Shoulder Pop When Bring Bar Down in the Bench Press: Causes
Causes and solutions for shoulder popping when you bring the bar down when bench pressing.
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Bringing the bar down in the bench press can put more stress on the shoulder than the act of pushing up the bar.
For some people, lowering the bar when bench pressing makes their shoulder pop.
“The shoulder popping could be the result of muscle or tendon imbalance and tightness, or poor form,” says Dr. Tom Carpenter, corrective exercise specialist, certified personal trainer and chiropractor, inventor of Stand Corrected™, a portable harness-like stretching tool that helps alleviate back, neck and shoulder pain.
Dr. Carpenter continues, “It’s important to mention that bench pressing is not a simple exercise. Proper form is essential for maintaining healthy shoulder joint mechanics as well as avoiding inflammation and injury.
“Also, a pre-workout warmup including full range of motion stretching and functional exercises is very important.
“Some examples of functional exercises could be pushups and external rotation rotator cuff exercises, either with cables or dumbbells.
“This helps to prevent the head of the humerus [bone in upper arm] from impinging on the glenoid fossa [located in the shoulder joint] when lifting by strengthening the rotator cuff.
“There are things that can be done to reduce or avoid shoulder ‘popping’ when performing a bench press.
“Only let the bar come within 2-3 inches of your chest, not all the way to the chest. Widen the grip on the bar, but not too far, and try to avoid flaring the elbows.”
There will always be those who’ll feel that stopping the bar at the two or three inch position from their chest is cheating or incomplete range of motion.
But if you bring the bar down to within two to three inches of your chest, are your arms still pretty bent, as in, there’s less than a 90 degree angle formed by your upper and lower arm at the elbow?
If your arm span is a lot longer than your height, and you have a trim torso, your arms will be VERY bent by the time the bar touches your chest. This puts a lot of stress on the shoulder joint.
If you stop the bar at three inches above your chest, your arms may very well be just as bent as the next guy who brings the bar in contact with his chest – because HIS arm span is equal to his height rather than exceeds it!
Or maybe his arms aren’t as bent because he has a thick barrel shaped chest, which naturally cuts short the range of motion.
So don’t feel that you’re cheating or missing something by bringing the bar two or three inches short of chest contact.
Another Cause of a Popping Shoulder During the Bench Press
“Many times, the popping can be the result of an over-tight pectoralis minor muscle or tendon,” says Dr. Carpenter.
“You can help it relax by tightening the muscles between the shoulder blades (rhomboids) as you lower the bar.
“This engages something call reciprocal inhibition. By contracting a prime mover, it causes the antagonist muscle, in this case the pec minor, to neurologically relax. This reduces the pull on the shoulder.
“If the popping begins to become painful, either stop bench pressing for a few weeks or reduce the load by 40-60 percent.
“If the pain continues, have your shoulder checked by your health care professional.”
Photo credit: Aleesia Forni
Based upon 30+ years of experience, Dr. Carpenter’s practice approach reflects his belief that restoring optimum health and function will enable his patients to enjoy a much greater amount of vitality and wellness. Chiropractic care is true health care, not sick care!
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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Can Gym Workouts Offset Blood Clot Risk from Watching TV ?
Bad news for workout enthusiasts who watch a lot of TV: Your gym exercise may not cancel out the blood clot risk of sitting a lot in front of the TV.
Now if you walk on a treadmill during most of your TV viewing, or otherwise are on your feet, then you need not worry about a heightened risk of developing a blood clot — also called a deep vein thrombosis.
However, most people, including those who engage in regular gym workouts, spend most of their TV viewing time sitting.
Study Shows this Again
A study led by Yasuhiko Kubota (Springer’s Journal of Thrombosis and Thrombolysis, Feb 2018) says that excessive sitting increases the risk of blood clots whether you’re sedentary or exercise.
Prolonged sitting can lead to DVT via impairing normal circulation in the legs and feet.
Kubota, from the University of Minnesota, analyzed data from 15,189 Americans 45 to 64.
Beginning in 1987, participants were asked about their health, exercise habits, if they smoked or if they were overweight.
Type of exercise was not specified. It’s fair to wonder how many were bodybuilders, mountain climbers, martial artists and marathon runners vs. more recreational level exercisers.
Over many years the participants were followed, being asked if they’d received any hospital treatment.
Hospital records and imaging tests were analyzed. There were 691 DVT related incidents up to the year 2011.
Blood clot in leg. Source: Vecteezy.com
Exercise Doesn’t Undo TV Sitting Time: Blood Clots Still Happen
• Participants who watched TV often had over 1.7 times the risk of a venous thromboembolism compared to participants who never or only occasionally watched TV.
• Body weight and exercise habits were adjusted for, yet this increase risk of DVT persisted.
This study, as well as similar analyses, begs the question:]
Is there an increased risk of DVT from excessive sitting in people who KILL it at the gym?
What exactly is exercise?
Having been a fitness professional and enthusiast for years, I am very well aware that when people are asked if they “exercise,” many will unknowingly inflate the answer.
For example people might consider it exercise to walk a tiny dog a few times around a block or do housework.
But what about DVT risk in people who, for instance, do CrossFit or regularly do high intensity interval training, grueling five mile hikes or train for powerlifting competitions?
Hopefully, studies that focus on strenuous exercise will be carried out in the near future.
Tips on Sitting Less While Enjoying TV
- Is there room for a treadmill so you can walk while watching TV?
- Take up yoga and do it while watching TV.
- Do shadow boxing or karate kicking.
- March in place, do kettlebell swings, planks, squats, ANYTHING to keep your butt off the cushion.
- You can also stand in pretty much one spot while watching TV. You don’t have to exercise during the program, but inserting some exercises will add value to your overall fitness regimen.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
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Top image: Freepik.com, pressfoto
Source: sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180221122555.htm
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Dangers of Double Dose of High Blood Pressure Drug
There is good reason never to double up on a drug for high blood pressure if you miss a dose.
“Double dosing on hypertension drugs can be potentially dangerous (even fatal), but most often, there are no significant results,” says Stacy Mitchell Doyle, MD, resident physician of FoodTherapyMD and long-time advocate of plant-based nutritional protocols.
“What can happen is the combination of several factors: Your age (elderly people don’t tolerate drops in pressure as well as younger people), the dose of the medication, what your initial pressure was before you took the extra dose, and what the actual medication is,” explains Dr. Doyle.
“For example, if you took too much of a beta blocker medication, your heart rate can drop to dangerously low levels which can cause syncope (passing out) or even heart block or heart attack.
“If you take too much medication and feel dizzy, weak or have pains in your chest, seek medical attention right away.”
If side effects or missing doses of your high blood pressure medication worry you, consider the idea of weaning off the drug (with your prescribing physician’s approval) and controlling your blood pressure via natural means – mainly, a change in diet.
A switch from the standard American diet (appropriately abbreviated as SAD) to a plant-based diet that restricts processed foods, may very well move your blood pressure from the hypertensive range to the normal and even low-normal range.
By focusing on whole foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds, you reduce your intake of sodium and processed foods, both of which can contribute to high blood pressure.
Plant-based diets are naturally high in potassium, fiber and antioxidants, which support healthy blood vessels and better overall heart health.
Studies have shown that adopting this type of diet can lead to significant reductions in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
In addition to dumping the SAD way of eating, an exercise program of aerobics and strength training will also lower baseline blood pressure.
Sure, it’s easier to just take a pill every day, but wouldn’t it be nice to have naturally low baseline blood pressure along with a stronger, fitter heart, lungs, muscles and bones?
FoodTherapyMD™ is the brainchild of Dr. Mitchell Doyle and recognizes that phytonutrients, the substances that make plant food so amazing, can be tailored to fight specific disease states.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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