Been running 531 for a few months now and I’ve developed a pain in my upper left arm that hurts whenever I press or bench. It’s painful even when lifting the bar but seems to improve when I get to the heavy sets. The problem is this injury is not improving even when trying to work through it. I’ve taken time off and it does nothing to help. I’m at the point now where I have no idea how to approach this because I cannot carry on the way I’m going.
I know it’s hard for people on here to know exactly what’s wrong but has anybody had any similar injuries and is there any lifts that are good for rehabbing such an injury? It’s hard to pin point exactly where the pain is coming from but it’s somewhere in the upper arm, possibly in the delts.
I should probably mention that I’ve been benching and pressing for years on programs like starting strength and madcows and not had any issues. This is definitely not a form issue.
I ended up getting an x ray and an mri last year. Doctor could see nothing wrong with it. I decided to try train through it again and on my very first session the pain had gone, completely out of the blue. After a year of trial and error, it just disappeared. I did incorporate stretching before sessions, so maybe that helped
I have since very recently developed the exact same pain in the other arm. I’ve decided to stop doing press-ups and I’m due a deload week so I will see how things feel after that.
I crashed a motorcycle and had a partial left elbow replacement a few years ago. I know that’s not quite the same as your situation, but between the scar tissue, the prosthetic rubbing around in my arm and however they attached the muscle following surgery, I experience pain and general tightness too when pressing.
The pressure as I approach around 260 to 280 or so is uncomfortable, making heavy lifting difficult, and countless reps are agitating too.
I have found that wrist straps help significantly in both scenarios. Whatever they do to stabilize my arm under the bar is a near miracle, but the tightness and pressure I feel without them from my thumb/wrist down to my elbow becomes negligible. Might be worth a try.