Please Scroll Down to See Forums Below I may just be really stupid, but is there an easier way to do dumbell bench than just leaning back and beginning my set? I am starting to train real heavy (for me) and every time I go down to start my first rep, my should gets real sore. It usually takes a day or two to recoup, but it screws my chest workout up every time I attempt this. Any suggestions on doing this exercise with dumbells or should I stick to the barbell all the time? I had been mixing it up pretty often.
Dumbell Bench is killing my shoulder
- Thread starter Grod
- Start date
I put the dumbells on my thighs and kick them back, however as soon as my back touches the bench the force of the weight hurts my shoulder. The press itself hurts, but all of the strength is there. This has really only happened once (yesterday), but it freaked me out because I am three weeks into a cycle. I did a spot injection of deca in my delt and heated it late last night and I feel pretty good today, but I am still going to give it another days rest minimum. I left right after my second set yesterday so I wouldn't cause any long term damage. I have not had any rotator cuff problems. I am going to start working them though. This is my wake up call!
Greek Freak
New member
how many warm up sets did you do?
I stretch for about 10 minutes before performing any exercises. I then do a set at about 50% of my workout weight for 12 reps. Then I do another one at 75% of my workout weight for 12 reps. Then I get down and dirty. Thanks for the recommendation yesterday Greek about the spot inject....
Benching wide can really F&*% up your shoulders (rot cuffs) if you are prone to that. That's why you almost never see power lifters benching with their elbows out to the sides. There's is ALOT of shoulder rotation in a wide bench, and everything you are saying sounds WAY too familiar to me. Took me 6 months to rehab my shoulders after correcting my bench form. I've added 100 pounds to my bench in about 4 months though, so it's worth it. If you are prone to shoulder issues, rot cuff weakness, etc...try switching to a PL style bench WHILE you're rehabbing the rot cuffs. Then go back if you must. Personally, I think wide bench pressing is one of the worst ways to isolate the pecs if you have shoulder issues.
Spatts,
If you weren't speaking from experience, I would have wondered where the heck you came up with your last post since I neer mentioned using a wide grip. I do my bench pretty darn wide, I place my pointer finger on the little line on the bar. Guess that will be one thing I will change! Good call....
If you weren't speaking from experience, I would have wondered where the heck you came up with your last post since I neer mentioned using a wide grip. I do my bench pretty darn wide, I place my pointer finger on the little line on the bar. Guess that will be one thing I will change! Good call....
The wide grip is part of it, but the bigger problem is benching wide...as in elbows at 90 degrees to the body, bar descends to chest. That's alot of shoulder rotation. When a PLer benches, the elbows are tucked close to the body as possible, and the bar drops to the sternum, not the (upper) chest. I use the widest grip possible in a PL bench(index finger in the rings), but because my elbows are no farther than 45 degrees from my body, it minimizes shoulder rotation.
Another thing you can do to keep the shoulders tight is to make sure that your shoulder blades are pinched together tightly on the bench...and don't let them separate when you unrack it. This may require a lift off, depending on your bench's bar height.
...same for db's. I had to actually cut out all db work because the front to back instability was worse on my rotator cuffs than the bar.
Another thing you can do to keep the shoulders tight is to make sure that your shoulder blades are pinched together tightly on the bench...and don't let them separate when you unrack it. This may require a lift off, depending on your bench's bar height.
...same for db's. I had to actually cut out all db work because the front to back instability was worse on my rotator cuffs than the bar.
DrBones
New member
Grod,
You should do some really light work before you stretch... you need to get some blood flowing in the muscle before you stretch.. this is what my hockey/lacrosse trainers have told me my whole life... You'll benefit from the stretching a lot more if you give your muscles a real quick light warmup first..
my 2 cents..
Ryan
You should do some really light work before you stretch... you need to get some blood flowing in the muscle before you stretch.. this is what my hockey/lacrosse trainers have told me my whole life... You'll benefit from the stretching a lot more if you give your muscles a real quick light warmup first..
my 2 cents..
Ryan
SofaGeorge
New member
Grod, this may sound stupid... but maybe the bench you are using is too high. I bench heavy with DB's... at least compared to most people. I recently had the experience of switching to a new gym. Their benches are only a couple inches higher than what I'm used to, but that couple inches makes a ton of difference when you are rocking back to get two heavy db's in place. I found that the rock backwards was throwing weight into my rotator cuffs just prior to pressing... not a good thing.
I switched to a lower bench... not even much lower. It helped.
I switched to a lower bench... not even much lower. It helped.
