couple weeks.. Did more cable flies, hammer strength press (had to have someone pull the right sidee out to eliminate the shoulder work at the beginning), and pull overs.

Pain is almost completely gone! Cleaned the sand out of my vag and did barbell a few days ago and it felt good. One good thing that came from this was implementing the dumbbell pullovers. Never had actually used that movement and I have to say I really enjoy them

[wicked442]

Def use a slight incline and switch to db. Try rev grip bb bench as well. This really isolates the chest. Hope it gets bettet bro. Do you do weighted dips?

[MODO]

Def use a slight incline and switch to db. Try rev grip bb bench as well. This really isolates the chest. Hope it gets bettet bro. Do you do weighted dips?

Incline shoulder dumbbells for someone with shoulder problems? I'd strongly advocate against this.

Keep focusing on proper technique on flat barbell. Shoulders back, elbows in, banana-shape motion through the movement. Don't let one side drift, keep the bar centred and perpendicular to your body. And don't over due the weight too fast.

Now that you are healed you have a chance to slowly learn the proper way and get strength gains on the bench you never knew existed, without hurting yourself.

[MODO]

Haaaa... whoops, bumped it a few months. Meh, needed to be said.

[Hrothgar]

Do you lower the bar down to right below your chest or your nipple line? Some people tear their shoulders up by having the bar too high up on their chest and their shoulders take a lot of the weight.

[MODO]

Do you lower the bar down to right below your chest or your nipple line? Some people tear their shoulders up by having the bar too high up on their chest and their shoulders take a lot of the weight.

You have to bring it down on your chest, hence the "banana motion". Keep your elbows in and your forearms perpendicular to the ground and the bar will track down your chest naturally.

[MODO]

You have to bring it down on your chest, hence the "banana motion". Keep your elbows in and your forearms perpendicular to the ground and the bar will track down your chest naturally.

If you google bench form you should be able to find some pictures of this banana I keep mentioning. I'm not crazy I swear.

[MODO]

attached

[wicked442]

Incline shoulder dumbbells for someone with shoulder problems? I'd strongly advocate against this. Keep focusing on proper technique on flat barbell. Shoulders back, elbows in, banana-shape motion through the movement. Don't let one side drift, keep the bar centred and perpendicular to your body. And don't over due the weight too fast. Now that you are healed you have a chance to slowly learn the proper way and get strength gains on the bench you never knew existed, without hurting yourself.

Dude i have shoulder pain with flat barbell bench but not with slight incline db. It is also pain free with rev grip bb. That is why i suggested this to op. It works for me.

[scotty51312]

OP,

Even though I feel flat BB bench is nothing more than an ego trip and you can build good pec without it.... This is my advice. For me its old school thinking to think that your pecs just move your arms. The pecs are also responsible for moving your shoulder joint forward.

Try flat benching and at the bottom of your rep pull your shoulder blades back as if you were trying to squeeze a tube of toothpaste between them. Then through the rep concentrate on your shoulder moving forward just as much as your arms extending. This will help you target the pecs more and the delts less

[MODO]

Dude i have shoulder pain with flat barbell bench but not with slight incline db. It is also pain free with rev grip bb. That is why i suggested this to op. It works for me.

I figured that was the case, it's true we are all unique in body mechanics.