My shoulder hurts when I bench..why?

well the bodybuilder bench press is known for making shoulders hurt, it's hardly a natural movement to bring the arms that far back with the a 90 degree angle between the upper arm and side of the upper body. I'd say it's like asking why your back hurts if your doing heavy deadlifts with a bent back, it's just not the way you're supposed to do the lift
(unless you're bald, 300-400lbs, and like bent back training to strenghten your back :p)

And about leg drive, I always assume it's a powerlifter bench press. Anyways, you should use leg drive no matter the goal, IMO. The reason I say this is because leg drive also helps you keep tight; it has a lot to do with stability, which is always a good thing.
And lastly, even if flaring your elbows does increase the recruitment of the pectorals, it's hardly worth sacrefising good shoulder health. A lot of people get big pecs from PL bench press, and if that doesn't work, there are other exercises better suited. Bench press is about a lot more than just pecs.
 
Agreed^^^

Powerlifters usually have great chest development anyway, so I don't see why anyone would bench any different, especially if is alliviates pain. The leg drive and the arch provides a great deal of stabalization, although I don't know which officially has more...it seems to me like comparing a tripod (PL style) with...I don't know, a stack of books.

The elbow tuck is meant not just to take pressure off the shoulder, but to recruit more tricep involvement.
 
I get the same problem when I bench. However, I've been doing a 5-3-1 sets for the past few weeks and I'm noticing huge gains on my strength. I do 5 kinda light weights, then 3 kinda hard weights, then 1 heavy weights. I stick with this no matter what and how much I feel like lifting more. I always spend about 2-3 seconds going down, then 2-3 seconds going back up. I've been seeing huge improvements. Of course I still do other lifts, but this is how I go as far as benching.
 
The entire length of your back should be flat against the bench in a neutral position.
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Power transfer through the legs is not dangerous so long as the back is either flat or at its natural arch
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This just caught my eye. I did not see this addressed.

Even if you are not using an arch style bench press having your back completely flat against the bench really may not be the best route to go. It is outside the neutral position and is unnecessary at best. The lumbar spine has an arch to it. So the neutral position also will have an arch to it.

A completely flat back is NOT dangerous. Many lifters pull their knees up so their feet come off the ground to put more focus on the muscles of the upper body and take out the added stability of having the feet on the floor.

Using an arch is not dangerous either. A tight arch increases stability of the midsection and allows better flow of force from the legs to the upper body. It also helps with higher abdominal recruitment, which will also increase the stability of the midsection.

In conclusion, using a neutral position or an arch are both fine things to do.

The Flat back thing is also fine, it will not cause injury, though it GREATLY decreases stability in the midsection and will take out a LOT of the leg drive. Which can be useful at times. I believe the best way to do this is to pull the knees up and get the feet off the floor.

And what the heck is everyone still on about the transverse abdominus. It is only one of MANY muscles that aid in the stabilization of the spine. No exercise should be done with a technique that has the purpose of specifically recruiting the TA. (barring specific exercise for the TA, which may or may not be necessary)
 
The bench press really doesn't involve the lats outside of stabilization of the upper arm and during a close grip press keeping the humerus adducted... it adducts, extends, and medially rotates the humerus. If you add medial/lateral rotation to dumb presses then the lats are more involved.
 
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Karky said:
then why does every major bench freak talk about driving with the lats?
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No idea... but the lats have very little to do with the movements necessary for the bench press. The ONLY thing I can think of is using the musculature of the lats as the base of support for the back during the lift.

In terms of the lift though, the lats play a smaller role, whether performing power or strength style chest presses.
 
yeah I realize that. It could just be stabilization. anyway, when you tuck your elbows and flex your lats the bar will come out of the hole a lot easier.
Question:
If the elbows are extended far behind the body, can the lats be used to bring them back to neutral position?
 
okay. I've always been wondering why it helps so much to "engage" the lats in a bench press, the lats obviously can't actually push like that like the pecs can..

The link you posted shows one of the fuctions as extension. Now I'm a bit confused about which way is actually extension when it comes to the shoulder joint. I get the basics like with the elbow and knee, etc, but for the shoulder it's a bit different.

Is putting your arm out in front of you extension?
putting the arm back behind you flexion? how does that work?
 
It's the other way around. Flexion at the shoulder joint occurs when the arm is raised out in front of you and extension is the opposite, when the arm is raised behind you. Abduction occurs when the body is moved away from the sides (or midline) and adduction occurs when the body moves towards the sides.
 
thanks a bunch! I guess it is just stabilization then. Unless my theory (which is based on nothing except my hunch :p) is right: that when the humerus gets extended far the lat gets stretched the oposite way than it usually does (in humerus flexon) thus flexing the lats can bring the humerus back to the side of the body again.
I'm just thinking like if you had a wire from the side of the body to the humerus, when the humerus is flexed so far that the wire has to lengthen to let it get there, then if you shorten that wire (muscle contracts) it would being the humerus back to the side of the body.

Is there ANY point at all in that? I really don't have anything except my own logic telling me this.
 
After you put it that way, I think that's a pretty safe assumption. If the humerus is extended past the sides of the body then the lat would assist as a secondary mover in returning the humerus to a neutral position through it's adductive forces.
 
So much in that they help contribute a small amount to some of the forces that result in the initial momentum of the weight being lifted away from the chest. However, if a lifter does not bring the arms into an extended state then the lats will most likely not play a role in the lift outside of pure stabilization.
 
Using the lats in the bench press is huge. (if we are looking at using a style of bench press where you use the lats)

You have to be pretty big for the below techniques to work. They do not work if you are a skinny guy.

1. When you keep the elbows in (like we were talking about a few pages back) the triceps and lats come in contact and create mechanical force that help press the bar up off of the chest. (remember, big guys can not touch their elbows to their ribs)

2. If you are using a shrug style bench press. When you lower the bar, shrug your shoulders. When the bar is on your chest, power your shoulders down. This drives your elbows up and increases the mechanical advantage from item #1.

3. If you pick your head up off of the bench as you lower the bar. Doing this in conjunction with 1 & 2 will increase the power off of the bottom even more.

These three things increase the use of the lats and back in the bench press.

In using the above 3 items in my bench press I have been able to move the bar 4 inches off of my chest without any range of motion about the shoulders or elbows.

All that being said. These are forms used by bigger guys with bigger bench presses. As you progress in overall body size, your best technique for exercise changes. (this is true for the bench, squat, deadlift) When you are 300lbs the rules are different than they are when you are 200lbs.

When listening to all the big benchers talking about using lats. Understand that these things may not work for everybody. (specifically smaller lifters) A good bit of mass may be needed before "using the lats" can be fully taken advantage of.
 
shruging while benching? I've heard of that before... but thought it was just some newbie who didn't know what he was saying..
 
Goergen, nothing in your description would lead me to believe that lats would play a large role in the shrug press.
 
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