bench press question (dont worry..not how much)

[tankus]

alright, my work out last week went alright, but i did these deep pushups were you use the 3 benches, and i killed my shouylder, its always kind of been cracking, sometimes its uncomforable sometimes its not.(im talking about while working out) now today i did chest again, and it really felt uncomforable, inflammed almost...i jsut (did a search)read taht keeping your arms closer in to your sides keeps you from getting a shoulder injury doing bench, not ive also been told that keeping your arms out hits the chest better so thats what ive been doing, could this be the reason for my shoulder pain? how do you guys position your arms (flat/in/de whatever)

[big rob]

i put mine pretty far apart, and as a result my chest is massive compared to the rest of my body.

i've never had any shoulder pain either, just some big deltoids to go with the chest.

is this something that just started happening as you started positioning your arms far apart? has it ever happened before?

i've never really done any fancy kinds of pushups so i don't know if i'd have that problem or not...

[tankus]

no it alwayskind of cracks, when i work rotators im not sure if it feels like it should..but anyway it never felt liek this, its been sore, but it accually effected my work out today, especially on incline, thats when it started to feel uncomforable

[tankus]

ummmm..bump
no know shoulder injuries are a common problem..and everyone does flat bench..come on

[Travis Stenersn]

The further you abduct and external rotate the arm(wide grip, going far down), the more stress you place on your rotator cuff. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, though. So long as you arent abducting your shoulder beyond 90º from your body.

I keep my hands about 24 to 30 inches apart on a barbell bench.



The shoulder problem could be be due to a muscle imbalance around your shoulder.
What does your upper body routine look like now(list all exercises and number of sets you do and in which order for your upper body, and I'll see if I can help prevent further injury).

First though, you may want to see a doctor or physiotherapist.. small injuries can become big without much difficulty.

[tankus]

ahhh, thanks for the reply..
ok upper body
chest
flat bench bb
incline bench bb
flat bench db
pec deck or decline flys

back n shoulders( when theres a slash inbetween 2 exercises im supersetting)
cable rows/front raises
t bar rows/lateral raises
bb rows/military press db
db shrugs
deadlifts
*my last back work out i did military first ive never done that b4, hit them pretty hard...

i switched gyms recently too and they have wider bar markers which i didnt realize

[tankus]

i forgot to mention shoulders are definately one of my strong features if not my best. theyve grown alot i cant fit a tape measure around myself anymore

[Travis Stenersn]

How many sets do you do per exercise?

I can already see the imbalance between exercises.

For every TWO pushing exercises, you have ONE pulling exercise.

I think the ratio is even worse then this.

This can develop a imbalance between internal and external rotators.



Here's a guideline, for every single horizontal pushing exercise(like bench press, incline bench), have one(or more) horizontal pushing exercise(like cable row, t-bar row, barbell row).

This will ensure balance between internal and external rotators on the transverse plane of motion.

Do you want some more reading on this topic?

Also, if you are going to do deadlifts with back, do them first in the workout. CNS fatigue can be a bad thing for lifts that put a lot of stress on your lower back.

[tankus]

typically 4 sets, flat bench sometimes stretched to 5 or 6, occasionally ill do negatives..
yes ide accauly love to read up about it because what your saying makes perfect sense, i also NEVER worked rotators..i jsut started a month ago, like once a week
i agree on hte deadlifts..i dont go heavy at all, rarely..when i do ill start with them alone, the only exercise i dont superset with back/shoulders
about the horizontal pulling exercises..what else can i do? ive been using basically the same program since a month in (7 months ago)

[Travis Stenersn]

All right, you're interested! I'll start you off with some reading from my favorite strength coach, Ian King.
First:
http://www.t-mag.com/articles/173bench.html


(Scroll down to the deadlift Q on this link):
http://www.testosterone.net/html/39power.html

About seated rows:
http://www.t-mag.com/articles/174row.html

Search aroudn t-mag if you have the chance, lots of great training info.

Horizontal pulling exercises.. Huge amount of variety, let's look at some:

Dumbbell One Arm row: Either pull striaght up or arc backwards up your leg that is on the ground(the two variations I like to use)

Barbell Row: Supinated or prone grip, grip width can be changed, hip angle can be changed

High bench row: lie prone on a high bench and row up to your nipple line(you'll hit the bench with the bar first obviously)

T-Bar row, you know this one!

Seated cable rows: grip width can change, view the above ian king article(third link)

Ian king deadlifts(see the second link above, the horizontal pulling muscles perform an isometric contraction during them)

Pull ups to your low sternum(I'm convinced this is a horiz. pulling movement!)

Reverse pushups using smith machine(this is a pretty gay exercise, but has its place!)

Prone flies

Prone dumbbell rows with dumbbell in both hands


Hope this list keeps you busy! Any more q's, shoot me a PM or post a thread!

[tankus]

well looks like ive got some reading to do! thanks for all the info brotha.....ill alter my program a little and tell you how it works out.