I’ve developed what is likely right proximal biceps tendinitis (or some kind of tendinitis) that is really preventing me from benching or pressing without pain. My plan was to just do pin presses from forehead height and some kneeling landmine presses, both of which I can do without significant discomfort, and gradually work back to a standard press and bench. I figure it might take a few weeks.
Some friends who are really into Crossfit are recommending that I use resistance bands to do all kinds of shoulder “mobility” exercises. Are these useful at all?
While band-resisted movements can certainly be used as part of a tendinopathy rehab program, they do not provide any unique benefit compared to other forms of tolerable, titratable loading. Nor is “mobility” work necessary in the management of tendinopathy.
Your plan to start with pin press and landmine press sounds good (though if you can handle really light BP I think you should probably include it). If your talking about pressing with bands, that also seems useful though not as specific a starting point as pin press and landmine press, so you could skip band pressing given that you can tolerate more specific exercises. If you’re having trouble finding a tolerable BP variation maybe band chest press would work.
If your talking about stuff like band pull aparts and external rotations, meh. It doesn’t have much to do with heavy OHP and BP. Moving you shoulder around with some minor resistance migth feel good and build some confidence so it’s not a terrible idea, but it sounds like your able to tolerate much more than that already.
I would be pretty skeptical of any narrative about needing to strengthen your rotator cuff or fix a muscular imbalance via these special exercises in order to reduce pain/rebuild tolerance.