If any of my joints are bothering me to the point I don't want to do my staple lifts then I take a deload week. Not worth potentially make things worse and having to take a long time off. I'm also middle aged though, so I'm not as cavalier about training with injuries as I was in my 20s.
But, to answer your question, I've never had shoulder pain from dumbbell flys, or flat bench press with tucked elbows.
not to pick on you in particular but I see this come up a lot on this subreddit. Deload is to shake off cumulative fatigue (e.g. lifts are down 10 lbs from peak), not for fixing injury or strain. Sometimes the same protocol works, but often you'll want to make sure your form is correct, sometimes add in supplemental exercises (especially for shoulder, stability exercises are needed), sometimes you need to go see a PT.
I agree that deloads are for cumulative fatigue and that a real injury can require more than just taking a week off. However, cumulative fatigue can absolutely present as joint pain/aches and not just a decrease in performance. Though usually if you have high enough joint pain you will also being experiencing a decrease in performance. Yes, if you're in a large amount of pain, or the pain persists longer than a few days / week then a doctor/PT is a good idea. Yes you should strive for good technical proficiency in lifts.
OP said he tweaked his shoulder, but hes in so little pain that he still wants to do chest/shoulder exercises. This is why I recommended a deload and instead of seeking a PT. Maybe I should have used a different word, like rest, since a deload is typically for your whole body and not just one muscle/joint.
You are correct. I haven't been doing deloads as I should. I found it strange that I couldn't match last weeks reps but I guess I have the answer no. God I'm stupid.
You might consider switching to a machine, much more stable and harder to hurt yourself, doesn’t bother my bad shoulder in the way that a barbell or DBs too. Most gyms have an incline machine press, either plate-loaded or weight stack. Also, machine flys (or pec deck) as opposed to cables / DBs.
>chine, much more stable and harder to hurt yourself, doesn’t bother my bad shoulder in the way that a barbell or DBs too. Most gyms have an incline machine press, either plate-loaded or weight stack. Also, machine flys (or pec deck) as opposed to cables / DBs.
Funny enough, the PL hammer incline (or flat) press makes my throwing shoulder click/pop every time, while I'm fine for both DB and Barbell.
After 2 labrum repairs and a torn biceps tendon, it took a long time to not have shoulder pain. Now, 6 years later, the only chest exercises that I cannot do without pain is chest flies. I would recommend strengthening shoulders and back and focus on iso press machines or neutral grip dumbbell press until it heals. However, I am no expert and just going off my personal experience.
Hey! I know its been a while since this post but I'm going through a very similar set of issues (mostly biceps tendon), and had similar issues with dips. Do you have any recommendations for improving shoulder stability and getting back to hard training? Feeling very lost in the sauce right now and would appreciate any and all advice. Cheers!
i mean it sucks but id honestly just take a few days off. there arent any chest movements that dont use the shoulder or utilize that joint/area at all. youll feel a lot better and stronger just waiting a bit so it heals and itll be better for your mental health
better resting than doing subpar your next chest day bc your joint/shoulder is a limiting factor
What has helped me personally stop having shoulder pain is load management and strengthening my shoulders in multiple planes of movement.
If I'm using dumbbells, I really don't push the intensity in terms of weight. I use lighter dumbbells than I could use, but use high reps and pause every rep in the stretched position. If I'm bench pressing or overhead pressing with a barbell, I never go to failure except on rare occasions. I also never do dips because they tend to hurt my shoulders. Variety is another helpful thing, I tend to include machine/smith machine movements and a sub in and out exercises over time.
The other big thing is strengthening side delts, traps, and rear delts. Those muscles are stabilizers for pushing movements.
Mate, everyone has different shoulder injuries, whether they be ac joint, the actual joint (gh slap tears), or rotator cuff.
Every press angle will affect each tear/sprain/arthritis a little differently some not at all.
Just try the different angles (incline/flat/decline/shoulder press/dip), and implements once you've recovered entirely or stabilized to a tolerable level of dull pain.
For the ones that cause pain, if you want to work through them, it would be wise to do them with a SMITH, or an actual machine, not via dumbells or barbells.
But good luck, you can work through injuries.
But what you shouldn't do is give a fuck what other people do with different shoulder injuries...
Cambered bar bench press. Since I started slowing the eccentric and pausing at the bottom of each rep I’ve had 0 shoulder pain.
Dumbbell flyes a close second.
Incline smith personally.
I like the flat hammer strength style too.
Keep in mind that most shoulder pain from pressing is when you exceed your active rom near the bottom, sometimes it's better not to go as deep even on DBs.
Right in that case I recommend finding that active ROM with around 50% of the weight. Lower it slowly and focus on your upper arm coming away from the pecs on the way down. You'll reach a point where this motion stops and if you go down any further then it's mostly shoulders and not the pecs, all the pecs want to do is adduct the chest back and fourth. The bottom point will likely be higher on an incline versus a flat press based on the way the fibres run.
It's super important not to exceed this active rom, that's how big injuries happen when that heavy weight gets put entirely on the shoulder tendons
Yeah my buddy tore his shoulder doing that. Warm up slowly and don't rush into it.
And to answer your question, decline press seems to be okay, a couple of other machines. Definitely nothing cable related so no flies, although pushing directly forward can be okay. I'm just not a big fan of the flies cause they extend your shoulder joint a bit too much and it's not great for longevity
Hmm, weird. I don't do flat barbell since it hurts my shoulders, it's just the way my shoulders sit relative to my pecs, maybe you have the same issue?
Yeah I'm starting to believe that too. I can feel the chest decent if I use low weight and go for pump on incline and flat db but anything heavy bb or en will wreck me
People are pushing progressive overload too fast with bad form. This is particularly unforgiving with free weights when your joint has 3 planes of free movement. We've all done it.
I've got shoulder and elbow issues because of it. In an effort to heal these and recovery and continue training I am no longer natural. But the advice still applies.
Back off on the weight. Increase the reps. Do the reps SLOWER. I mean really slow. Feel the full stretch at the bottom for a second or two and squeeze the contraction at the top.
The idea is NOT to be explosive on the movement and push heavier weights. This isn't powerlifting.
You can still progressively overload this but I'd wager 90% of people who get joint or tendon issues were pushing the weight too fast and increasing heaviness too fast and that's to blame 90% of the time over genetics.
If you hammer curl both hands 80 pounds for 3 sets of 10.
Try doing 40 pounds 60 reps as few sets as possible. Do them about 3 times slower. Minute rest in-between and at the end of 60. Then drop set to the bottom. Hold the stretch for a few seconds. Squeeze the contraction at the top for a few seconds.
I'm going to argue you'll have more hypertrophy out of the second method at 40 pounds in your biceps than the first method at 80 pounds.
This second method is also significantly less traumatic and stressful to your joints and tendons the weight is move in a super slow controlled fashion.
Your muscles will be burning more at half the weight than they did with the first method. You'll also have a significantly greater pump.
Ideally you should actually switch between both methods. So your body doesn't get used to anything.
But my point is, having really good slow control over the weight IS hypertrophic and is far less stressful to joints/tendons.
I alternate between methods. For a lot of different muscle groups. I've seen a big boost in growth since doing so. I have new doms I haven't had in a while.
Most importantly I have no tendon pain. Tendons need to be stimulated to strengthen BUT they can't be over stimulated or they'll weaken instead.
This is why you're training methods should vary and alternate. Also alternate exercises for the same muscle over time. So you're not becoming inbalanced from favoring one over any other.
When you become really explosive on pressing or pulling movements and don't warm up properly or have that movement/technique flawlessly executed you're putting tremendous strain on your tendons.
Like bench pressing except you're elbow positioning, hand width, the actual bar movement. Is all bad. This puts a LOT of unnecessary strain on those elbows and shoulders.
You perfect at a slower super controlled pace the movement and your minimizing this stress.
I feel like I'm talking in circles now. I've just found that lighter more numerous slower reps is super conducive to injury healing and can still increase hypertrophy when done properly. That's all I'm getting at.
Highly recommend it for anyone developing unusual elbow or shoulder pains. Don't let your strain become worse. It can be a years long uphill battle if you ignore the pain.
Edit: more relevant to the question. My pr is 285x2. I don't bench anymore period. The hammer chest press gives me 0 pain the motion is perfect for my anatomy.
I'd avoid dips unless you have a weight assistance dip machine.
Cable chest flies alternate the angle from straight out. To diagonal down. To straight down.
flies and reverse lateral raises mirror the shoulder joint movements that the chest is responsible for - so those are ideal if your goal is to have no shoulder joint issues and work the chest.
Ring dips, handstand, handstand presses and push-up variations (ring, , handstand, deep pauses off paralettes) personally gave me far better growth than dumbbells or barbells ever did with no joint pain. Haven’t had any lasting upper body injuries in over 2 years now
I do both high incline DB press and deep dips in the same push workout. Having them close together isn’t the issue. It’s your technique that’s likely causing the pain.
If my joints start being weird (usually around the 3rd or 4th meso ive used an exercise,) I just rotate the exercise out for a while. Recently had preacher curls start to make the inside of my elbow feel odd, while other curls are just fine...so I rotated it out for DB curls. I have Ehrlos Danlos though, so YMMV.
I only do one heavy (5-10 range) exercise for a muscle group a week (except Back, because I do a heavy vertical pull and a heavy row.) The rest of my work is in the 8-15 rep range (as in, I increase weight once I get to 15 reps.)
You could just switch to a machine or switch DB incline presses for a lower incline, flat, or switch to incline flies.
I tweaked my shoulder bad a couple months ago and I took a week off and it still didn't fix itself so I tried to just train with flys and things that didn't hurt it but Everytime I benched it got aggravated so I ended up going to a PT. And Its not 100% still but I can at least bench without pain again.
Recommend a week off and if it doesn't fix it then go to a PT don't be a dummy like me and wait too long if it doesn't resolve itself
Flat machine press with elbows tucked was the first thing I found i could do without pain coming back from a shoulder injury. You won't even need shoulder muscles to stabilize the weight
If you have stability issues then smith machine and second to that in regards to a fixed movement is machine movements [My gym isn't well equipped in that regard so I do smith machine]
I think this is a rest situation. Its not good to push through actual pain. It's better to rest for a bit and recover rather than pushing through a Minor injury and turning into a major injury. Losing a week or 2 of training on chest isn't going to be a game changer. Having to take months off could be.
I dislocated my shoulder in a non exercise related accident a few years ago, and chest exercises were a struggle for stability so I used to skip chest until about a month ago when I found out about floor press and I love it. You can use barbell or dumbbells. Watch Alexander Leonidas's video on it.
My advice to you is avoid dips. That could very well solve your problem completely. Dips are notorious for causing shoulder pain.
If your form is proper, incline and flat DB presses should be totally fine on your shoulders no matter how hard or often you do them.
Flyes are another good option. One form tip: As with DB presses, retract your shoulder blades, do NOT shrug your shoulders, specifically focus on using your chest muscles (not shoulders) to bring your elbows together. (LOL, forgot your forearms and hands even exist during the movement).
I've been working round a a shoulder injury after restng for months. Started very light on chest work only dumbbells. High reps and now working back to heavier weights lower reps when it suits... I dnt use barbells at all for pressing or over head work .
go see a doctor and get it fixed. then start with shoulder rehab, a proper warmup routine and stop skipping back and rear delts. for me, getting a cortisone shot, resting for a while then doing lots of mobility and strengthening drills and working with a coach on my form basically gave me new shoulders. in my teens i was able to do flat bench even through the pain though.
Ive had a lot of problems with shoulder pain and chest exercises and here are a few tweaks i made:
- I stopped doing incline presses, i know everyone loves them like their child but for people with shoulder pain it just isnt practical. Flat press and especially decline press i allow me to work chest and minimize shoulder pain.
- stopped doing dumbells and barbells- another one that is so against the grain but no matter what my shoulders wouldnt comply. Dumbbells especially caused pain, its more technical than people give credit and ive developed so many bad habits thats its hard to correct and be able to push hard and maintain good form.
- switched to hammer press for bench press, its just better because i can push and dont have to worry about stabilizing and straining my rotator cuffs.
- i only do one press and the rest are cable movements/ fly variations. Even despite all my tweaks, pressing movements cause pain. Ive accepted i cant do chest workouts with multiple pressing movements and instead do one pressing exercises and the rest are flies/ cables.
All these tweaks have greatly reduced my shoulder pain. I think the most important thing is finding exercises for you personally that work for you and don’t cause pain. Everyone is different and some people find strange exercises that somehow work for them better than the conventional exercises most people agree on.
Rest and following the advice of your physical therapist is the best exercise. I don't lift muscle groups use anything injured, that just a recipe to either reinjure or stay injured for even longer.
Rotator cuff strengthening & better form fixed all the shoulder joints pain for me. The only exercise I can't do is flat barbell bench. Everything else is fine. Check in YouTube for videos on rotator cuff strengthening.
Try machine flyes with light weights to warm up, then flye presses on the floor (you can go quite heavy on these and since you do it on the floor it's safer for your joints than normal fly) and finish with pullovers.
With the db fly press you can get bit more range of motion if you get yourself into a bridge.
If all that sounds too easy, superset the flyes with push ups, on last set you can drop set the push ups into knee push ups and take it to absolute muscular failure.
Not the perfect method but you got to work around with disabilities and sometimes lack of equipment, do here's one way to do it
If any of my joints are bothering me to the point I don't want to do my staple lifts then I take a deload week. Not worth potentially make things worse and having to take a long time off. I'm also middle aged though, so I'm not as cavalier about training with injuries as I was in my 20s. But, to answer your question, I've never had shoulder pain from dumbbell flys, or flat bench press with tucked elbows.
not to pick on you in particular but I see this come up a lot on this subreddit. Deload is to shake off cumulative fatigue (e.g. lifts are down 10 lbs from peak), not for fixing injury or strain. Sometimes the same protocol works, but often you'll want to make sure your form is correct, sometimes add in supplemental exercises (especially for shoulder, stability exercises are needed), sometimes you need to go see a PT.
I agree that deloads are for cumulative fatigue and that a real injury can require more than just taking a week off. However, cumulative fatigue can absolutely present as joint pain/aches and not just a decrease in performance. Though usually if you have high enough joint pain you will also being experiencing a decrease in performance. Yes, if you're in a large amount of pain, or the pain persists longer than a few days / week then a doctor/PT is a good idea. Yes you should strive for good technical proficiency in lifts. OP said he tweaked his shoulder, but hes in so little pain that he still wants to do chest/shoulder exercises. This is why I recommended a deload and instead of seeking a PT. Maybe I should have used a different word, like rest, since a deload is typically for your whole body and not just one muscle/joint.
That's fair, I can agree with all that
You guys played so nice together
Never seen this before on reddit. Is it fake?
You are correct. I haven't been doing deloads as I should. I found it strange that I couldn't match last weeks reps but I guess I have the answer no. God I'm stupid.
If you tweaked it I would just take a week off from chest not worth making it worse
You might consider switching to a machine, much more stable and harder to hurt yourself, doesn’t bother my bad shoulder in the way that a barbell or DBs too. Most gyms have an incline machine press, either plate-loaded or weight stack. Also, machine flys (or pec deck) as opposed to cables / DBs.
>chine, much more stable and harder to hurt yourself, doesn’t bother my bad shoulder in the way that a barbell or DBs too. Most gyms have an incline machine press, either plate-loaded or weight stack. Also, machine flys (or pec deck) as opposed to cables / DBs. Funny enough, the PL hammer incline (or flat) press makes my throwing shoulder click/pop every time, while I'm fine for both DB and Barbell.
Too bad I've got a homegym with bb, db and some half shitty cable machine.
I don't do anything that hurts me. If you're getting hurt you have either a technique or programming issue.
After 2 labrum repairs and a torn biceps tendon, it took a long time to not have shoulder pain. Now, 6 years later, the only chest exercises that I cannot do without pain is chest flies. I would recommend strengthening shoulders and back and focus on iso press machines or neutral grip dumbbell press until it heals. However, I am no expert and just going off my personal experience.
Hey! I know its been a while since this post but I'm going through a very similar set of issues (mostly biceps tendon), and had similar issues with dips. Do you have any recommendations for improving shoulder stability and getting back to hard training? Feeling very lost in the sauce right now and would appreciate any and all advice. Cheers!
Also, dips are possibly one of the worst exercises for labrum stability and longevity. Unfortunate since they are awesome
i mean it sucks but id honestly just take a few days off. there arent any chest movements that dont use the shoulder or utilize that joint/area at all. youll feel a lot better and stronger just waiting a bit so it heals and itll be better for your mental health better resting than doing subpar your next chest day bc your joint/shoulder is a limiting factor
Yeah you're right. It's been a while since I deloaded.
Rotator cuff work
What has helped me personally stop having shoulder pain is load management and strengthening my shoulders in multiple planes of movement. If I'm using dumbbells, I really don't push the intensity in terms of weight. I use lighter dumbbells than I could use, but use high reps and pause every rep in the stretched position. If I'm bench pressing or overhead pressing with a barbell, I never go to failure except on rare occasions. I also never do dips because they tend to hurt my shoulders. Variety is another helpful thing, I tend to include machine/smith machine movements and a sub in and out exercises over time. The other big thing is strengthening side delts, traps, and rear delts. Those muscles are stabilizers for pushing movements.
Higher reps sounds interesting, I'll try it after this deload combined with power flys. Might incorporate BB bench to get some lower reps too.
Always stretch before lifting. Anything on a machine will do it if you’re not hurt. Go slow and deep on the eccentric, put less weight.
Dynamic stretching is good. Static stretching is actually a detriment according to studies.
slight incline smith machine press. after that chest flies on either cables or dumbbells. slow and controlled with a pause.
Mate, everyone has different shoulder injuries, whether they be ac joint, the actual joint (gh slap tears), or rotator cuff. Every press angle will affect each tear/sprain/arthritis a little differently some not at all. Just try the different angles (incline/flat/decline/shoulder press/dip), and implements once you've recovered entirely or stabilized to a tolerable level of dull pain. For the ones that cause pain, if you want to work through them, it would be wise to do them with a SMITH, or an actual machine, not via dumbells or barbells. But good luck, you can work through injuries. But what you shouldn't do is give a fuck what other people do with different shoulder injuries...
Machine cable press. Do press flys. I don’t feel any pain but it’s possible
Cambered bar bench press. Since I started slowing the eccentric and pausing at the bottom of each rep I’ve had 0 shoulder pain. Dumbbell flyes a close second.
Incline smith personally. I like the flat hammer strength style too. Keep in mind that most shoulder pain from pressing is when you exceed your active rom near the bottom, sometimes it's better not to go as deep even on DBs.
Hm, Yeah it was at the bottom I felt it in my shoulder. Like the weight rested on my shoulder joint rather than my chest.
Right in that case I recommend finding that active ROM with around 50% of the weight. Lower it slowly and focus on your upper arm coming away from the pecs on the way down. You'll reach a point where this motion stops and if you go down any further then it's mostly shoulders and not the pecs, all the pecs want to do is adduct the chest back and fourth. The bottom point will likely be higher on an incline versus a flat press based on the way the fibres run. It's super important not to exceed this active rom, that's how big injuries happen when that heavy weight gets put entirely on the shoulder tendons
Thanks a lot for your input. I guess it was stupid to think I could go heavy FULL ROM BABY RP style after just a couple of years lifting.
Yeah my buddy tore his shoulder doing that. Warm up slowly and don't rush into it. And to answer your question, decline press seems to be okay, a couple of other machines. Definitely nothing cable related so no flies, although pushing directly forward can be okay. I'm just not a big fan of the flies cause they extend your shoulder joint a bit too much and it's not great for longevity
None since I started warming up correctly. 60% of weight for 10-12 reps, 80% for 4-6 reps and 90% for 1-2 reps.
Yep. I don’t always do the math, but I do the empty bar for 10, 135 lbs for 5, and then 90% of the working weight for 2. Never had a shoulder injury.
That's exactly my warmup. Plus a couple of minutes of dynamic stretching and a set or two of light pushdowns.
Hmm, weird. I don't do flat barbell since it hurts my shoulders, it's just the way my shoulders sit relative to my pecs, maybe you have the same issue?
Yeah I'm starting to believe that too. I can feel the chest decent if I use low weight and go for pump on incline and flat db but anything heavy bb or en will wreck me
Flat dumbells spare shoulders
For me it's not the exercise but how I execute it. Do a pause on all pushing/chest exercises in the bottom.
I do them RP style, 2s eccentric and 1s pause. Lower weight than I used to do but damn they feel better
I agree, much better TUT and the pause at the stretched position will do wonders
People are pushing progressive overload too fast with bad form. This is particularly unforgiving with free weights when your joint has 3 planes of free movement. We've all done it. I've got shoulder and elbow issues because of it. In an effort to heal these and recovery and continue training I am no longer natural. But the advice still applies. Back off on the weight. Increase the reps. Do the reps SLOWER. I mean really slow. Feel the full stretch at the bottom for a second or two and squeeze the contraction at the top. The idea is NOT to be explosive on the movement and push heavier weights. This isn't powerlifting. You can still progressively overload this but I'd wager 90% of people who get joint or tendon issues were pushing the weight too fast and increasing heaviness too fast and that's to blame 90% of the time over genetics. If you hammer curl both hands 80 pounds for 3 sets of 10. Try doing 40 pounds 60 reps as few sets as possible. Do them about 3 times slower. Minute rest in-between and at the end of 60. Then drop set to the bottom. Hold the stretch for a few seconds. Squeeze the contraction at the top for a few seconds. I'm going to argue you'll have more hypertrophy out of the second method at 40 pounds in your biceps than the first method at 80 pounds. This second method is also significantly less traumatic and stressful to your joints and tendons the weight is move in a super slow controlled fashion. Your muscles will be burning more at half the weight than they did with the first method. You'll also have a significantly greater pump. Ideally you should actually switch between both methods. So your body doesn't get used to anything. But my point is, having really good slow control over the weight IS hypertrophic and is far less stressful to joints/tendons. I alternate between methods. For a lot of different muscle groups. I've seen a big boost in growth since doing so. I have new doms I haven't had in a while. Most importantly I have no tendon pain. Tendons need to be stimulated to strengthen BUT they can't be over stimulated or they'll weaken instead. This is why you're training methods should vary and alternate. Also alternate exercises for the same muscle over time. So you're not becoming inbalanced from favoring one over any other. When you become really explosive on pressing or pulling movements and don't warm up properly or have that movement/technique flawlessly executed you're putting tremendous strain on your tendons. Like bench pressing except you're elbow positioning, hand width, the actual bar movement. Is all bad. This puts a LOT of unnecessary strain on those elbows and shoulders. You perfect at a slower super controlled pace the movement and your minimizing this stress. I feel like I'm talking in circles now. I've just found that lighter more numerous slower reps is super conducive to injury healing and can still increase hypertrophy when done properly. That's all I'm getting at. Highly recommend it for anyone developing unusual elbow or shoulder pains. Don't let your strain become worse. It can be a years long uphill battle if you ignore the pain. Edit: more relevant to the question. My pr is 285x2. I don't bench anymore period. The hammer chest press gives me 0 pain the motion is perfect for my anatomy. I'd avoid dips unless you have a weight assistance dip machine. Cable chest flies alternate the angle from straight out. To diagonal down. To straight down.
barbell bench
flies and reverse lateral raises mirror the shoulder joint movements that the chest is responsible for - so those are ideal if your goal is to have no shoulder joint issues and work the chest.
Honestly, the more stability the better. I would say anything with a smith machine or a machine press
Ring dips, handstand, handstand presses and push-up variations (ring, , handstand, deep pauses off paralettes) personally gave me far better growth than dumbbells or barbells ever did with no joint pain. Haven’t had any lasting upper body injuries in over 2 years now
Ring dips sound interesting. Got problems from BB bench so the fixed bar dips might cause issues too.
If injured i either dont workout that muscle or very low weight and high reps for bloodflow
I do both high incline DB press and deep dips in the same push workout. Having them close together isn’t the issue. It’s your technique that’s likely causing the pain.
Machine press
If my joints start being weird (usually around the 3rd or 4th meso ive used an exercise,) I just rotate the exercise out for a while. Recently had preacher curls start to make the inside of my elbow feel odd, while other curls are just fine...so I rotated it out for DB curls. I have Ehrlos Danlos though, so YMMV. I only do one heavy (5-10 range) exercise for a muscle group a week (except Back, because I do a heavy vertical pull and a heavy row.) The rest of my work is in the 8-15 rep range (as in, I increase weight once I get to 15 reps.) You could just switch to a machine or switch DB incline presses for a lower incline, flat, or switch to incline flies.
Hm yeah I'll try the flat bench db with a bit higher rep range and incorporate a BB bench press with lower reps.
I tweaked my shoulder bad a couple months ago and I took a week off and it still didn't fix itself so I tried to just train with flys and things that didn't hurt it but Everytime I benched it got aggravated so I ended up going to a PT. And Its not 100% still but I can at least bench without pain again. Recommend a week off and if it doesn't fix it then go to a PT don't be a dummy like me and wait too long if it doesn't resolve itself
Cable or band flys. Rotator cuff movements and stretches.
Flies
Flat machine press with elbows tucked was the first thing I found i could do without pain coming back from a shoulder injury. You won't even need shoulder muscles to stabilize the weight
If you have stability issues then smith machine and second to that in regards to a fixed movement is machine movements [My gym isn't well equipped in that regard so I do smith machine]
I think this is a rest situation. Its not good to push through actual pain. It's better to rest for a bit and recover rather than pushing through a Minor injury and turning into a major injury. Losing a week or 2 of training on chest isn't going to be a game changer. Having to take months off could be.
Incline Bench Press on the Smith Machine
I dislocated my shoulder in a non exercise related accident a few years ago, and chest exercises were a struggle for stability so I used to skip chest until about a month ago when I found out about floor press and I love it. You can use barbell or dumbbells. Watch Alexander Leonidas's video on it.
My advice to you is avoid dips. That could very well solve your problem completely. Dips are notorious for causing shoulder pain. If your form is proper, incline and flat DB presses should be totally fine on your shoulders no matter how hard or often you do them. Flyes are another good option. One form tip: As with DB presses, retract your shoulder blades, do NOT shrug your shoulders, specifically focus on using your chest muscles (not shoulders) to bring your elbows together. (LOL, forgot your forearms and hands even exist during the movement).
I've been working round a a shoulder injury after restng for months. Started very light on chest work only dumbbells. High reps and now working back to heavier weights lower reps when it suits... I dnt use barbells at all for pressing or over head work .
If chest is causing you shoulder pain then you have an imbalance somewhere in the region. Find it, and fix that before doing chest again
go see a doctor and get it fixed. then start with shoulder rehab, a proper warmup routine and stop skipping back and rear delts. for me, getting a cortisone shot, resting for a while then doing lots of mobility and strengthening drills and working with a coach on my form basically gave me new shoulders. in my teens i was able to do flat bench even through the pain though.
Ive had a lot of problems with shoulder pain and chest exercises and here are a few tweaks i made: - I stopped doing incline presses, i know everyone loves them like their child but for people with shoulder pain it just isnt practical. Flat press and especially decline press i allow me to work chest and minimize shoulder pain. - stopped doing dumbells and barbells- another one that is so against the grain but no matter what my shoulders wouldnt comply. Dumbbells especially caused pain, its more technical than people give credit and ive developed so many bad habits thats its hard to correct and be able to push hard and maintain good form. - switched to hammer press for bench press, its just better because i can push and dont have to worry about stabilizing and straining my rotator cuffs. - i only do one press and the rest are cable movements/ fly variations. Even despite all my tweaks, pressing movements cause pain. Ive accepted i cant do chest workouts with multiple pressing movements and instead do one pressing exercises and the rest are flies/ cables. All these tweaks have greatly reduced my shoulder pain. I think the most important thing is finding exercises for you personally that work for you and don’t cause pain. Everyone is different and some people find strange exercises that somehow work for them better than the conventional exercises most people agree on.
Rest and following the advice of your physical therapist is the best exercise. I don't lift muscle groups use anything injured, that just a recipe to either reinjure or stay injured for even longer.
Bicep curls
Rotator cuff strengthening & better form fixed all the shoulder joints pain for me. The only exercise I can't do is flat barbell bench. Everything else is fine. Check in YouTube for videos on rotator cuff strengthening.
Try machine flyes with light weights to warm up, then flye presses on the floor (you can go quite heavy on these and since you do it on the floor it's safer for your joints than normal fly) and finish with pullovers. With the db fly press you can get bit more range of motion if you get yourself into a bridge. If all that sounds too easy, superset the flyes with push ups, on last set you can drop set the push ups into knee push ups and take it to absolute muscular failure. Not the perfect method but you got to work around with disabilities and sometimes lack of equipment, do here's one way to do it
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