Shoulder pain

[presidentender]

I know it's possible to be able to lift more than is good for your joints, especially for older men lifting very heavy weights (think very heavy bodybuilders doing pull-ups, for instance). In my mind, bench press is notorious for this, because the most severe injuries I know of come from bench: the shoulder is a fragile joint.

I get an inflammation-type pain in my shoulders when doing overhead press or dumbbell laterals after benching. The problems with this are that I'm twenty, not fifty, and that I rarely bench more than 200 lbs. Is it possible that my shoulders are that fragile already?

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Shoulders are sensitive parts of your body, no matter what age you are. You could do some strengthening drills. Have you been increasing your weight rapidly or anything like that?

 

[presidentender]

I have been adding weight pretty fast, but I broke my most recent plateau by switching to standing overhead press and decline skull-crushers as my other shoulder and tricep exercises. I doubt that my delts are too weak.

 

[gramboh]

Are your shoulders out perpendicular (90deg) to your body when you bench? How wide is your grip? Just a thought that maybe you are hammering your shoulders more than you need to on the bench, or do they only hurt on the other exercises after.