Anterior Deltoid Pain/Fatigue in Bench Press

[perpetual_injuries]

Hi guys,

I'm trying to figure out what the heck is going wrong with my benchpresses at the moment. I'm currently working on Incline Bench with Dumbells superset with a Dumbell Fly.

I tend to find that I get good pectoral activation for the first set, but from the second set and beyond (I'm doing 5x10-12) my anterior deltoid beings to fatigued majorly and this prevents me from pushing my chest to failure. This is only a problem on my right shoulder. I'm left handed.

I've had a gym instructor look at my form and he's said it's spot on. My shoulder blades contract on the downward motion and i focus on working the chest on the way up.

This is also a problem with my flat bench though not to the same extent.

Any help with this is more than welcome.

Thanks guys.

[FellowshipOfTheRon]

did you just switch to dumbells from barbells? could well be imbalances showing up.

how much of an incline exactly are you using? happens on flat too, how about on pushups?

is it a good kind of pain in the delts (like a strong pump/burn feeling) or is it more like a bad kid (maybe impingement?)... the latter is not uncommon for people who don't do enough rear delt/rotator cuff warmup & training.

your PT could possibly not know the right form or perhaps not picked up on something, maybe you could get a video of your form to get second opinions from the more experienced members on this forum. one thing I was taught by guys on this forum which PTs didn't pick up on was to tuck the elbows and pack the shoulders which has made an almost instant difference in pec activation + eliminating shoulder pains.

[ohjoshua]

If the issue with your delts is just them fatiuging first when you are doing your bench and incline bench. I would recommend doing your flys before your benchpress (as a super set). This will prefatigue your chest so you would feel it more there than your delts.

hope this helps

[Phedder]

Are you holding the dumbells with a pronated grip, the same way you're forced to grip a barbell? If you are, try rotating your hands so your thumbs are pointing towards your face, similar to a hammer grip but not quite as exaggerated. That might help take some strain off your shoulders, and as said above pulling your shoulder blades back and down is key.

[maccaz]

Are you holding the dumbells with a pronated grip, the same way you're forced to grip a barbell? If you are, try rotating your hands so your thumbs are pointing towards your face, similar to a hammer grip but not quite as exaggerated. That might help take some strain off your shoulders, and as said above pulling your shoulder blades back and down is key.

this, had exactly this problem until i rotated the dbs a bit

[eatliftrest]

^ this

[perpetual_injuries]

Thanks for the help guys. Rotating my grip helped a lot. Gets far better chest isolation. Makes the exercise actually feel worth doing.

Yeah I did just switch off a BB bench.

I'm still getting the pain with the flys, though I think it's partly due to an imbalance.

[nosher]

Are you holding the dumbells with a pronated grip, the same way you're forced to grip a barbell? If you are, try rotating your hands so your thumbs are pointing towards your face, similar to a hammer grip but not quite as exaggerated. That might help take some strain off your shoulders, and as said above pulling your shoulder blades back and down is key.

this, had exactly this problem until i rotated the dbs a bit

Me too. Now things heaps better