Rotator cuff

[w1cked]

Originally Posted by squat

I was just kidding. Except you don't seem to be doing very well at lifting. Lots of people don't lift and live happy lives and look great, but I'm better than that. There might be a more fitting fitness fixation for you.

Bench press is pretty hard. Lots of people get hurt. It kind of hurts me, but I take it easy, and I have no major issues. No need to bench. There is no need. You'll never be competitive. Choose something kinder to you, so you can compete with yourself and not lose to your shoulders.

I recommend something more suitable like stamp collecting or power walking or Yu Gi Oh..etc

[AlphaBettor]

How did you tear your pec in the first place?

[BigPecsPeter]

Originally Posted by w1cked

I recommend something more suitable like stamp collecting or power walking or Yu Gi Oh..etc

I hear good things about Pokémon Go

[BEATMEOUTTAME]

Originally Posted by AlphaBettor

How did you tear your pec in the first place?

One arm pullups in a mind altering state

[BEATMEOUTTAME]

Originally Posted by squat

I was just kidding. Except you don't seem to be doing very well at lifting. Lots of people don't lift and live happy lives and look great, but I'm better than that. There might be a more fitting fitness fixation for you.

Bench press is pretty hard. Lots of people get hurt. It kind of hurts me, but I take it easy, and I have no major issues. No need to bench. There is no need. You'll never be competitive. Choose something kinder to you, so you can compete with yourself and not lose to your shoulders.

Seems like I'm doing fine to me. I lost 30 lbs lifting at planet fatness and now my strength levels are going up in accordance with a barbell program. I'm only 3.5 weeks into it.

And I'm definitely not going to stick with bench press for long or go heavy but I've gotten quite a lot of pec development out of just bringing my bench back to 135x5. Ideally, I'd like to get it to at least 135x12 or so before making a decision on whether or not to continue. I don't want my pecs to be so weak that it causes some type of imbalance. My overhead press is already 105x5, and should improve quite a bit during my weight gain cycle.

Frankly, dumb bell pressing hurts my shoulders just as much if not more so I need to work on this rotator cuff issue. I have experimented with neutral grip and that helps a little bit.

[BEATMEOUTTAME]

So benching was not part of my barbell routine today so I decided to just experiment with the bar. Even pressing JUST THE BAR was extremely uncomfortable and somewhat painful for my shoulder using a normal grip. I'm guessing that means my rotator cuffs are already experiencing some impingement or problems. They are pretty bad from poor technique when I was younger and high school tennis (serving is just brutal long term).

I tried a few of the recommended online exercises, lets see if they help. Rotator cuff exercises sure aren't exciting or fun to perform.

[AlphaBettor]

Find an exercise or two that doesn't cause any pain in your shoulder and work on improving that/those. Bench press hurts, (flat?) dumbbell pressing hurts, so those are out. The flat plane might be out altogether or maybe you can find some kind of chest press or fly or pec deck type of movement that doesn't your shoulder.

Or use an incline, decline, dip or whatever you can progress safely and effectively. There are many possible chest exercises you could use. You can focus on doing some exercises for the rotator cuff, it's not a bad idea but it's doubtful it will solve your bench pressing issues.

Also reevaluate your thoughts on rep ranges. From other threads, I gather that you're in your fives are by far the most effective rep range stage but for somebody who has major shoulder issues and has already had a pec tear, you might want to consider taking the rep range a little higher, for joint care. Maybe a lot higher.

[BigPecsPeter]

Pec Dec is all you need for big pecs

[BEATMEOUTTAME]

Originally Posted by AlphaBettor

Find an exercise or two that doesn't cause any pain in your shoulder and work on improving that/those. Bench press hurts, (flat?) dumbbell pressing hurts, so those are out. The flat plane might be out altogether or maybe you can find some kind of chest press or fly or pec deck type of movement that doesn't your shoulder.

Or use an incline, decline, dip or whatever you can progress safely and effectively. There are many possible chest exercises you could use. You can focus on doing some exercises for the rotator cuff, it's not a bad idea but it's doubtful it will solve your bench pressing issues.

Also reevaluate your thoughts on rep ranges. From other threads, I gather that you're in your fives are by far the most effective rep range stage but for somebody who has major shoulder issues and has already had a pec tear, you might want to consider taking the rep range a little higher, for joint care. Maybe a lot higher.

Oh, I definitely agree with you. I'm not staying in this 5 rep range forever, I wont be progressing to the Texas method or Stronglifts or anything. I spent about a year lifting light weights and doing pushups/pullups and mobility work though already. So I plan on sticking with the 5 rep range just to get past novice lifts. Then I'll probably move to 6-8 range for quite some time. And eventually a hypertrophy range to avoid injury. I just have to be smart/disciplined enough to do it BEFORE I hurt myself lol.

I'm sticking with the wide grip bench a little longer as it doesn't seem to bother me at all. I'd just like to get to like 155x5, so that I can do all my worksets with at least 135 lbs going forward. It's just too embarrassing to lift like 110 with all those tiny weights piled on the bar lol.

Advancing through the novice weights doesn't really subject them to as many issues because its really mostly neural adaptations and learning to recruit motor units. In fact, if my technique is good squatting should help my knees a lot. Benching should help my pec recover some of its old strength. And deadlifts should help my constant hamstring pulls due to APT and muscle imbalances.

If you don't progress through at least the novice weights though you'll never really get anywhere with building a physique. I need to increase my top end strength enough to where larger weights feel light so I can use them for high reps. Low weights for high reps is kinda a waste of time. You'll look decent immediately post exercise, but with no real muscle tissue accumulation it's a temporary look.

Also, because I lost all the fat first these baby weights aren't nearly as taxing on my joints. That's the real advantage of getting lean before you go on a strength binge.