Hello there,
I have been powerlifting on and off for years with a bench PR of 355. Last March I started lifting again after a long layoff and by October my bench was back up to 310. One day while benching later in October I started feeling pain in my left bicep during the eccentric. This started with the first rep of the session and continued throughout. Me pec did not hurt at this point. I backed off a little bit and over the next few days I experienced intermittent pain in both my bicep and my pec. I slightly reduced my volume and frequency and continued to make some progress for a few weeks, but the pain never went away. There was usually no pain while benching, but sometimes some mild discomfort. I set a few rep PR’s that training cycle but then my 1RM stalled. Since then the pain in my pec has gotten progressively worse. I took 3 weeks completely off from training and the pain got slightly better but still lingered. Over the last 5 weeks I have benched 3x5 once a week increasing intensity from 50% to 70%. The pec doesn’t feel too bad while benching but hurts pretty much all day while I’m not lifting. The bicep pain still comes and goes a little bit. I have continued to train biceps but with lighter weights and the bicep does not hurt during training. Since benching 70% last week my pec pain has gotten significantly worse. My main concern is the pec. There has been no bruising or swelling and it is a sharp pain closer to my armpit. I am not sure if it is possibly a pec strain or some sort of tendinopathy. I was wondering what you guys thought it could be based on these circumstances, and what you would recommend I do to be able to train/rehab as to reduce pain and continue to make progress with my bench in the long term.
Thank you in advance!
