🚨 How to Avoid Pain When Benching!

✅ The most likely cause of shoulder pain when benching is caused by internal shoulder rotation. To prevent this, the two main factors that you should pay attention to are where you place the bar on your chest and the angle of your arms while performing the exercise.

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✅ You should bring the bar to around nipple height or just slightly below. The natural bar path of the bench press is not a straight line but more of an arch. Going lower will cause internal shoulder rotation which over time, under constant overuse, could cause microtears in the acromioclavicular joint and cause pain.

✅ As far as arm angle, your arms should be bent at about a 75 degree angle. This will allow the shoulders to stay externally rotated while safely and effectively targeting the chest. With a wider arm angle and/or bringing the bar too high up, the shoulders will internally rotate and likely lead to pain.