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Thread: Can you bruise or strain your humurus performing the bench press?

  1. #1
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    Default Can you bruise or strain your humurus performing the bench press?

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    Is it possible to bruise or strain your humurus performing the bench press? I pushed out a PR set the other day of the staggering weight of 191 lbs. About an hour later my left humurus started aching like it had been bruised and has been pretty sore to the touch the past two days. There is no pain in the shoulder, shoulder joint or elbow joint at all, just right in the middle of the left humurus. All things on my right arm are fine. Just thought I'd ask

  2. #2
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    Unless you something hit you in the arm, you obviously cannot bruise the humerus. It will be a tendon insertion or some other connective tissue situation. In the absence of enough information, that's all I can tell you.

  3. #3
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    Thank you, the discomfort is right on the bone pressing on the outside of the arm. The spot feels like it's skin, some diffuse tissue and bone. That is why I was a little stumped. I'll warm up very easy and see how it feels under load. I just didn't want to push the bench to the point of an injury. The set was 191x3x1, 2x3, 1x6 for a total of 15.Untitled.jpg

  4. #4
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    The humerus doesn't have a clear "path" to the skin anywhere on the arm. The whole thing is covered in either muscle or connective tissue. This is almost certainly an inflammation of the tricep insertion (which is in the general area you describe). Just train through it.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Maybach View Post
    The humerus doesn't have a clear "path" to the skin anywhere on the arm. The whole thing is covered in either muscle or connective tissue. This is almost certainly an inflammation of the tricep insertion (which is in the general area you describe). Just train through it.
    Great, thank you, will keep training while monitoring it.

  6. #6
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    Eric, from the description you're giving, this sounds to me like it's probably a manifestation of muscle soreness from your PR set. If so, it should go away as you train through it. Pushing yourself to new limits often brings new aches and pains, and they'll move around as you gain strength. Your good decision to train through it will help you rewire your perceptions, which is one of the many benefits of training.

  7. #7
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    What does your squat grip look like?

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Satch12879 View Post
    What does your squat grip look like?
    Straight wrists, fingers resting on top with relaxed thumb, elbows back, chest up. I would say that I have a light touch on the bar and I'm pretty flexible so I can get my hands pretty close in to my shoulders without issue. I don't use the hands very much on the squat it seems as there is very little pressure or tensions felt on my hands.

  9. #9
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    starting strength coach development program
    Beginning arm wrestlers get discomfort in that exact spot. I say discomfort but it can be extremely painful. Benching doesn't torque the upper arm like arm wrestling does though so I would consider Satch's question.

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