My shoulder hurts when I bench..why?

R

realworksuks

2
whenever I do bench press my shoulders grind like crazy. It hurt like hell when I do bench (especially on the warm up sets). Also when I do front raisers and side raises (shoulder work) my shoulders grind and pop.. etc.

What's with this??? it's kinda scaring me. I don't want to permanently injure myself.
 
if something hurts, then stop doing it. You should also see a doctor.

Do you have correct bench form? Tuck your elbows? weight on your traps? etc?
 
what karky said.

its not unusual for my shoulders to pop a little, especially on front raises....but pain is bad. pain means something's wrong.

you might have a calcium buildup in your shoulder joint or rotator cuff, or any number of other things causing this. They're probably minor right now...but the longer you go without having them looked at, the bigger the problem will get.

incidentally, do dumbbell presses on a flat bench cause the same pain?
 
malkore said:
what karky said.

its not unusual for my shoulders to pop a little, especially on front raises....but pain is bad. pain means something's wrong.

you might have a calcium buildup in your shoulder joint or rotator cuff, or any number of other things causing this. They're probably minor right now...but the longer you go without having them looked at, the bigger the problem will get.

incidentally, do dumbbell presses on a flat bench cause the same pain?
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I can't even remember the last time I used dumbells for bench press.. I will have to get back to you on this.

Like I said though, it usually hurts the most on the warm up sets.
 
realworksuks said:
Hm, maybe I don't have correct form. I have no idea what you mean by tucking my elbows..
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Keep your elbows close to your sides. You don't want them sticking way out like wings. You can hurt yourself like that. I would get that checked out you may have pulled something or damaged some cartiledge.
 
Sounds a lot like you have the same problem I have with a rotator cuff. Google rotator cuff problems and see if that is what you have. If so, this is a form of tendinitis and is hard to cure. You basically have to let the tendon rest but ice and ibuprofen helps a lot.
 
read about benching in the technique sticky, you need to tuck your elbows.
Like Malkore said, DB benching can be better on the shoulders, specially if you keep a neutral grip.
 
you dont want your elbows flared out at 90 degrees throughout the whole lift.... your elbows should tuck in closer to the body on the way down, on the way up you should flare the elbows out more to get into a stronger lock out position...
 
Karky said:
read about benching in the technique sticky, you need to tuck your elbows.
Like Malkore said, DB benching can be better on the shoulders, specially if you keep a neutral grip.
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I read both of those articles, and got some good tips.

The only thing that is confusing me is the tucking in your elbows part.

Tuck them into what?

I am just trying to picture this... are my elbows suppose to bend downwards and not to the side? Is that what you are trying to say?

Like the position your elbows are in during a tricep press down???

By the way Malkore, there was no grinding or pain with dumbells.
 
when coming down with the weight your elbows should be kept close to the body so that almost brushing your ribs and not flared out like your doing a chicken dance with weights. hope that helps
 
JahFtb said:
when coming down with the weight your elbows should be kept close to the body so that almost brushing your ribs and not flared out like your doing a chicken dance with weights. hope that helps
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Wouldn't you have to have a really narrow grip to accomplish that?
 
no just do the movement even sitting in a chair with wide hand placement and keeping elbows close your hands can be anywhere and still have your elbows tucked
 
yeah, I can't see how with a wide grip I could make my elbows brush against my ribs... do you have some pictures to show this?

I know this should be easy, but I just can't picture it, i've been doing it one way my whole life.
 
tuck them in towards your body. Angle between the side of the upper body and upper arm should be about 45 degrees (now that's a rule of thumb, the important part is that you don't flare them 90 degrees out)
Also, to get this you need to arch and put the weight on your traps.
Try videotaping your bench press so we can take a look at it.
 
I don't have a movie camera, so I couldn't tape myself doing it unfortunately.

hm, now i'm looking all over the internet and people have all sorts of ways that they consider the best technique.

Should we lower the bar to our upper abdominals below the chest????

Or should it be on the chest? Or above the nipple and below the neck?

I see all three recommended..
 
don't worry too much about where you lower it to, it will be lower, usually on the upper abs or something when you tuck your elbows. Just practice tucking your elbows.
 
Karky said:
don't worry too much about where you lower it to, it will be lower, usually on the upper abs or something when you tuck your elbows. Just practice tucking your elbows.
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Yeah, exactly. I can tuck my elbows in if I would lower it to my upper abs.. but I usually go above the nipple (because I heard that was the best way)... and I can't find a natural way to tuck in my elbows doing it that way..

hmmm, tommorrow i'll try benching to my upper abs and tucking in my elbows.

I hope this makes the pain go away, I hope it's nothing serious.
 
well I think I fixed my form quite a bit.

I tucked in my shoulders, pushed them against the mat, put my heels closer to my hips, and tried to tuck my elbows the best I could.

The only part that I couldn't get down was the tucking of the elbows... it just feels so unnatural to have your elbows touch your side on the way down.

Are we only concerned about tucking our elbows on the way down? Or do we want them tucked in going up too?

I could feel my shoulders getting worked a lot... never had the feeling before from benching.
 
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