For the past couple of weeks when I’ve been training chest I have been getting pain in my shoulder blades. On flat bench barbell press this really limits how much effort I can put into the lift. I also noticed that when I’m doing incline dumbbells the last couple inches give me trouble and I loose power in the lift. What’s odd is when I train back and chest together on the same day I never have any pain whatsoever.
Also when I’m training back I don’t have any pain in my shoulder blades either. I’ve been trying to stretch my back out and have been using a foam roller too which seems to help some. I’ve also started doing additional bent over rows thinking perhaps my back muscles are a lot weaker than my chest is. Does anyone have any ideas or has anyone had similar problems? I would go back to training back and chest together on the same day, but I feel like that limits my intensity. Let me know if you need additional information about myself…
Are you getting a hand off when you barbell bench? You should. Lock you shoulder blades to the bench. They shouldn’t be moving (much) when you are benching.
When was the onset (always had the pain in some form, or more recent, i.e. started benching more and now it hurts)? What aggravates it (any and all exact movement patterns as well as non-movements like sleeping on your side, or other, etc.)? What portion of the shoulder blade?
Initial suggestions: read shoulder savers series. (incorporate this stuff, don’t ever let prehab replace your foundation movements):
- Shoulder Savers - Part 1
- Shoulder Savers - Part 1
- Shoulder Savers - Part 1
Enjoy!
I just started getting hand offs when benching this week thinking that might have been an issue.
I don’t know if this is related, but about a year ago I started feeling like my upper and middle back was getting knotted up, the pain in the shoulder blade started maybe about a month ago. Its specifically in the top and inner part(closest to the center of my back) of my shoulder blades. It also seems to be more of a problem on my right side then the left although there is some discomfort in the left.
Movements: After doing flat barbell press today it seemed to aggravate it. I also did some pullovers today which actually alleviated some of the pain. I haven’t really made any big increases in weight in any of my sets recently.
Non movements: I’ve been working on sleeping on my back thinking that could also be the problem, I use to get shoulder pain from sleeping on my side. I have not yet been able to sleep on my back the entire night I usually start on my side then rotate to my back in the middle of the night.
I will take a look at the articles thanks for your help.