Tingling sensation in hand during press

Pain & Rehab Forum [Moderated]
1

Drs.

I’ve noticed a tingling sensation in my right palm (near the pinky side) when pressing and bench pressing above rpe 7. The tingling seems to originate near my elbow and radiates down my arm. Google has taught me (engineer not an anatomist) this is likely my ulnar nerve.

Although I would not describe it as pain, it’s definitely not a pleasant sensation.

I’ve tried alternating my grip and grip width and it seems like it has some impact, but I’ve yet to find something that resolves the issue entirely.

Background info:
male, 34, beginner
did starting strength November '22 to april '23
Switched to the beginner prescription in May when I realized my conditioning was horrible and my LP was stalling.
e1RM
S: 275lb
B: 190lb
1RM
D: 315lb
Press: 135lb

5’11”
205lb
38.2" waist

2

Any other symptoms? Does it impact your training?

3

If I push through the tingling, it will progress to numbness in my hand. This then impacts sets with reps above ~4

4

Does it happen with all loads or just above a certain number? Like, you mentioned that it occurs above RPE 7, but is this just within a certain rep range? Do these symptoms arise if you did a set of say 15 @ RPE 7?

5

Only happens with heavy weight, warmup sets even in the 10+ rep range feel good.

For a set of 15@7 I’d expect the tingle to kick in around reps 10 or 11. So it seems like it’s related to form breakdown

6

If you think it’s a form breakdown issue you could cut the set as soon as your form begins to break, regardless of RPE. You could also train the bench at a slightly lower RPE (5-6) as we know that strength and hypertrophy gains are likely similar to higher RPE sets. You could also try a different grip for a while if symptoms are more manageable. Hopefully this helps you continue to get in productive training while things settle down.