Thread: Shoulder pain

I would start calling family members as soon as possbile...this doesn't sound good.

So, are you stretching? and what's your grip width? What kind of bench are you using? Picnic table bench? Park bench?
I've noticed that if I use too wide of a grip, my shoulders will let me know immediately. This is why I usually don't bother with BB press these days. DB press movements seem to give the option to adjust laterally as required....for me anyway.

Originally Posted by DaMayor

I would start calling family members as soon as possbile...this doesn't sound good.

So, are you stretching? and what's your grip width? What kind of bench are you using? Picnic table bench? Park bench?
I've noticed that if I use too wide of a grip, my shoulders will let me know immediately. This is why I usually don't bother with BB press these days. DB press movements seem to give the option to adjust laterally as required....for me anyway.

Wise ass...

Yeah, I'm stretching.. plus, as you know, I'm doing the inclines now before the flats so I'm plenty warmed up before getting to them. Grip is kinda wide.. but that's only because my triceps usually fatigue before my chest does so I try to keep the grip further out. Think that could be part of the problem? I would opt for db's but I the heaviest I own are 35's. That wouldn't be good enough even for the high rep depletion work.
And it's not a picnic or park bench. I prefer piano.

Just from my experience recently, especially in reference to Bench press, (I have only been doing DB presses for a long time) I get a pinching, semi-sharp sort of pain if my grip is too wide. Of course, in my case, this could be because I haven't done bench press in so long. I have found that if I change my hand position, either with DB's or a Hammer~type machine, that it seems to eliminate the problem.
Yeah, I forgot you're working out at home....hmmm. We'll just have to put a Mason Jar with your picture on it out on the counter for DB donations.

Originally Posted by DaMayor

We'll just have to put a Mason Jar with your picture on it out on the counter for DB donations.

You never run out of em do you. lol
I'll try it again with a narrower grip and see if it helps. I do think you may be onto something.. the wide grip is something new I've been doing.

Get the same thing if I go heavy with BB, I basically said fuck it as it ruins several days worth of lifting and just stick to dumbells now.


















.......but it was more serious than just that, the doctor later told me it was anal warts spreading to my shoulder

Originally Posted by FMJ

I've been getting a sharp pain in my shoulder for the last few weeks and I'm curious if it could be a tear. It's a very specific pain that only happens when I do flat bench presses. Today while training I did Incline presses, Military press, arnold presses and lateral raises and none of them gave me shoulder pain but when I did the flat presses, every rep caused pain. I noticed when I kept my elbows close to my sides while doing the flat presses, it didn't hurt very much at all, but it I put my elbows out at a 90 degree from my body, then it was pretty significant.
I cannot make it hurt by moving it in any way though. If I stretch it or just move it around in any possible way, there is no pain at all. It's only during weight training and only during flat presses, doesn't matter the weight either. It could be heavy or light weigh. Doesn't matter. Both cause pain.
Thoughts?

I have the same issues with flat barbell presses, and I just don't do them, except once in awhile on the Smith machine, but I cannot go heavy on them.

You may have some bit of tendonitis going on. Do you do rotator warmups?



I had a bone spur removed, along w/ some arthritis in the AC joint and some frayed tendons cleaned up a year ago. The recovery went well and I competed twice last year. Then I helped a friend move, and managed to jack it really good back in November. I had it x-ray'd in January to make sure I didn't tear anything - was only more inflamation from tendonitis & bursitis. So I got a cortisone shot, took a week off from upper body stuff and have worked my way back to some great new PRs on incline press, but flat bench hurts like a mother. I used to be able to do 90 - 110 lb skull crushers, but now 40-50 lb hurts. I can do everything except flat bench angle. I did the ice thing, spent more time doing a lots of shoulder warm ups and have slowly been working my way back up - starting w/ pushups, decline pushups, but have generally stayed away from 90 degree presses and found other ways to exercise the things I usually do - e.g. instead of skull crushers, I do supersets of rope extensions and more recently able to do weighted dips again.

Shoulders are weird because there's so many little pieces that come together at that joint and its so easy to tweak one thing and have it propagate to peripheral muscles & tendons that will engage to make up for a pain in part of the shoulder. The imbalances start to show up as pain in the weaker or overworked secondary muscles.

Originally Posted by sassy69

You may have some bit of tendonitis going on. Do you do rotator warmups?



I had a bone spur removed, along w/ some arthritis in the AC joint and some frayed tendons cleaned up a year ago. The recovery went well and I competed twice last year. Then I helped a friend move, and managed to jack it really good back in November. I had it x-ray'd in January to make sure I didn't tear anything - was only more inflamation from tendonitis & bursitis. So I got a cortisone shot, took a week off from upper body stuff and have worked my way back to some great new PRs on incline press, but flat bench hurts like a mother. I used to be able to do 90 - 110 lb skull crushers, but now 40-50 lb hurts. I can do everything except flat bench angle. I did the ice thing, spent more time doing a lots of shoulder warm ups and have slowly been working my way back up - starting w/ pushups, decline pushups, but have generally stayed away from 90 degree presses and found other ways to exercise the things I usually do - e.g. instead of skull crushers, I do supersets of rope extensions and more recently able to do weighted dips again.

Shoulders are weird because there's so many little pieces that come together at that joint and its so easy to tweak one thing and have it propagate to peripheral muscles & tendons that will engage to make up for a pain in part of the shoulder. The imbalances start to show up as pain in the weaker or overworked secondary muscles.

Hmm, Honestly, I can't say I've ever did those warmups but I will try it for a few weeks and see if it helps. I'd rather not ditch flat presses but certainly not going to continue them if this keeps up. As I mentioned, I've only started doing the wider grip presses in an effort to keep my tri's uninvolved but Spend tri's are better than injured shoulders! lol
I'll try both a narrower grip preceeded by warmups and hope it helps.
Incidentally, I also do skulls, low weight, med and high and it doesn't irritate the shoulder either.
Thanks for the suggestions Sass.

^^ Every upper body day I do the following warmup - takes 5-10 minutes and lets you work most every angle of the shoulder just to get the blood flowing.

In 1 set, all to shoulder height:
- front raises w/ neutral grip - 10 reps w/ 10 lb db
- same but angled to 45 degrees from front - 10 reps w/ 10 lb db
- side raises, pronated grip - 10 reps w/ 10 lb db
x 3 sets

Cable inside + outside (elbow to sides, standing upright, rotating towards front + towards back), both arms 20 lb cable setting x 20 reps) x 3 sets

and then go hit it.

Frankly I would add these all the time going forward. If you've got the start of some sort of irritation, tthey never really seem to go away fully - so these warmups will work towards always supporting your upper body work & protecting your shoulders. W/ age and wear & tear, you will continue to stress that joint, so making this part of "preventative maintenance" will contribute towards a longer future in lifting and with less pain for greater lifts.

I was having the same probs mate and went to the doc and she said its a rotator cuff tear .BB benching is strictly a no no for me now i couldnt even lift the bar but because the angle changes with the db i can go heavy with em just need a spot gettin em up to start.the warm up sassy mentioned with the elbows close to the body really helps me before a workout just wish i had known about it before i got the injury.