Experiencing odd arm aches after bench press

[AdamAZ]

Has this happened to anyone else? For about a month now, my bench press is causing my arms to ache, and this has never happened to me before.

It's not a pain, it's a dull ache that goes from my wrists up to half way up my biceps. No other lifts aggravate or cause this, just the bench press. The sensation almost completely goes away 20 minutes after finishing benching, but the last two bench days the aching persisted through power cleans where I didn't feel safe performing the lifts. My wrists/arms were so fatigued/weak/whatever that I had to wince hard just to take weights on and off of the bar. Not wince in pain, just extra intensity to compensate for the weakness.

My arms feel fine throughout the rest of the day, but if I do any tasks that require wrists or forearms, like opening jars, my wrists/forearms don't feel as strong as they did before this aching episode began.

My best guess is it's my wrists. Maybe they're overtraining or excessively fatigued? Maybe it's tendinitis (wouldn't know, haven't had tendinitis before)? It's probably some slight form issue, but I don't think my bench form is bad and I've tried all the advice when it comes to wrists and gripping the bar.

I also bought wrist wraps recently to see if they help and they haven't. I've also tried reducing the weight on the work sets by 10%, reducing the volume on bench days (last two bench days have been 1x5), and neither has made a significant difference.

I'm mainly just curious if anyone has heard of or experienced this issue since nothing seemed to come up after google searching the boards.

Helpful numbers:
5'7, 175 lbs
Squat: 240
Deadlift: 285
Press: 145x3x3
Power clean: 140
Bench Press: I was at 205 before the aching had me reduce the weight. Reduced the work weight to 185.
Chins: 200 total weightx5x3

[Jeff Illingworth]

Post form checks of your bench press and whatever lift you do before them. Odds are that it is a form issue related to one or both of them.

[Royce Nichols]

I'm just spit ballin here, but in addition to what Jeff asked about form checks and your bench, how about your chins? Are you bringing your chest to the bar? Could be unrelated. That's just a guess coming in from deep left field.

[AdamAZ]

Thanks guys. Jeff, I just squat before benching and there's no issue there. It only acts up after benching.

Royce, chins are fine. Yes I bring my chest all the way up and they don't aggravate the issue. Currently chins are on a different workout day, but IIRC the first time I experienced the arm aches after benching, I followed it with chins that day. I think it was a weighted day and my wrists/arms were so weak after benching I had to drop all the added weight just to be able to complete the reps.

Have either of you heard of a sensation like this before?

[Royce Nichols]

Sorry Adam I havnt. I had some wrist/elbow pain for a little but it was due to squats (it didn't hurt while I was squatting), but it bled over into my bench and then got further inflamed when I had poor technique on chins and was trying to go really heavy on them. I dropped weighted chins and fixed my squat technique and now my elbows don't bother me much.

[Jeff Illingworth]

Post form checks of your bench press and whatever lift you do before them. Odds are that it is a form issue related to one or both of them.

[AdamAZ]

Thanks guys. I do squat with my thumb around the bar, but I intentionally do that because when I tried doing it the other way, as is taught in the book, I quickly developed elbow pain. And it went away after wrapping my thumb around.

I'll post a video, or see the SS coach in my area, but first there might be a couple tweaks I think I'll try first. On one hand, the movement feels smoother when I consciously try to flare out my elbows so perhaps my elbows aren't flared out enough? But on the other hand, I just realized that with the "bend the bar" cue I've tried before, I was actually "bending" it in the wrong direction, and this is more of a cue to prevent excessive elbow flare.

[AdamAZ]

Update:

Today marks 3 bench sessions since my last post in this thread, and I may have figured out the issue.

What seems to have helped the most is the CORRECT "bend the bar" cue. Before, I thought this cue meant, as you're lying down on the bench, to try to "bend" the bar so that the middle knurling point down to your chest, and so the weights at the end point up to the ceiling. The correct cue is, when lying down on the bench, you "bend" the bar so the weights at each end point in the plane of the length of the bench, toward your shoes.

Some other form fixes:
- Even though I can unrack by myself, I've started asking for assistance
- I noticed the bar was touching too low on my chest. So I re-read the bench chapter, and found the point mid-sternum where a friend confirmed my forearms were straight at the bottom from all angles.
- I also believe I wasn't flaring my elbows enough. This would explain why I was touching lower on my chest, and may explain why I was running into issues. Cuing myself to flare the elbows more makes the movement feel significantly smoother
- Finally, I've been cuing myself to make sure I'm using my lats. Before I wasn't giving them any thought and likely wasn't using them properly, or efficiently.

I'll keep working on my form the next few sessions and I'll report back with video, or see my area's SS coach, if I'm still having aching issues.

[autumnal]

I'm confused. I thought the bending the bar cue was for the descent, and "bent" by both hands coming down? As if trying to bend the bar across the chest. That allow for the elbow tuck. Have I been getting this wrong the whole time?

[Mugaaz]

All the arm pain I felt during benching was always the result of something else that was getting built up over time. Squats, power cleans, and chins when done incorrectly are usually the source. When it hits a certain threshold, I'd get elbow pain during bench. If I ignored it and didn't fix the issue, then it would also start flaring up during squats sets. I would guess it is probably related to squats.

Wrist pain is a different story. If the pain is in your wrist, then you're likely not keeping the bar inline over the wrist and letting the hand get loose and flex backward toward your face, creating moment between the bar and you're wrist. It is easy to fix, but requires you to pay specific attention to it when benching and pressing.