Benchpress shoulder problem.

[Zysoclaplem]

Some friends and I were doing pyramid benchpresses, starting out really low and building up high.
Well it was my turn to go, and I did my set and immediately, on my first lift my shoulders started hurting. Both of them. I've done this many times before, so I know it's not even slightly normal. I say something to them about it. So they finish their sets and we go do other stuff. At this point I can hardly lift my arms above my head, I cannot do any pushups.
My shoulders are done.

It lasted for about 3 days. I could hardly turn over in bed. It was bad.

Any ideas on what the hell happened? I used good form. But I am concerned now that if I try to start using them again, I will hurt them again.

 

[Deeko]

Could be a rotator cuff injury. I have lingering rotator cuff problems from volleyball in college, and when it flares up, benching is extremely painful. There are exercises you can do to help, but I found that just resting it few a few weeks is the best solution....

 

[brikis98]

Shoulder injuries are extremely common when weight lifting, especially when it comes to the various press exercises (bench press, incline press, overhead press, etc). just about every lifter i've known has had some at some point. there are many different causes: bad form, weak shoulder ligaments, and previous injury (from baseball or tennis, for example). sometimes, i just get the impression the shoulder gets hurt because it wasn't designed (rather, evolved) to handle the kind of stress we put on it with resistance training. the proper thing to do if you're worried is obviously to see a doctor, get an x-ray, and make sure nothing is seriously injured.

having said that, in my non-professional opinion, rest and icing your shoulder every night for a week will do the trick for most people... some more comments:

1. the further apart your hands are when doing bench press, the more stress on the shoulder. on an olympic bar, there are indents cut into it and the average person should should have his fingers inside or right on these indents (obviously, if you have a very large frame, you may need a wider grip).
2. the closer your elbows are to your torso, the less stress on your shoulder and the more on your triceps. the further away your elbows are - and the closer your arm is to being perpendicular to your body when seen from above - the more stress on the shoulder. so, consider bringing your elbows a bit closer to your body.
3. warm up properly before lifting - try 10 minutes of light cardio and some dynamic stretches. if you just jump into bench press (or any exercise) without loosening your body up, your tendons/ligaments will be stiff and may get injured.
4. there are various PT exercises you can do to strengthen your shoulder - look them up online.

 

[Zysoclaplem]

Well its just strange that they both started hurting at the same time on the same lift on a low weight. I can still feel the lingering pain, so I will give it a few more days.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

It sounds like you may be putting too much stress on your shoulders. Do you correctly know how to engage your chest? I believe SS or Mark Rippetoe has an article or video out there showing how. Many people can injure themselves since they put too much strain on their arms and don't let their chest carry enough of the weight.

 

[lucasorion]

I'm going to have to look for that video, because I feel like my arms do a lot more of the work when benching with the bar, compared to when I used to use dumbbells. I've also had shoulder problems, and keeping my grip very narrow the last couple weeks has helped to avoid the pain that was keeping me from finishing the whole 5x5 previously. Yesterday I managed 5x5 at 205, for the first time since I started having shoulder pain (back when I was able to do 5x5 at 220).

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: lucasorion
I'm going to have to look for that video, because I feel like my arms do a lot more of the work when benching with the bar, compared to when I used to use dumbbells. I've also had shoulder problems, and keeping my grip very narrow the last couple weeks has helped to avoid the pain that was keeping me from finishing the whole 5x5 previously. Yesterday I managed 5x5 at 205, for the first time since I started having shoulder pain (back when I was able to do 5x5 at 220).

the bolded part is why you feel it in your triceps more. the closer your grip, the more triceps you use.

 

[wheresmybacon]

Did you have sufficient rest after your last chest training day?

When I first starte training I was way too aggressive with working the same muscle groups too often. Make sure you're not only getting your form correct, but that you're giving your muscles enough time to repair.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

try stretching and then warming up with the bar, and then again at about 70-80% of your working set weight.

for a nice shoulder stretch, i'll go on the dip station and go as low as i can, where my hands are basically under my pits and hold it for a few seconds.