Weird Hip Issue During Bench Press

Bigger Stronger Leaner Injuries and Rehab
1

So I set up for my bench press with my shoulder blades in tight, my back arched, on my toes with my feet behind my knees. But when I bench heavy, my right hip randomly tightens up and my form crumbles. The right side of the bar starts to go down and the spotter needs to help me.

Now, this only happens when I’m benching heavy so I’m assuming there’s a weakness somewhere on my right side that’s causing this. Any idea why this could be happening, and any potential solutions?

As a precaution, I’ve been foam rolling my IT band but I’m not too sure if this is the cause.

Any feedback is much appreciated!

2

By tightens up what do you mean? Does one of your glutes cramp? At what point in your lift is the form crumbling?

I don’t see foam rolling your IT band directly helping.

3

Nope, my glutes don’t cramp. The side of my hip, close to where my hip flexor is sort of gives in, causing the right side of my body to lose strength. And this usually happens at the bottom of the lift.

4

I can’t make any recommendation regarding your hip without an examination. But you could try a wide foot base instead of a tucked one. And see if it doesn’t help.

5

[quote]sameersethi2002 wrote:
So I set up for my bench press with my shoulder blades in tight, my back arched, on my toes with my feet behind my knees. But when I bench heavy, my right hip randomly tightens up and my form crumbles. The right side of the bar starts to go down and the spotter needs to help me.

Now, this only happens when I’m benching heavy so I’m assuming there’s a weakness somewhere on my right side that’s causing this. Any idea why this could be happening, and any potential solutions?

As a precaution, I’ve been foam rolling my IT band but I’m not too sure if this is the cause.

Any feedback is much appreciated![/quote]

Exact same thing happens to me, so I had a DPT watch me bench. You’re not going to believe what my problem was: tightness in either my left pec, right pec, or both.

Essentially, she saw two things going on. As I lowered the bar to my chest, my tight left pec resisted going down all the way so the right side of the bar descended a bit more quickly leading to more weight on the right side. My tight right pec (or shoulder) dipped towards my feet to take pressure off the shoulder and my QL gripped to try and stabilize my entire body.

So, at the bottom of the movement, I looked like the letter “C” if looked at from above. Her suggestion was to keep stretching my pecs and work on shoulder mobility.

Hope this helps.

6

I don’t know if the OP is ever coming back, but for anyone else who’s having a similar issue, the DPT also had me squeeze a small (about volleyball sized) medicine ball between my knees as I benched. I was resistant at first because I usually keep my feet quite a bit wider, but squeezing the ball as I benched and strongly activating my adductors helped immensely. The ball helped keep everything tight and stable. The ball isn’t there to add a stability element to the bench, merely to give the lifter some added proprioception.

7

[quote]Dr. Pangloss wrote:

[quote]sameersethi2002 wrote:
So I set up for my bench press with my shoulder blades in tight, my back arched, on my toes with my feet behind my knees. But when I bench heavy, my right hip randomly tightens up and my form crumbles. The right side of the bar starts to go down and the spotter needs to help me.

Now, this only happens when I’m benching heavy so I’m assuming there’s a weakness somewhere on my right side that’s causing this. Any idea why this could be happening, and any potential solutions?

As a precaution, I’ve been foam rolling my IT band but I’m not too sure if this is the cause.

Any feedback is much appreciated![/quote]

Exact same thing happens to me, so I had a DPT watch me bench. You’re not going to believe what my problem was: tightness in either my left pec, right pec, or both.

Essentially, she saw two things going on. As I lowered the bar to my chest, my tight left pec resisted going down all the way so the right side of the bar descended a bit more quickly leading to more weight on the right side. My tight right pec (or shoulder) dipped towards my feet to take pressure off the shoulder and my QL gripped to try and stabilize my entire body.

So, at the bottom of the movement, I looked like the letter “C” if looked at from above. Her suggestion was to keep stretching my pecs and work on shoulder mobility.

Hope this helps.
[/quote]

Sorry about disappearing like that, haha. I’m going to look into this for sure. For the time being, however, I widened by stance and it seems to be making a huge difference. Another thing I noticed was that this problem usually occurs if I bench the day after I squat, which might justify my initial suspicion that this might have to do with the hip itself.

8

[quote]Dr. Pangloss wrote:
I don’t know if the OP is ever coming back, but for anyone else who’s having a similar issue, the DPT also had me squeeze a small (about volleyball sized) medicine ball between my knees as I benched. I was resistant at first because I usually keep my feet quite a bit wider, but squeezing the ball as I benched and strongly activating my adductors helped immensely. The ball helped keep everything tight and stable. The ball isn’t there to add a stability element to the bench, merely to give the lifter some added proprioception.[/quote]

I’m going to try this while I bench tomorrow. Were you benching in similar conditions to when you have the form problem? For example, I would want to try this while maxing out to see if I still have the same problem. If I don’t, then I would know that my adductors need to be activated, and I would develop a strategy from there.