Tip Fix Your Shoulders Bench Heavier Search Skip to content Menu Menu follow us Store Articles Community Loyal-T Club Loyal-T Points Rewards Subscribe to Save Search Search The World s Trusted Source & Community for Elite Fitness Training Tip Fix Your Shoulders Bench Heavier Fix your position and bench press without pain Here' s how by Dr John Rusin April 3, 2017August 5, 2022 Tags Bench Press, Mobility, Shoulders, Tips, Training Bring Back the Bench Minus The Shoulder Pain Since many lifters focus on mirror movements like presses and curls, a cumulative stress cycle through the shoulders usually results in overuse, pain, and injuries. Front-side shoulder pain is common. But the last thing many diehard lifters are going to skip is their bench press. So instead of continuing to press through pain, avoid the chronic stress by fixing your position. Here's how. You've probably heard that you must drive your shoulder blades down into the bench to "stabilize" them in order to press without pain. While this is true to some extent, what eventually ends up happening is an exaggeration causing poor positioning at the shoulder blades, leaving you in more pain than before. I've stopped using the cue "scaps against the bench" with my athletes and instead teach them "co-contraction" between their lats and pecs in order to add real stability through the shoulder girdle. This limits unwanted and unstable range of motion while also enhancing the mind-muscle connection. Trying to drive your scaps into the bench misses the mark because it encourages you to use a passive position to achieve a setup instead of working actively to get your shoulders and upper quadrant into position and having the ability to keep it there. You want both the pecs and lats to create "pre-tension" at the top of a pressing movement, whether you're using a barbell or dumbbells. Contracting the two most powerful movers of the upper body will produce the optimal shoulder joint positioning. This will ultimately improve the feel and stability of the bench press, and help you maintain control of these positions throughout it. Squeeze Your Lats and Pecs Together If you don't have a coach or training partner telling you this cue, simply think to yourself, "squeeze lats and pecs together." If you have trouble with this, squeeze the bar as hard as you can, THEN go into the co-contraction. Using this reminder and setup has the added benefit of increasing your mind-muscle connection. Because the pre-tensioning of the pecs – in addition to the lats – is active, we're grading the eccentric portion of the lift through the pecs, which is great to enhance the feel and improve contraction quality. This may be the most powerful shoulder fix that you could be using, so make sure to give it a try. Get The T Nation Newsletters Don' t Miss Out Expert Insights To Get Stronger, Gain Muscle Faster, And Take Your Lifting To The Next Level related posts Training Tip How to Front Squat Pain-Free Because of mobility issues or previous injuries, the front squat can be too hard on some lifters' elbows, shoulders, and wrists. Fix that with straps. Exercise Coaching, Mobility, Squat, Tips Dr John Rusin April 20 Training Tip Do Stage Reps to Improve Your Pull-Ups Suck at pull-ups? Avoid machines and use this training technique instead. Check it out. Tips, Training Christian Thibaudeau December 22 Training Building a Bodybuilder Back Saying you're going to train your back is like saying you're going to train your front. You gotta' get more specific if you want to progress. Here’s how. Bodybuilding, Training Clay Hyght, DC September 23 Training Tip Add a Band To Your Preacher Curl Add accommodating resistance to curls for new growth. Get a band and angle it so it provides maximum resistance at the top of the movement. Exercise Coaching, Tips Paul Carter March 21