Hey, Brothers & Sisters in T- Land, recently I have been trying
to reintroduce flat bench back into my chest workout…For the
first 6 weeks everything was great…My lifts were strict and
smooth…I moved up 5-lbs a week without fail,and never going
to failure (doing a 5 X 5 routine).
Then I started feeling a pain in my medial delt, near the bone
…but made it through that workout,plus one more …Then, the
monster reared its ugly head again,yep, the dreaded bicep tendonitis!
So what went wrong?..I’ve been doing cuban rotations and other
rotator cuff work!..Well, after reading Dave Tate’s 600-lb bench
article, I discovered that I was violating rule # 5 which says to
"…keep the elbows tucked and the bar directly over the wrists and
elbows."My elbows WERE flared out, causing an over-rotation of the
shoulder and too much stress on the joint!..Well, even with the
appropriate grip,I still can’t do flat bench without causing a flare
up,and I know it’s not a weakness in the opposing muscle group because
my lats are pretty strong,and I perform heavy bent-over-rows plus a
lot of other quality back work…so, I am reaching out to YOU in
T-Land,to all you Bench-A-holics,to share your wisdom…or any tips,
tricks, or anecdotes…Thanks a bunch!
I was diagnosed with biceps tendonitis in my right arm/shoulder back in October 2000. This was something that bothered me for years, but I never had it looked at until then. I went through PT with minimal results. I also began getting deep tissue massage. That helped a lot. From October to February, I rarely benched as it always caused pain no matter how much weight I used.
In April, I started doing the 5x5 and started benching with my elbows close to my sides. I went from 135lbs to 185lbs doing 5x5 in two months. (BTW, I’m 5’4" and about 140-145lbs). But by the time I was doing 185, I could no longer keep my elbows tucked and my shoulder hurt again. I stopped benching for the past month. No more pain. Only chest work I got was from close-grip benches, pushups and any dips that I did.
For fun, I decided to do some benches on Tuesday, I went up to 185 and it immediately made my shoulder hurt. Yesterday, was my scheduled workout and I had to max out on close-grip benches. I went up to 185 doing one rep (6-8 inch grip) and had no pain whatsoever. This is because I can keep my elbows tucked when doing close-grips, but not regular bench.
Luckily, my chest is fairly large, so I can afford to do little work on my chest. But I will be doing incline presses on my next program (I’m following Staley’s CPT program). I will have to be very careful when doing them, as they will most likely cause pain. But I will find a way to keep my elbows tucked. Otherwise, I think it’s possible to keep a decent chest with very little benching (at least in my case) if you use close-grip benches, dips, pushups and possible flye movements.
I have congential shoulder laxity (hell, I hope I spelled that right). Anyhow, my shoulder joints are looser than average and so they move around a lot… I had to give up heavy military presses because my shoulders were getting so loose that it was pinching a nerve… hurt like hell.
Anyhow, I've never benched with a wide grip because of this problem. I grab the olympic bar about an inch out on the knurling which forces your elbows to stay tucked. It might take some getting used to after benching with a wide grip but I'm 165 and do a few reps with 245. No pain with bench but now it's got to where I can't do chins with a pronated grip so I'm doing 'em supinated.. It's always something.
Well, as someone who suffers from both congenital shoulder laxity and bicipital tendonitis, I find that decline barbell press and flat dumbell press with my palms semi-supinated feel much better than conventional bench. You might give those a try.
Nate Dogg,that’s the same thing that happens to me as soon
as I use over 185-lbs. My elbows want to fly out!..Maybe
I should get a rope and tie my arms in,like one of those
strange golf-swing trainers…Michael Ray,man,you’ve got
some obstacles to work around…I’ll bet we could learn a
few things from you!(Joey Z.)