Avoid Bench Press Injuries
One of the blogs I follow is T-Nation.
It was a scary experience at first – it’s full of close-ups of gargantuan muscles and bulging veins. It’s a blog for the folks who haunt the free-weight section of the gym. The kind of guys who buy those huge cans of protein powder at General Nutrition.
Not my aesthetic at all.
But once I got over my initial disdain and started reading the articles, I began to learn a lot from T-Nation. It’s full of useful advice about how to exercise correctly to achieve quick results and avoid injury.
One of their recent articles on shoulder exercise echoed what I’ve been teaching my patients over the past few years – if you overdo it or exercise in an unbalanced way, you’re going to create shoulder problems.
My experience as a clinician parallels their experience in sports training: Most people who are trying to build upper-body strength perform way too many pushing exercises — bench presses or push-ups — without balancing them with pulling exercises — pullbacks or rowing.
For those who have shoulder problems already, or who have more modest fitness goals, I’ve prepared a short video – Top Five Exercises to Strengthen Your Shoulder & Avoid Rotator Cuff Problems. The video can guide you to a brief, balanced shoulder exercise sequence that you can perform at home with little equipment.
It will keep your arms and shoulder happy for years to come.
