Bench Press Injury?

Posts: 165 Member
edited 2:35AM in Fitness and Exercise
My son is having shoulder pain and swelling after bench pressing. He was fine the day he lifted, then he woke up with pain and swelling. The swelling is on his back at the top of his shoulder blade, just to the right of his armpit. I told him he should go to the doctor to get it checked out, but he wants to wait and see if it goes away. He thinks he just strained the muscle.

He's 18 and has been lifting for a while. He's been increasing his weights and trying to gain some muscle/weight (he weighs 155 at 6 ft.). Any ideas what this might be?

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Replies

  • Posts: 165 Member
    Bumping to top..
  • Posts: 380
    I would need to see a video of him benching but I am going to go out on a limb here and say that he is benching the way that most guys do with his back flat and his elbows flared out really wide. I am also going to assume that he is bench pressing frequently and rowing, deadlifting and squatting infrequently. I make these assumptions because A) This is the norm and B) he is skinnier than a blade of grass. So, he is probably experiencing inflammation in the anterior portion of the labrum due to overuse of the shoulder socket. This is caused by the frequency of pressing, too much shoulder rotation throughout the pressing movement and muscular imbalances caused by pressing more than you pull.

    In short, to fix his shoulder issue he needs to learn to bench press properly, this means with his back arched, leg drive and his elbows tucked in to his sides. Go on Youtube and search "So you think you can bench- Date Tate" and have him watch that whole series. Also, he needs to have a well balanced training program, not just the "everyday is chest and biceps day" type of training that most kids do. Since he is experiencing shoulder pain from pressing, I would recommend pulling 3 times the amount of reps that he presses. The easiest way to do this is to superset all pressing exercises with chin ups, dumbbell rows or barbell rows. You could substitute some other variations like meadows rows, cable rows or cable lat pulldowns but it's best to use free weights and use the cables sparingly. Here's an example bench workout:

    Bench superset with barbell rows:
    5sets of 5 reps
    Blast strap push ups superset with blast strap inverted rows
    5 sets of 10 reps
    Posterior Delt Raises superset with heavy DB Rows
    5 sets of 10 reps
    Chin Ups
    3 sets to failure

    He can also fit in extra pulling volume on his squat and deadlift days. (If he doesn't have squatting or deadlifting days then this is also a problem with his training program and needs to be addressed). You can row/chin every training session without overtraining your back. Don't let the "fitness brigade" tell you otherwise. They are wrong. That's why I'm strong and they are not.

    Rowing a lot will also help him pack on a lot of mass. The old addage is: Row to Grow and it's true. Send me a personal message if y'all have any other questions, I'd be glad to help.
  • Posts: 380
    Here's a link to the "So you think you can bench" series:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHx1gYTA-Rw

    Here's a link to the "So you think you can squat" series:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ME8gEN54Ao

    I also thought I'd throw in a few other example training sessions to get him started:

    Example 1:
    Standing Barbell Overhead Press Superset with Chin ups:
    5sets of 5 reps (or he could use 5/3/1 for his main lift)
    Dumbbell Press Superset with Dumbbell Rows
    5 sets of 10 reps
    Barbell Shrugs superset with Barbell Rows
    5 sets of 10 reps

    Example 2: Bench Press Superset with Barbell Rows
    5x5 or 5/3/1 for bench, 5x10ish for barbell rows
    Dips Superset with Chin ups
    Dips 5x10
    Chins 10x10
  • Posts: 232 Member
    Bumping for those links.
  • Posts: 165 Member
    Awesome!! Thanks so much. I'll pass along the information to him. I know he is squatting and doing deadlifts...I just don't know how much in comparison to the upper body work. I'm also wondering if he is doing high reps until his arms are dead. I'll find out and make sure that's addressed if that's the case.
  • Loftearmen: excellent advice! When I was a skinny kid I focused WAY too much on bench pressing too. You HAVE to work your back too. Wish I had this kind of knowledge when I was young!
  • Posts: 793 Member
    Thankyou too Loft, excellent info !!!
  • Posts: 390 Member
    Excellent post Loftearmen!! Good too see a fellow Dave Tate Fan..

    Maybe worth looking up the EliteFTS Band pullupart Series, and throwing some External rotations in there as well
  • Posts: 380
    Excellent post Loftearmen!! Good too see a fellow Dave Tate Fan..

    Maybe worth looking up the EliteFTS Band pullupart Series, and throwing some External rotations in there as well

    That's true. I always do band pull aparts and external rotations as part of my warm up on pressing days. Some times I'll do bent over dumbbell raises and reverse shrugs too
  • Posts: 390 Member
    Yeah Band pulluparts are really good, I sit a desk all day as well, so EliteFTS recommend me to do an extra 100 a day as a result.

    I do the same on my pressing days as well, External Rotations, 100 Facepulls on chest day, 100 reps on Rear delts on Shoulder days as well, VERY under-rated exercises IMHO, and could save a ton of people having bench issues\shoulder issues
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