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Thread: Bench form check and a shoulder injury

  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2008
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    Default Bench form check and a shoulder injury

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    I'll post my lifts here with injury history below.

    Here is me benching 225x3 before the injury. YouTube It's a few months old, but the only footage I have.

    And here is me benching 165x5 a couple days ago. YouTube The first time benching this much since the injury and it felt heavy and a little uncomfortable. I point to where the pain/discomfort is coming from at the end.


    About a month and a half ago I was benching. I had regularly done 225x3x3, but was coming off a week of rest. On the second set it was immediately apparent something went pretty wrong and felt some reasonable pain from my left shoulder. The next day I could barely put my arm behind my back and had considerable problems putting on a shirt. The difficulty putting on shirts and discomfort went away surprisingly fast, within a week. I assume it is probably my rotator cuff. I stopped benching since that was painful anyway and started pressing every other day, though with a reduced weight. I took a couple weeks off from pure laziness, but now back at it and doing these rehab movements. Are they any good? YouTube

    What should I do in terms of programming? I'm back to starting strength 3x5 rotating the bench and press with shoulder rehab at the end.

    I'm guessing my previous programming had a role in the injury so I'll post it here. I started off with the Texas method, but decided to modify it to focus on benching. It did work to increase my numbers, but at what cost? I was benching three times a week with monday being a 5x5, wenesday being a 5x10, and friday being a 3x2 or 3x3 as I got stronger. I only pressed 3x5 after benching on wednesdays. I also did rows every workout, 5x5, either deadlift rows or pendlays.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
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    53

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    Was there any bruising or swelling immediately after or the days following the injury? How bad was the pain and how would you describe it (dull, achy, sharp, etc.)? When you say you had trouble putting your arm behind your back do mean putting the back of your hand in the small of your back or reaching overhead as if to pat yourself on the back? Where in the motion of the bench press do you feel the pain (the whole time, just at the bottom, etc)? Does pressing overhead cause the same or similar pain? Does it hurt at rest?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2017
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    Can't tell you much regarding your lift / injury / form but I ll tell you that benching with collar locks and no safety arms is no bueno (spotter or not )

  4. #4
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    May 2008
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    Quote Originally Posted by Acorn1993 View Post
    Was there any bruising or swelling immediately after or the days following the injury? How bad was the pain and how would you describe it (dull, achy, sharp, etc.)? When you say you had trouble putting your arm behind your back do mean putting the back of your hand in the small of your back or reaching overhead as if to pat yourself on the back? Where in the motion of the bench press do you feel the pain (the whole time, just at the bottom, etc)? Does pressing overhead cause the same or similar pain? Does it hurt at rest?

    I can't really say whether there was swelling, no visible bruises. After sleeping the first night, just getting out of bed was a bit of a chore, the shoulder was very sore, but it's not like it hurt so bad I was incapacitated. I had dull pain for 2-3 days maybe. It doesn't hurt at rest anymore. Often times when I lift my left arm overhead it clicks. Originally I had issues touching the top of my back. Now that feels fine. It never occured to me to try touching the low back. Trying to touch my low back with my bad arm does feel off. Since I work in house keeping I notice how weak/messed up my shoulder is everytime I'm stuffing some big duvet. Lifting something heavy up and in front of me is uncomfortable. I feel way weaker in this ROM. Pressing, on the other hand, feels pretty good. It still feels off, but I can press within 7 pounds of my old 5x5. Bodyweight pullups and seal rows also pain free. When doing the rotator cuff movements, my good shoulder is predictably 1 level ahead on the stack. As for the Bench, I can't really remember in which part of the movement, if any, I felt the most pain. I'll pay attention next time.


    I realize it's kinda nuts to give advice on injury rehab online, but I at least want to rule out bad form as a factor.

    Quote Originally Posted by vav View Post
    Can't tell you much regarding your lift / injury / form but I ll tell you that benching with collar locks and no safety arms is no bueno (spotter or not )
    I'm not exactly sure what you mean. Are you saying the collar locks I'm using aren't safe? And by safety arms you mean like benching in the rack?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
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    53

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    If you can afford to, you may want to see a doctor to figure out what it could be. The dull pain and clicking with the location you pointed to makes me think more AC joint than muscular but I would anticipate more discomfort with the overhead press than you're saying. He's saying that benching without safety arms and the collars on leaves you fucked if the weight gets pinned on your chest. Without collars you can shimmy the weight off the sides if this happens and with safety arms they can catch the bar for you.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
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    Jax, FL
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aly199 View Post
    I'm not exactly sure what you mean. Are you saying the collar locks I'm using aren't safe? And by safety arms you mean like benching in the rack?
    Vav is saying never bench with collars, period. Without collars if you get pinned you can slide the weight off one side then off the other to get out. Yes, he means benching in a rack

  7. #7
    Join Date
    May 2008
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    starting strength coach development program
    @Acorn I am planning on seeing a doctor this week as it doesn't seem to have gotten much better.

    @Jeff Brophy Call me stubborn, but the idea of the plates sliding around during a set sucks. But hey, if that's the consensus here, I'll do it.


    I'd really appreciate anyone who can look at my form. Is there any problem with my videos?

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