Avoiding injuries: some exercises are not for you

[Dawgpound_Hank]

So I had to stop flat barbell benching around 18 years ago. At that point in my life, I already had 20 years of benching in. Reason I stopped is bcoz my right shoulder started to always hurt when benching, and gradually got worse until it got to the point when I would have only 225 on the bar, my shoulder would feel a sudden stabbing pain and just "go out" after 3 or 4 reps, like it went dead and immediate loss of strength. Before I started having those issues, a typical bench for me would be 315 x 12-15, 365 x 5-7, and if feeling strong, I would go up to 4 plates for 2 or 3. So needless to say, hurting with only 225 certainly showed there was a problem. I tried benching again a few times after that over the years, but same shit would happen - right shoulder pain. So needless to say, after only 2 or 3 bench workouts I would call it quits. Afterall, not like I needed to bench since I had built some pretty decent mass via inclines, flyes & dips.

Fast forward to now. Decided a month ago to try flat bb bench again. Played it safe as usual, controlling the bar slowly and no bouncing whatsoever, slow negatives, etc. First workout did 5 x 5 with 250 - not pushing myself to the limit. 2nd workout, 5 x 5 with 275. 3rd was 5 x 5 with 285. All was going OK, and not feeling any pain. Then today - plan was to do 5 x 5 with 295, but at only 255, had that same shit happen as did 15 years ago - severe right shoulder pain on rep 2, and racked it. Sooo, looks like I will be doing baby chest & shoulder workouts for the next 3-4 weeks to let this shit heal up (hopefully).

Bench is simply not for me - period! Crazy that I can toy with the 120's for 20 on flat dbs, incline 120's for 12, db flyes with 100's, smith inclines with 315, all no pain. But put my ass on flat bb and forget about it. One can build alot of mass & helluva physique without having to resort to the big 3. Speaking of the big 3, I also haven't done squats or deads regularly since 2001 bcoz of serious lumbar issues caused by squats back then. Dorian was a 6x O winner, and never did squats or flat benches during his pro reign, since they both caused him pain also. Workarounds for me have been heavy leg presses, hacks, bb rows, T-bar rows, db rows, sl deads. Btw I DO highly recommend doing the big 3 for a guy buildning his base if he can do so pain free. However, it's not written in stone that you will never get big if you DON'T do them. Sooo, point being is some exercises are just not meant for everybody - better to play it smart and stay injury free vs setbacks with healing. No more flat bb benching is in my future haha.

[A.B]

Oh brother my lumbar issues are bad. Rarely go over 225 squat. And deads are out of the question.

Weird on the bench tho, you sure you have proper form!?!? Bahahaha joking brother. Gotta look after yourself bench isn't all that important imo. Incline db or bb give way better overall chest development.

[Dawgpound_Hank]

Oh brother my lumbar issues are bad. Rarely go over 225 squat. And deads are out of the question.

Weird on the bench tho, you sure you have proper form!?!? Bahahaha joking brother. Gotta look after yourself bench isn't all that important imo. Incline db or bb give way better overall chest development.

Thing is, I remember as a young teen back in the late 70's reading in Muscle Builder that when you bench, always keep the elbows out wide to the sides to target pecs. Arnie said it, so did all the other stars in the mags, ie Robby, Louie, etc. Sooo, that's what I did, and that's probably WHY it eventually fucked my shoulder/rc up. I didn't have Buf around back in the day to tell me to keep elbows IN, which is a much safer way to bench regarding the rc's. Also, back in those times, nobody ever even heard about doing rc exercises as a pre-warmup before pressing movements. But I'm certainly not the only old timer in here, and I'm sure many others benched many years elbows out, so maybe it's just me.

Those lifts/#'s I mentioned in my prior post were all done natty. When I messed my shoulder up, that was about 5-6 years before I even came to the darkside. I'm sure my bench would have been much higher if I could have did it when ON, since my incline went up to about what my bench used to be haha. Kinda weird how just that slight angle can make all the difference in the world as to how it impacts the rc - never had a problem with shoulder pain on inclines.

[A.B]

Good point. You're right. I recovered from a shoulder injury. A very bad case of shoulder impingement. It's recovered but even til this day front double biceps and lat spread my shoulder doesn't sit right anymore. Definitely benching wide did not help that

[bigbreads80]

Same thing for me. Haven't touched a bench in probably 7-8 years. Kills my shoulder everytime. Incline and decline are ok though. But my chest hasn't slacked do to it. One of those things

[ketsugo]

Hey Im with ya- I havent flat benched since 1983, yet my chest probably my best part, I hate a thick titty chest , I like the hard squared - inclines, high rep /wide dips, cables - Im GTG.

I dont do front Presses either - the so called dangerous Press Behind Neck only Major Shoulder I can do for pressing . Everything else I can- I also do my arms in reverse to avoid injury forearms , then curls never has pain again my arms grow like weeds and I never use straps and my fore arms have veins size of huge cables

[liftsiron]

I haven't been able to bench for years.

[Player]

I'm with kets. Chest is my best part but I bench three times a year if that. I started the beginning of shoulder pain and backed off. DB always did the most for me on chest anyway.

For squats I use 225 at the most and do the reps using negatives, static holds, quarter reps at the bottom, and sometimes all three together, along with super sets of all kinds and sometimes pre exhaust with belt squats or some shit. And I'm happy to report that since I started training like that, for the first time in my life I have some quads I'm proud of. When I was going to heavy my lumbar would quit before the quads would and not get trained adequately.

[UXL]

I'm in the same boat and made the switch to db's. I've worked up to the 150's with no pain. I see plenty of guys push 315, 365 even 405 on bp but the 150's rarely move from the rack. Looking back wish I never touched the flat bp.