Cant Bench

[MAD9692]

Hi Rip - I need some advice following SS. I've been following the program for 2 and a half months and its working great. I have a problem with bench pressing. Because I worked out like a clueless spaz over the past 10 years my shoulders are pretty fried. I can do shoulder presses, cleans, jerks, etc - without any shoulder pain whatsoever. However as soon as I start benching my shoulders ache - badly. I know that we are supposed to be benching every other workout and that benching assists in our overhead strength. My question is that if we cant bench is there another exercise you can recomend us do or should i just do overhead presses every workout?

Oh yea- weighted dips kill my shoulders as well. I can knock off about 40 unweighted dips without an issue - if I strap on some weight my shoulders hurt.
Thanks.

[Mark Rippetoe]

If you can do 40 bodyweight dips, you can find a weight to dip with for sets of 5 that doesn't hurt your shoulders. But if you can't bench without a chronic ache that keeps you from sleeping, don't bench. You'll never be a powerlifter, but you can still train heavy presses.