Ok I have a fun hypothetical here and I'd actually love to get opinions from every other coach if possible.
Male 39 265lbs 1 year training and has an issue with the Bench Press.
The facts:
Benched 325x5x1 and 375x1x5 early this year.
Presses high 200s
History of rotator cuff injury (rim rent tear supra and infraspinatus; injury has been imaged but not repaired
Injury is old 5-7 years
Everytime the client benches he has pain in the distal bicep tendon during descent and there is severe discomfort in the proximal bicep tendon after the set.
For 2-3 days post bench there is pain in the rhomboid/trap as well as knots and pain around the scapula at distal attachments of the rotator cuff muscles (see pic for clarification as I may be wrong in the anatomical description)
Bench also causes progressively worse inflammation and pain in the anterior shoulder which leads to further inflammation and pain in the bicep ect ect ect
He has tried deload of bench (even just the bar hurts)
He has tried Pin Bench, Tempo Bench, and Floor Press as well as the Sling Shot and Closer Grips all have worked to varying degrees for a short time but increased intensity just circles back to the injury
He isn't particularly interested in Bench, but a 405 would be nice
Press is progressing very well without the bench
Ok I think that's all the background I can think of that matters before the real question.
What would you suggest for this client? Would you suggest they put Bench back in the program and keep hitting these walls? Would you suggest they just keep Pressing and let Bench just be a thing they ignore? Would you insert a modified Bench type and what would you use?
I am going to post this everywhere I can because I would love all the feedback I can find