First Injury

[Beretta]

Well, today was to be chest/tricep day. I hurt my shoulder on the first exercise, and had to cut the day short, which sucks. I've not had to do that before.

It was the incline press. I have no spotter, so I had always used the incline press machine until last week, when I started doing it with a barbell. However, the gym I use, Unipol in Dunedin, doesn't have a real incline press machine (by "machine" now I mean a rack with the barbell on it and an incline bench attached). Instead, they have - and now that I think about it this sounds so half-assed - a shoulder press machine that has been propped up under the front with boards. Now, this means that the resulting press is an incline press, sure, but it also means that you have to reach back quite far to grip the bar, and the upright bars that hold the supports are angled back pretty far too. This means that although I have little problem pressing the 70kg I was using, it's actually really awkward to lift off the supports and position over my chest. With a spotter it would have been OK (or just a proper incline press machine), but I ended up hurting my shoulder.

OK, lesson learned, I won't be using it again. The shoulder isn't totally screwed, should be alright in a few days. Next week I'll be taking a different approach, and I'll use an incline bench and a Smith machine.

Now that I've had my first injury (OK, not a serious one, but still.... I had to can the rest of the day it was so sore), does that mean I'm initiated?

[deeepsouth_nz]

Hmmm Im always super careful with shoulders and pecs etc because I dont have a training partner aka spotter....consequently I dont do super heavy overhead presses although I otherwise could....not saying you do beretta BUT makes me cringe guys loading up weights with shocking technique + 'ego' lifting....and also poor attention to all round shoulder development (strength) = recipe for disaster! :shock:

[Pseudonym]

you have to reach back quite far to grip the bar, and the upright bars that hold the supports are angled back pretty far too. This means that although I have little problem pressing the 70kg I was using, it's actually really awkward to lift off the supports and position over my chest.

I know the problem. My gym has a proper incline bench frame, but the bar is still too far back for comfort.

I've seen people use two solutions...

1) Block up the front of it to tilt the frame back further. Can you block up yours any more?

2) Don't sit on the seat. Instead, slide yourself further up the backrest (and thus further back) and brace yourself with your legs. This works for some setups, but possibly not all. Your mileage may vary.