Press and shoulder health

[zar9star]

I cant remember having shoulder pain when I used to press regularly. At the moment I feel like my shoulder is fucked up. It pops whenever I move my arm and hurts a bit. My bench form is correct. The press is known to be good for shoulder health. However does that imply that its necessary for shoulder healt? Can the lack of presses be a reason for shoulder injuries?

[jfallon9]

I cant remember having shoulder pain when I used to press regularly. At the moment I feel like my shoulder is fucked up. It pops whenever I move my arm and hurts a bit. My bench form is correct. The press is known to be good for shoulder health. However does that imply that its necessary for shoulder healt? Can the lack of presses be a reason for shoulder injuries?

Get Your Press Up! | T Nation

I had to confront this myself. I made the error of training the bench press for 15 years without heavy pressing, and it got me two shoulder surgeries (the press keeps your anterior and posterior shoulder strength in balance, the bench doesn't) and the realization one day that I couldn't correctly press 35% of my bench. Which is bullshit.

-Mark Rippetoe

[David McClelland]

I cant remember having shoulder pain when I used to press regularly. At the moment I feel like my shoulder is fucked up. It pops whenever I move my arm and hurts a bit. My bench form is correct. The press is known to be good for shoulder health. However does that imply that its necessary for shoulder healt? Can the lack of presses be a reason for shoulder injuries?

Absolutely! I avoided presses most of my life (I'm 46 now) and have dealt with chronic rotator cuff pain. There was also the constant popping while doing various things. My left shoulder especially always felt really "funny" like it was coming out of socket when getting heavy on the bench press and eventually I couldn't get past a certain weight without crippling pain, after which I gave up on the press for years.

I've only been doing SS (and hence presses) for about a month and have every bit the should development I had when I was doing all the lateral raises and also am back up to my painful bench press but this time with NO shoulder issues. I plan to surpass the weight on the bench press I never could all my life on my next bench press session.

[Meshuggah]

When the Standing Press was King, shoulder injures were rare. For many people, Bench Pressing = Shoulder Problems.

[JohnW]

When the Standing Press was King, shoulder injures were rare. For many people, Bench Pressing = Shoulder Problems.

Would you bench at all or leave it out completely?.

[Daverin]

Would you bench at all or leave it out completely?.

It IS a part of the program for a reason: if you can do it safely, it allows you to progress raw pressing strength faster than the press alone, which can help further progress the press itself.

If you are worried about shoulder health in the bench, just modulate factors like form and frequency. An emphasis on factors like narrow-medium grip, low touch point, and relatively high external rotation and correspondent elbow tuck tend to put your shoulder in a safer range to work with. And less bench frequency means more time to recover from any motion that may lend to overuse.

[OZ-USF-UFGator]

My shoulder was fucked 2 years ago and I nearly gave up bench press. I could barely steer my car at one point. Then I watched a bench video that showed me that my grip was too wide and my elbows were too flared. Fixed the form, which temporarily knocked ~10% off of my weight and then worked back up. Shoulder problems magically disappeared within a few weeks.

[JohnW]

It IS a part of the program for a reason: if you can do it safely, it allows you to progress raw pressing strength faster than the press alone, which can help further progress the press itself.

If you are worried about shoulder health in the bench, just modulate factors like form and frequency. An emphasis on factors like narrow-medium grip, low touch point, and relatively high external rotation and correspondent elbow tuck tend to put your shoulder in a safer range to work with. And less bench frequency means more time to recover from any motion that may lend to overuse.

I'm benching pretty much as you describe. It's working at present. I don't think the bench has injured my shoulder just that it has a tendency to aggravate injuries I've acquired elsewhere.

[Marenghi]

Another consideration is what you want to bench for: For bench´s sake? To compete?

If you negate both, you can substitute part or all of your benching with dips and/or push-ups, both exercises allowing the shoulder blades to roam freely (as in the press).

[zar9star]

To be precised, currently I'm only doing the close grip bench press. I stopped pressing over my head because it hurts my back. Dips feel also pretty bad on my shoulders.