# Potential injuries



## Itburnstopee (May 6, 2015)

Since I started to bench every now and then my left shoulder will hurt, like it is being grounded. It doesn't hurt so bad that I can't complete a set but it's enough to cause concern. Is this a rotator cuff/ form issue? It seems to only really happen once in a blue moon and only if I'm not perfectly even on the bench.

Also a few days ago I seem to have irritated a muscle in my mid-lower back. It was so minor that I completely forgot about it. I've been doing chins/pull ups Everytime I walk past my pull up bar at home. So like 10-15 a day for the last die days. Could this have irritated it? When I DL today I got to my last rep when it started to hurt bad. If it was any worse I would have dropped the bar. Now if I have my posture wrong it hurts.

Tl/dr: shoulder hurts when I bench and I think I pulled a muscle in my mid back. Should I skip DL next week for the back and do I need to fix form on bench?


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## ECKSRATED (May 6, 2015)

U need to start doing shoulder warmups/stretching before benching. Shoulder dislocations help my shoulders a lot. Learn to tuck your elbows and keep your lats tight. 

As for the back I would jam a lacrosse ball into it and loosen it up. Probably a tight muscle. If not give it a week to heal


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## Iron1 (May 6, 2015)

x2 on shoulder dislocations. 
They take a while to be able to do with good form but once you get it down you won't stop.


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## ECKSRATED (May 6, 2015)

Iron1 said:


> x2 on shoulder dislocations.
> They take a while to be able to do with good form but once you get it down you won't stop.


Just like anal.


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## ColoradoJay (May 6, 2015)

I messed up my shoulder doing barbell bench presses a couple of years ago.  Never went to see the doctor - instead, I just quit doing benches for about a month, which sucked.  When I started back, I moved to dumbbell benches instead of barbell benches.  I honestly believe that really helped my recovery - it forces you to drop down in total weight a lot, but it also engages a lot of stabilization muscles in the shoulder you wouldn't otherwise use.  You can also really over-emphasize the flex at the top of the rep, really flex the back upward - which will also work some different muscles in the chest than you'd normally work on a barbell.  At any rate, after sticking to that for a full year (I really fell in love with the reps), I went back to barbell benches, and my max had increased substantially.  Also - no more pain.  It's an odd feeling, though - limiting yourself to two 90 lbs dumbbells makes you feel like you're only doing the equivalent of a 180 lbs barbell.  That just isn't the case.


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## Itburnstopee (May 8, 2015)

Was doing dumbbell bench press today an my shoulder clicks at the bottom of some reps. I could always pop my shoulder out of its socket a little bit just with my shoulder muscles, I don't know if this has anything to do with it. Maybe I just have weak shoulders. Either way I'm going to get on the dislocations starting today.


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## Itburnstopee (May 26, 2015)

Edit: I've figured it out. It's tucking elbows, which I have not ever done. I still need to test it at my gym but this seems to be the problem.


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## Tetsuro Hoshino (May 28, 2015)

ItBurnsToPee said:


> Edit: I've figured it out. It's tucking elbows, which I have not ever done. I still need to test it at my gym but this seems to be the problem.



Benched heavy in the old days, after 10 years of shoulder issues finally saw orthopedist, and the news sucked...some people cannot safely bench. If your clavicles hook over even slightly at the shoulder you will tear yourself up (impingement) after a while-like I did. I haven't benched in 20 years as a result. Most times its the stretch at the bottom of the movement that causes the most damage, stuck to weighted dips where I dropped to parallel and no farther (advice from physio) after I healed up, supplemented with weighted push-ups, and finally discovered floor presses with kettlebells (way easier than with dumbbells). Sadly I'm too damn old to get my old size back, I wish I'd learned sooner, but no shoulder issues in many years.  Just stuff to think about, we are mostly in this for the long term and if that 350 bench is gonna stop you lifting after a while, is it really worth it.


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