I have been experiencing some sharp pain in my right pec during bench press and seek guidance on whether to train through it or give it some time off to heal.
I am 50 years old and probably near the end of my LP. The pain is kind of more in the lower portion where the pec goes toward the armpit more than the upper part that goes to the shoulder if that make sense. There is no bruising that I can see. The pain began about 2 weeks ago and felt worse today to the point that I did not complete my training. I probably could have finished, but because the pain is getting worse I was worried that I could be doing some damage. My LP 3x5RM is 202.5 lbs. The day it first started was the first day that I introduced LTE to my training, but I am not sure if that is what caused it. Unracking is very painful. I lift alone in my garage so I don’t have anyone to give me a lift off. It hurts even when using an empty bar, but gets much worse as I add weight. I use a relatively narrow grip (1 inch onto the knurl) due to past shoulder issues from years ago. My pec is sore to the touch even when I am not training, but it doesn’t hurt much when I am not touching it. My anterior delts were pretty sore after Thursday’s presses, but they felt OK going into today’s training.
Should I suck it up and keep training the bench or take a couple bench sessions off? If I skip bench, should I also skip presses?
First, I would stop doing LTEs. I don’t think they’re that good of an exercise anyway.
Since you mention being at the “end of LP”, how hard/grindy are your bench sessions getting?
It sounds like you can press without much pain. I’d probably take a few sessions and focus on the press, then come back and give the bench another try with the empty bar in a week or so to re-assess things.
I would not be overly afraid of causing damage. Take a listen to our podcasts on pain and injury, if you haven’t already.
Thank you Dr Baraki.
I’ll stop LTEs.
Bench was grindy mostly due to pain. I probably have more LP left in bench than the other lifts. I started microloading bench a little early because I have had left shoulder pain in the past and was hoping increasing more slowly would help avoid that some. Left shoulder still hurts some during bench, but not as much as this more recent pec pain. After a squat reset to work on form I was working my way back up on Greyskull LP which has the 3rd set as AMRAP. I did 7 reps on my last bench session. Maybe AMRAP contributed to the pec pain as well.
I’ll plan on pressing as planned on Monday and then replace bench with press on Thursday and maybe Saturday depending on how empty bar bench feels.
I see.
Your technique looks pretty good. Over-tucking the elbows a little bit on the descent, but this isn’t egregious (and may be a way you are avoiding some uncomfortable stretch on the pec).
These don’t look grindy - and I would also advise against AMRAP sets on lifts where you’re trying to rehab.
I watched podcast episodes 19 and 20 which deal with pain. One takeway is that when hurting you should try to find a weight at which you can do the movement before substituting the lift. Presses went well yesterday (Monday). Afterwards I benched the empty bar for 10 reps and felt no pain. Maybe some tightness, but certainly not the sharp, stabbing pain I felt on Saturday. I think it helped that unracking the empty bar was much easier than a workset loaded bar. My next planned bench session is Thursday. Should I just start with the empty bar and titrate up to find the heaviest weight I can bench with no pain and then just do my worksets there instead of substituting overhead press, even if the heaviest weight I can bench pain free ends up being very low (like 50% of planned weight)?
Any thoughts on getting a rack mounted monolift to make unracking for bench press easier for someone who lifts alone at home?
Yes, that is what I would do.
If you think unracking heavy weights is a major contributor to your discomfort, the monolift attachment might be a great option for you.
