good bench experience

I benched for the first time in four weeks on Wednesday. After three real easy warm-up sets, I did two slow sets at 185 lbs. My problem shoulder had no problems and felt fine the next day. For this first day back I was lowering and pressing in a very slow, controlled way, concentrating on pulling my shoulders back and isolating my chest the whole time. I can't say I felt very strong but that wasn't really the point of this training session. My shoulder went through a mellow bench routine without issue and I feel it could be ready for explosive lifts at 70% in a few weeks.

shoulder's feeling a little frisky

This Wednesday will be four weeks since I last did flat bench. And my shoulder feels good. It could be time to let it loose on the bench press again. My last session on the bench did not go so well but in the month since I have worked my close-grip bench in to feeling pretty strong. The focus lately has been on strengthening triceps, staying off the shoulder and chest exercises and stretching lots.

shoulder feels tight

While close-grip benching yesterday I could feel tightness in my right shoulder. Just noticeable enough to make me think it is not yet time to start heavy benching again. During dips there was the same tightness near the bottom of the movement. Feels OK today though. Stretching has helped. For the past few weeks I've been diligent about stretching out my back and shoulder before work outs and throughout the day. After lifting arms yesterday I did some bent-over dumbell laterals to pull back my shoulders. Felt good. This is maybe an exercise I should integrate into my routine permanently.

shoulder feeling better, or at least not worse

Yesterday I climbed at GVAC for about an hour then lifted arms. Felt good then and now, the next day. No shoulder issues. All the stretching I've done seems to have made me generally more flexible. A friend even mentioned to me last week that I'm "pretty flexible for a big guy". Which was surprising because I don't feel flexible or big. Anyways, I increased weight on the close grip yesterday - 2 sets of 12 at 135 lbs then 2 sets of 12 at 155 lbs. Well, maybe my last set was more like 10. I went through this exercise fairly quickly, with about 2 minutes rest between sets. Again I concentrated on pulling my shoulder blades together, making a stable, flat base for my shoulders on the bench. And my repititions were slow, with pauses at the top and bottom, really paying attention to how my shoulder felt. Then I did 3 sets of 20 dips, triceps cable push-downs with the bar, and standing barbell curls where I gradually increased weight, for sets of 8, up to 95 lbs. Actually the set at 95 lbs, my fourth and final set, was 7 reps. Lastly I did some overhead squats with no weight on the Smith Machine. This is an exercise Kevin Brown recommended to me as part of my shoulder rehabilitation. I use the Smith Machine because my hamstrings, back, and shoulders do not yet have the flexibility to get into a proper squat. The fixed track lets me push myself into a correct path. I guess the point of this exercise is to force me to pull my shoulder blades together. If so, it seems to work.

arm workouts are good

So, I can't bench. But I can lift arms. Last night I did close-grip bench, lying barbell triceps extensions to my head, triceps cable push-downs and biceps barbell curls. I was particularly interested in how close-grip bench would affect my newly acquired shoulder injury. According to what I understand about my shoulder, that anterior and medial deltoid and pectoral exercises caused the damage, I thought maybe I could get away with benching with a shoulder-width grip (or slightly wider), bringing most of the work to my triceps. And after 2 sets of 12 at 135 lbs, going real slow and pausing at the top and bottom, my shoulder feels fine. There was a moment during my first warm-up set at 135 lbs that I felt a discomfort at the area of my infury but I kept stretching and warming up and later sets felt fine. I concentrated on retracting my scapulas, pulling my shoulder blades together, during all exercises yesterday, especially on close-grip bench - so much that my upper back feels worked today. I believe protecting my shoulder in this way is a technique I will need to integrate into my chest and shoulder lifts permanently. This injury tends to be painful only the day after work-outs that aggrevate it. It is now 2:00 PM the day following this workout and my shoulder still feels fine.

Wednesday, week 3

So, I thought I would get in to GVAC (Goleta Valley Athletic Club) last Wednesday, do some light bench then go climbing. Bad idea. I stretched my shoulder for about 20 minutes, did some overhead squats on the Smith Machine with no weight then got on the flat bench. At this point my shoulder felt great - no pain and all mobility was there. Even after some light bench, 2 sets at 175 lbs, things felt great. But the next day was a different story. My shoulder felt worse than it ever has. Since this day I have bouldered fairly hard and done my stretches and overhead squats without incident. I am convinced my delayed pain is caused solely by the bench press. No more bench for a while.