Shoulders hurt from bench press ?

[peterhugh1213]

Then don't do them ! For some people bench press works fine, hey good for you, have a ball, careful of that shoulder joint though, with a heavy bench press bar brought all the way down to the chest, the shoulder joint is in a very vulnerable position. Gee I wonder why so many rotator cuff problems ?
If you are not getting much progress form the bench and your shoulders are hurting from them.. then try cable crossovers instead.. for me I feel that this exercise contracts and stimulates the chest muscle much better than bench press anyway.. make sure to cross your wrists at the end of the rep.. and or do them one arm at a time. The more you can cross your working arm over your body, the deeper the contraction of the chest muscle. Also try a peck deck fly machine. I think that dumbell flyes can be ok, but you cant cross your wrists at the end of them.. where the deepest contration comes into play. Ps. if you are going to reply to this thread in a negative way, then please have your iq checked and if it is below 145, then DO NOT reply ! Thank you.

Once again, if you respond well to bench press then go for it. But many people do not respond to it. After 20 years of weightlifting I have tried it all, benches, inclines, declines, wide grip, closer grip, elbows in, blindfolds on.. oh sorry.. that was that one time with my girlfriend.. anyway.. they don't work for me. For the past few weeks I have been exclusively sticking to peck decks crossess with my elbows up in a fly position, crossing my fists infront at the end of the rep, and cable crossovers.. and the results have been remarkable ! A much nicer DEVELOPMENT of the whole chest ! With no shoulder pain at all ! This is the motion that the chest muscle is looking for ! Check out the machine that Jay Cutler starts off his chest training in his video "ripped to shreds".. now that is a chest machine !

[BigStew]

I second that I dont do the Bench Press after shoulder surgery Db are fine for me

[SmallStrength]

Then don't do them ! For some people bench press works fine, hey good for you, have a ball, careful of that shoulder joint though, with a heavy bench press bar brought all the way down to the chest, the shoulder joint is in a very vulnerable position. Gee I wonder why so many rotator cuff problems ?
If you are not getting much progress form the bench and your shoulders are hurting from them.. then try cable crossovers instead.. for me I feel that this exercise contracts and stimulates the chest muscle much better than bench press anyway.. make sure to cross your wrists at the end of the rep.. and or do them one arm at a time. The more you can cross your working arm over your body, the deeper the contraction of the chest muscle. Also try a peck deck fly machine. I think that dumbell flyes can be ok, but you cant cross your wrists at the end of them.. where the deepest contration comes into play. Ps. if you are going to reply to this thread in a negative way, then please have your iq checked and if it is below 145, then DO NOT reply ! Thank you.

Are you this guy with a new account?
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=949068

I think I will probably stick to bench pressing for overall mass. And flys hurt my shoulders more than bench

[VikingMan]

So if I'm going to disagree with you, then I have to have an IQ of > 145 huh?

Well, at risk of sounding arrogant, I do.

For the best chest development, you need to have a solid compound movement as the center piece. Flys and crossovers aint gonna cut it. If flat bench hurts, try decline, or incline, with a barbell, or dumbbells, or dips. Or, find out WHY flat hurts. It's likely because you use a body builders bench press. They are VERY hard on shoulders. A powerlifters bench, with tucked elbows, bringing the bar to a low position on your chest is MUCH better for the longevity of your shoulders.

I recently switched from a bodybuilders style of benching to a powerlifters style of benching, and my shoulders have completely stopped hurting. No pain at all.

In addition, lifting is eventually GOING to cause joint issues. You have to learn how to manage the health of your joints. Switching movements can be one way to eliviate pain. But there are other ways to strengthen the joint and solve the problem that way. For my shoulders, I've done the following, and it has solved all problems of pain.

Lotsa water! Water is the stuff of life.
EFAs
Glucosamine & Chondritin, @ 2.5G a day of each
Cissus RX (stuff works wonders for joint, I love it!)
Prehab movements

For the prehab movements, you want to focus on high reps to improve blood flow to the joint, loosen things up. The burn is what you're looking for. Lactic acid is good for joints, if I recal what I've read correctly. Good movements for the shoulder for prehab purposes are.

DB Presses 20ish reps
Lateral raises > 15 reps
Internal Rotations > 15 reps
External Rotations > 15 reps
Cuban Rotations > 15 reps

All of that, and laying off the intensity for a while, and any nagging shoulder issues will likely be taken care of. If it's still hurting, you may want to see a doctor.

[Fischer__35]

I was bench pressing with a friend of mine, and he was complaining of shoulder pain...I noticed that when he was lifiting the bar, it came up above his head instead of over his chest...A lot of people do this and it causes shoulder pain...

People who get shoulder pain often just never learned how to do bench press correctly, and just assumed that what they did was correct...People have to learn to lift the bar over top of thier chest and not thier head...If you're looking at the bottom of the bar, its to close to your head

[imchill123]

flyes are more dangerous for your shoulders.
what do you guys do for chest if you cant do bench press?

[Fischer__35]

You could always do cross-overs

[TRDE59]

Ps. if you are going to reply to this thread in a negative way, then please have your iq checked and if it is below 145, then DO NOT reply ! Thank you.

My IQ, being 140, MORE than qualifies me to reply to your post. In fact, even if it was 70, I STILL have the right to respond.

Consider this a lesson. If you're gonna give people advice on this forum, that's fine. But don't go around attempting to DISqualify people from disagreeing with you. Negged.

As for your post, you're right about one thing. If you have a shoulder injury that makes it tough to bench, for God's sake, don't bench. However, your claim that all bench pressing hurt the shoulders of everyone is ungrounded in fact and untrue. And, no, don't expect to progress the same with flyes or pec decs as you would with bench press. Isolations don't provide the necessary strength stimulation to build size to near the degree of effectiveness as combo movements.

[peterhugh1213]

Did I umm say that all bench pressing hurts everyones shoulder ? Umm.. no.
U like bpress.. then do them.
I personally am getting much better RESULTS with the isolation exercises, and getting into very heavy weights on the peck deck flyes, so the stength stimulation seems just fine.
It is all upto the individual.