Anybody here have to say "goodbye" to the bench press for good?

[lil' juicer]

After 22 years of benching I've reached the point where it feels like bone on bone from doing flat bench. Anyone with same problem how did you deal with it and what were your results?

[Tobey]

That has not happened to me but I know some freinds of mine that have had that same problem. It really was just a matter of changing up to other excersise. Try going from the free weight bench to the Smith Machine. It does not incorporate as many stablizing muscles as the free weights but it may give you just enough support to allow you to complete the lifts without any pain. Other than that you may just have to rely on maachines and dumbells to work the chest all of which are just as capable of giving you a good chest workout.
IC

[Biker]

There was a period of two years that I stayed away from flat bench due to the pain it caused in the rotator cuffs in my shoulders.In a way it was a good thing,I had to find ways to work around it,and in doing so got great gains with dumbells.During my current cycle of sust/deca /eq I have been flat benching on a smith machine.The machine,combined with the deca seems to help a lot.Still a little pain,but I guess in weird way I like it.It's worth it to me,I love a max set on the bench.Such a powerful feeling.

[lil' juicer]

By changing up, has there been any appearance in your physique?

[Biker]

I found that flys helped me in the inner chest area,and incline dumbells improved the top quite a bit.Rather than just bench to work the chest in general,doing a few different exercises I was able to focus on specific parts of the chest,which gave me good gains.Also,all the dumbell stuff helped to strenghten all the little balancing and stabilizing muscles,in particular my rotator cuffs.That enabled me to start benching again with less pain and chance of injury.

[GuestPoser]

Don't eliminate the movement (Bench Press), eliminate what's injuring you. More than likely you bring the bar all the way to the chest which puts strain on the rotator cuff(s).

If you simply bring the bar down as far as your chest (not chest and shoulders) will stretch, which is usually about 3 inches away from your chest, you will lose the pain and even get greater gains from the exercise.

More often than not, it is not the exercise it's self that is hurting you. It is usually improper form. Don't quit bench press. That is an amateur mistake.

[Sicilian30]

Personally myself, I hardly do flat bench with free weights with machines either. I stick to incline and prome press (with dumbells). I can isolate my chest better, and just the dangers alone with flat bench, I sure like working out. I always ask myself this question, "how come people who have torn a pec muscle always almost always were doing flat bench when it happened?". Ask yourself that question then you will find the answer I found.

[PaPaPumP]

I do flat bench with dumbells. Decline i do either bar or dbells, and incline is pure dbells. My shoulders get tweaked FAR too easy to be screwing around with a damn bar...but to those who do it, more power to ya.

[Terinox]

I've heard so many ppl talk about that before but what the hell do you do? Do you touch the chest with the bar or not??? I've seen guys who barely even bring the bar down. As if they are just rolling their shoulders, it looks rediculous. For the past two years I've been doing flat with bar and my sets went from 95 pounds at start (25plate on each side) to about 170/175 pounds which is a shitload more. And all that time I did touch my chest!

So what's up with that???

Thnx
Terinox

[lil' juicer]

There is a place for doing partials, that is, not letting the bar touch your chest. Power lifters use this technique in the power rack by adjusting the support bars to modify your range of motion. The reason for doing this is to exercise the weak point in the ascention from the chest. Negatives, forced reps, and static holds are other advanced power boosting techniques. All these techniques are to be used sparingly, to include partials, so why someone would do partials all the time is an oddity indeed.

[Sicilian30]

Lot of the power lifter too I think avoid injury by doing this, when you go all the way down it puts alot of pressure on the joints, and joints for a power lifter are like wheels on a car.

[lil' juicer]

They may well avoid injury, but its sole purpose is to increase power by ironing out the weak spots. Good joints are from genetics and years of using good form.

[Pete235]

Gave it up for ever 3 years ago when I had reconstructive wrist surgery. I only have 50-60% mobility in my left wrist so I can't support barbells during pressing movements of any kind. All my shoulder and chest work is done using dumbells and some hammer strength equipment.