My shoulder hurts when I bench press

Hi Lee,
I have been training with weights for the past 8 months. I love bench pressing, but my shoulders hurts when I bench press. Should I take a layoff?

Regards,
Vimal

Lee:
Hi,
All kinds of strength sports needs heavy lifting and shoulders muscles undergo either constant overuse or misuse. So injury and pain are very common in all sports of iron.
Concentrate on warm-ups. Do more high rep warm-ups with light weights before starting off your heavy movements. This increases the temperature of the mechanics involved in the movement (joints and muscles involved), increases blood flow into the muscle, triggers synovial fluid in the joints which provides the lubrication and warmth required for the movement.
If pain steps in when you go heavy on bench then try changing the grip (width of the grip or the angle of the grip like hand in grip or hand out grip), try machine presses, smith presses or dumbbell presses. Many athletes are advised to go with dumbbell only movements while on shoulder injury rehab. Dumbbells give you the freedom to alter the position of resistance and hand rotation. This will allow you to change the angle when ever you want and allow you to work your way around the pain. All you need to do is just listen to the pain and work around it. I prefer these options to layoff.

Note: I am not a physician to find out your exact trouble. My reply is based on what you have mentioned in your question. So if your pain persists, don’t hesitate to consult a physician as soon as possible.

Dumbbells or Barbells?

 

What is your preference? Dumbbells or barbells?
We typically aren't limited to only barbells or dumbbells. Most trainees should use both barbells as well as dumbbell movements, because both have their own benefits and drawbacks.
So which one is best for you?
There are many factors involved so I would just outline some factors as described by experts.
Basically if you are in a power sport such as Powerlifting, Olympic lifting etc your sport mainly demands the work of both hands together, so you should mainly focus your training on barbells. On the other hand if you play basketball, volleyball, tennis or martial arts etc, then dumbbell drills should occupy the major portion of your training.
Availability & Cost: Dumbbells cost much more than a barbell. So if you are going to set up a gym in your home and if finance is a problem you will end up using exclusively barbells.
Strength Needs: If your sport demands ability to overcome large loads (Powerlifting, Olympic lifting etc), barbells will be your priority. The instability caused by dumbbells can limit the load you can lift.
So what is the conclusion?
Don’t limit yourself to barbells and dumbbells. Don’t forget that we have lot more options like machines, elastic band exercises, bodyweight exercises, kettle bags and lot more… Variety keeps the workouts more interesting. So exercise your creativity when it comes to your exercise selection.