Muscle pull from bench press position?

[Gunk]

I'm not really sure ifs cool to post on topic of muscle soreness and what proper form should be during an exercise here, but I'll try.

I've worked out off and on for the last 20 years. Only in the last 2 years have I actually started being consistent and learning about nutrition. Anyhow, not long ago I realized that my bench press form was way off. I was always lifting my shoulders up to get drive from them. Hence, my traps are overdeveloped compared to my chest which never seemed to grow.

So I've started being very intentional about pinching shoulder blades back and keeping shoulders down when I press now. Sometimes I even put feet on bench to get all my weight on my upper back, then I put my feet down and press with a decent arch in my back. I am getting more soreness in pecs so I think I'm doing it right. The problem is, it seems like the harder in pinch my shoulder blades back when I press, the more I notice a strain the next day/s in my rhomboids. This has been going on for a while and it usually goes away after a day or two. Well, I pressed 2 days ago and afterwards my rhomboid is killing me like never before and doesn't seem to be getting better. It ever hurts just to take a deep breath.

My question is, is it possible to pinch your blades too much to the point where you strain your rhomboid muscles? If I just pinch my blades back like I would during a press, I get a pretty sharp pain so I'm pretty sure its directly related to my bench press form. Also, is there any exercises that I could be doing that may prevent this from happening?

Thanks.

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[Joe S.]

One thing you can try which was recommended to me because of shoulder pain when pressing is doing underhand press, takes a little while to get used to but helps take pressure off the shoulder, may or may not help you, but you tube has some videos on it to give you an idea of hand placement, probably called reverse grip bench if I remember correctly.

 

[Gunk]

OK. Ty. Puts more emphasis in upper chest with that grip I think. That's a good idea. I was also thinking of doing one arm dumbbell presses from the floor. Maybe that would keep upper back more solid and together.

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[Codename47]

Pinch the shoulders together and make sure they're shoulders are also down and not shrugged up; and when you press make sure your shoulders stay put and not go above your chest. You should be tight when doing the bench press

 

[Gunk]

Thanks. I feel like I'm doing that pretty well. Right now, that's pretty much when I feel the pain... when I pinch my blades back and lower them. The pain has gotten a bit better over the last couple weeks as I've totally stopped chest and back work in the hope that it will heal up.

I read somewhere that you can injure yourself but not exhaling when you press up. I'm thinking that might be how I pulled/tore something. I hate being injured, pisses me off.



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