Hi guys! Just a quick question I want to make that has been on my mind ever since I started benching. Is it normal to feel some pain on my back when I’m setting up my arch and then also when I’m bringing the bar down to my chest? I’ve been benching since February of this year and I’ve found that sometimes I get this pain other times I don’t. Is this part of the regular adaptation to the arch? Am I doing something wrong?
Hard to say if you’re doing something wrong without seeing your bench press and knowing a lot more about what you’re doing training wise, your injury history, etc.
In any case, it’s normal to feel pressure, tightness, and/or maybe even some discomfort when arching hard in the bench. If it’s distracting or lingering, it’s probably more of a fatigue thing in addition to maybe other factors that could be modified.
There are no simple answers here, but if you’re getting lots of pain regularly doing this, you might be arching too much for your current tolerance level (you can train your way into this) and your programming may need adjusting.