Old injuries in both shoulders prevent me from from benching or incline benching without intense pain. I was able to get around this problem with the floor press for a year, but now increasing weight is hurting my shoulders again. Dips hurt my sternum tremendously and are basically undoable. Am I destined to never train chest with heavy weight again, or is there another exercise that I can try?
If you can still do overhead press, you are in relatively good position.
Can you do lying dumbbell flies and/or pec dec machine?
Have you tried close grip bench presses? This movement can be done without opening your shoulder joint.
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Have you tried to just negatives or maybe isometrics?
I’ve never tried close grip. I should look into it. Thank you. I should be able to do flys and the pec dec since it’s not the same movement, so I’ll check the next time I go to the gym.
I still overhead press. If I could just do that and not worry about other chest exercises, I would; but I know it’s not enough.
I haven’t tried either. Seems difficult if not impossible to implement without a partner.
Make sure you at least try a set with your elbows close to your sides. If your elbows flare out it opens your shoulder joint.
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Yeah…you need a trustworthy partner for negative only
Have you been to a physio or medical professional to see what the actual problem is?
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Also, why on earth bench if it gives you a problem?
If flies works for you, you could absolutely build a decent chest with it. Apply smart submaximal techniques of volume (namely ladders), slow negatives (4 sec or more) or prolonged sets 60-90 secs for TUT with less weight.
This is secondary to seeing a good physiotherapist though. It may be an issue you need to work with for a very long time.
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Dumbbells do me a lot of favors when the bar isn’t being friendly.
Some machine presses feel good, but some actually feel worse.
In a similar vein as the close grip floor press or slingshot suggestions, pin pressing may eliminate the painful range.
A lot of folks can’t do dips, but different pushups variations might be comfortable options.
If your goals are hypertrophy-oriented, I’d also think about moving the heavier stuff later in the session so you can’t handle as much weight.
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Yes. What the doctor and physical therapist did was ineffective.
Did they say what the issue is? Having recently recovered from a shoulder issue myself after trying (unsuccessfully) to rehab it and work around in the forlorn hope it would heal let me say that you need to get the root cause fixed
Could you define heavy. Do you mean a low rep range? What % of 1 RM are you meaning? Are we talking submax range or max effort zone?
For the record ive had both shoulders worked on in the past. So i get where your coming from.
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This happened when I was 13 or 14 years old. The doctor said the pain and popping were due to growth although I was already done growing by that point. I insisted that I got the injury while working out, and she sent me to a physical therapist, but I do not remember getting a formal diagnosis from either on what the problem was. In any case, I am not looking to fix it. I just needed some advice on how I could train chest given my situation.
By heavy I mean from 80% to 100% of my 1 rep max.
IMO, you never need to train above 90% of your 1 rep max. And if you are not competing in a Powerlifting Meet, you can drop that maximum to 80% of your 1 rep max.
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I haven’t flat benched in years. Similarly, my shoulders can’t do flat without pain. Instead, I do a mid to high incline for all chest work. The do dips, pushups, dumbbells and cables for all assistance work.
I train for strength, not hypertrophy. Training at 80%-100% of my max is a normal part of my training cycle.
80% is fine for strength gains… unless your training specifically for a 1 Rm for a meet.