Rear shoulder hurts when benching

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

Hi all, I tried a search but did not find exactly the same problem answered already, so here goes:

I have done 1 week of 5x5 -training. I started second week with chest/shoulder/arms day after a light warm up. Doing incline benches, I had mucho pain in my rear shoulders, starting from the first rep, around the point where where infraspinatus, teres minor and subscapularis attach to the shoulder. Afterwards, pain was also felt along the muscle that runs under the bone in your rear shoulder (infraspinatus)? Now it hurts to bring my fingertips to my neck, and any overhead pressing or benching is a no-no. The pain is a bit like strained muscle would have or an extreme case of DOMS. Even holding my hands in the starting position of bench press hurts, and I think it will be a while before I can press again… needless to say, I only did one set of benches and did not even try shoulder presses. The shoulder joint itself is painless, it is the point where muscle connects to the bone that hurts, or perhaps some ligaments near the joint.

Now most of you have complained about pain in front shoulder - how about rear shoulder? I have suggestions why this happened, what do you think:

  1. I was holding the bar too high i.e. too close to my chin causing too much shoulder rotation. In other words, just incorrect technique combined with heavy weights of 5x5. How high should the bar touch your chest when incline pressing? Around nipples or even lower? How about grip width?

  2. I have the classical “weak external rotators”. I have been doing barbell rows and even some rear delt lateral raises, but I have a feeling that they don’t stress external rotators that well. I have been taking care not to develop that hunchback posture by stretching my pecs and doing abovementioned rows. Still, can it be that I have too weak rotator cuff?

  3. Excessive volume of 5x5 program: monday - shoulder press + dips + bench, wednesday - squats + clean&press and friday - shrugs. All requiring shoulder muscles to either do the work, or for support. I have had slight DOMS when going to the gym, but not that bad. After all, this is first week of doing strength-based training, and some DOMS is expected (after light weights of Meltdown training).

  4. Tight muscles in shoulders? I do stretch them, but have a feeling that all muscles are not stretched equally with the stretches I know. I have some shoulder discomfort in holding the bar in back squats, nothing too bad, though.

And yeah - did I seriously damage anything and what do you suggest to rehab my shoulders in addition to ice + inflammatories? I think that doing those cuban raises would be beneficial, but currently it is just that exercise that hurts like hell. How long do you think that I should wait when my shoulders are painless, before benching again? Any other exercises to replace incline bench while I get my rotator cuff strengthened?

2

Take it from a stubborn SOB who waited way too long to have his shoulder problems taken care of (and is paying for it now): go have it checked out by a professional!

3

I can tell you from first hand experience that I stretched some tendons in the rear part of my rotator cuff about a year ago and had to go through physical therapy to get back on track. It took me around 6 to 8 months to get back to the weights I was originally using. Anyway, benching puts a lot of stress on your shoulders and like must of us we have a tendency not to exercise our rotator cuffs. Since my injury I have incorporated these exercises prior to any shoulder exercise and I haven’t had any problems with mine since. There are a few exercises you can do to help your shoulder problems. Anyway if it is bad as you say you should probably see a physical therapist. Or like most of us we are to stubborn to see a doctor and you can check this web site or search online for exercises for rotator cuff strengthening. As far as waiting is concerned I would take your time a let things heal and don’t let your ego guide the weight that you use. Because you don’t want a new injury or re-injure your current shoulder problem.

4

take it from the guy who told steve over and over to go see someone…go see someone as soon as possible!

5

Thanks all! Do you really think that there is reason to worry that much? I mean, this isn’t the traditional way of wrecking shoulders by training through pain for months. I have never trained when there is pain or stiffness. This was one-case pain brought on by excessive poundage in somewhat unfamiliar exercise. So do you think that it can be something as severe as a tear? Simultanously in both shoulders?

After giving it more thought, it seems that the mistake was in letting the bar touch my chest too near my chin. I believe that this causes impingement syndrome. It is actually getting better as I write, after icing and generally taking it easy for the rest of the day. Now it only hurts when doing external rotation. But yes, if it still hurts after a couple of days, I will see a doctor. Anyway, this serves as a warning to start serious strengthening and stretching regime for rotator cuff.

6

j, you gotta post under jaytruly…you’re messing me all up here.