Enhance Personal Training and Athletic Performance, Inc. © 2009
Bench Press, Elbow Pain, Over-Trained!!!

Have you ever gotten elbow pain after doing a set or two of bench press?  If so, the most common reason is that you are overtraining and overusing that exercise.  Overuse injuries typically occur when the same exercise is excessively overused with long sets.  So, if you bench press once a week and have been doing it for several weeks, most likely you have been overusing that exercise.

Suggestion:  Every guy thinks it is cool to bench press (the heavier the better).  The big question in the gym is, “how much can you bench press?”  When benching is a focal point without any variety in any given amount of time, an overuse injury will occur.  Try VARIETY…mix up your chest routine.  Here are some examples; uneven dumbbell press, flys, push-ups, walking push-ups, and push-up planks are all great exercises to give variety to the chest routine.

Another reason why you might feel elbow pain is due to locking or extending the arms at the end of the press.  When this is done, microtrama occurs which leads to inflammation and irritation in the elbow.

Suggestion: At the end of each press, keep the arms slightly bent.  This will keep the muscles contracted instead of relaxed and cause stress in the joint. 

Explosive Body Weight Sets Can Increase Bench Press

If you hit a plateau or if you are just looking to change your chest routine around, try one of the oldest exercises out there, push-ups.  If you can rep for 20 push-ups, try clapping push-ups or traveling push-ups, two guaranteed exercises that add strength to your bench press.  Sports scientist from the University of Massachusetts tested 20 collegiate, male athletes, had them perform push-ups and measured an average gain of five pounds to their bench press in a matter of weeks. (International Journal Sports Physiology Performance, 1: 261-269, 2006)

2b or not 2b, that is the question! 

In order to develop power, you need to train those muscle fibers.  Compared to all of the other muscle fibers, 2b muscle fibers have the highest contraction rate and produce the most force.  Use caution, however, as 2b fibers tend to fatigue quickly.

Before hitting the bench press, try three sets of clapping push-ups or traveling push-ups for three weeks.  This will help with your explosive power and increase strength.  You will be surprised by the results!

October 2009 Enhance Fitness Newsletter
Oct. 14th – Nov. 20th 2009
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