Dan John’s article ( Strength Training, Bodybuilding & Online Supplement Store - T NATION ) with the recommendation to stop benching, if you are getting past 40, got me rethinking my shoulder and chest training. I have started to feel some minor pain in my left shoulder which looks like the beginning of an impingement syndrome. Ironically the pain started this week after doing DB OH presses motivated by the article.
My current plan is:
Substitute barbell bench press with HS decline press:
This should mean less stress on the shoulder joint without negative effect on chest hypertrophy. Shoulder hypertrophy might suffer therefore I will add a shoulder exercise (see below).
I also thought about dips but I think with heavier weights there is a risk of going too deep and injuring oneself.
Addition of “One-Arm Braced Overhead Dumbbell Presses”
See Strength Training, Bodybuilding & Online Supplement Store - T NATION for the exercise description. The neutral grip should reduce stress on the shoulder joint. Doing the presses standing should reduce stress on the lower back and using only one arm at a time should make getting the DB in place more safe. The exercise should take care of frontal deltoid and upper chest hypertrophy.
Minor modifications of lateral shoulder raise:
Focus on strict form, lighter weight with higher reps (10 instead of 5).
Addition of corrective exercises
Face pulls, L-Flys, scap push ups
More focus on chest stretches
door way chest stretch, towel shoulder dislocations
Only one heavy chest day per week
I am currently doing an Upper/Lower split. Instead of doing both upper days with 5 reps, I will use sets of 10 reps every other day.
Yup, go to Eric Cressey’s site he has a ton of stuff on shoulders and works alot with baseball pitchers from HS through the pro ranks. he is the resident shoulder guru! Best of Luck.
Thank you for this tip. I have already read a lot of his articles here on T-Nation. But I will consider buying his “Optimal Shoulder Performance” DVD set.
[quote]with the recommendation to stop benching, if you are getting past 40,
Substitute barbell bench press with HS decline press:
This should mean less stress on the shoulder joint without negative effect on chest hypertrophy. Shoulder hypertrophy might suffer therefore I will add a shoulder exercise (see below).
I also thought about dips but I think with heavier weights there is a risk of going too deep and injuring oneself.
[/quote]
yea, i have an opinion. first, how old are you, and how long have you done benches? do you like benching? I do, but I HATE the bar, it was killing my shoulders,so I went to db benches. Not only that, but I got off the hard bench and use a small tight stability ball. It works great. supports the back of the shoulder, lets the blade move, feels great. I’m 54 and setting PRs. Don’t quit benching just because somebody else says so. If you like it, find a way to do it. As far as decline benches, every strength coach i have read says they are the best way to ruin a shoulder. do dips instead, go down slow, not too far, BW only until you are doing five sets of ten. have fun…don’t quit benching, but DO modify what you are doing so you can keep doing it for a couple more decades.
After purchasing and reading the 5/3/1 e-book, I switched from DB OH presses to the strict barbell military. Now, whenever I dabble with a set or two of DB OHs, I notice the stress on my shoulder joints feels noticeably greater. Also, my shoulder strength gains have been greater with the barbell military.
I also do incline barbell benching (medium-type grip), and have had no issues with shoulder stress. (Caveat is I’m not a heavy bencher though, because heavy, i.e. size does make a difference imo, lol.) The one time I felt a tweak in my weaker shoulder (left) was when I was grinding out a rep, which I believe is a no-no if shoulder health is a concern with benching. What I learned from Cressey (retraction and downward rotation of the scapula puts your shoulder joint in it’s “healthiest” position) is how I try to set up before starting to bench.
[quote]with the recommendation to stop benching, if you are getting past 40,
Substitute barbell bench press with HS decline press:
This should mean less stress on the shoulder joint without negative effect on chest hypertrophy. Shoulder hypertrophy might suffer therefore I will add a shoulder exercise (see below).
I also thought about dips but I think with heavier weights there is a risk of going too deep and injuring oneself.
[/quote]
yea, i have an opinion. first, how old are you, and how long have you done benches? do you like benching? I do, but I HATE the bar, it was killing my shoulders,so I went to db benches. Not only that, but I got off the hard bench and use a small tight stability ball. It works great. supports the back of the shoulder, lets the blade move, feels great. I’m 54 and setting PRs. Don’t quit benching just because somebody else says so. If you like it, find a way to do it. As far as decline benches, every strength coach i have read says they are the best way to ruin a shoulder. do dips instead, go down slow, not too far, BW only until you are doing five sets of ten. have fun…don’t quit benching, but DO modify what you are doing so you can keep doing it for a couple more decades.[/quote]
i made these for you today. do these, bench, almost pain free. works great.[video]1713[/video][video]1714[/video]