Bench Press Setup--modifying for neck pain

[A Large Hand]

Hello all,

last week I incurred some nasty neck pain from benching. I have taken a week off and am better now--going to get back into the gym tomorrow.

I have noticed that this pain only occurs when I setup as recommended by the book--with my gaze pointing at the bottom of the bar. I do not have particularly long arms and have noticed that I have to round my shoulders to unrack the bar if the bar is located slightly above my eyes. When the bar is in this position, I reach my arms above my head just slightly (rotate about the shoulder joint so that the rotation is away from the foot of the bench) and I think this small increase in length is enough for me to go from comfortable unracking to uncomfortable unracking.

If I bench and the bar is setup closer to over my nose/mouth I do not round my shoulders as much and I have zero to minimal pain after my set. However, I have the uprights to deal with and I usually ding them once or twice.

I don't have a power rack to lift in and the bench I have has non adjustable uprights.

Just curious if there are any recommendations, maybe try to find the sweet spot with the empty bar where I am unracking OK and not hitting uprights on the ascent? I don't want to be counting on a spotter to lift the weighted bar out of the uprights in place it into my hands.

Thank you!!

Also, FWIW, I am conscious of my neck position during the bench and do everything I can to not drive my head into the bench.

[Hayden-William Courtland]

The non-adjustable hooks is a non-ideal scenario. By far your best option is to get your own home gym set up or find another gym that has racks. Gyms that don't have adjustable racks are not serious about training. In the meantime you will need to find a comfortable position where you can clear the hooks. This will likely mean using a lower hook than you prefer. If other people are training in your gym you can ask them to help with the hand off and re-rack.

[scwot]

Try less arch and a narrower grip.

[A Large Hand]

Thanks for the feedback. I agree, my gym setup sucks, but I've got a 1500 sq ft house with 3 kids, so home gym isn't happening right now. Space for a home gym is at the top of my wish list for our next house.

I reread the bench portion of the book and realized quite a few things I was not doing well:

1.) I was not setting my upper back before taking my grip--this allowed me to get sloppy unracking the bar.
2.) I was not focusing on "bracing" my neck muscles with isometric contraction.

When I added these 2 things to my press I noticed that I kept a better arch, and, most significantly, my neck got a work out! By the last 2 reps I was really struggling to NOT drive my head into the bench.

I'm going to deload (not that I was that heavily loaded anyways...) and build back up so that I am more comfortable with holding my neck stable. I did not realize how weak my neck is until I made these changes.

Anyways, thanks for the feedback!