Occasionally, when I bench-press, I feel a soreness in my shoulders (sometimes the left, sometimes the right).

Now, I'm wondering why. My shoulder is used on an almost daily basis in a myriad of compound exercises I do (pullups, tricep extensions, bench pressing) and I also have a day where I focus on it, could it be overtraining?

If so, any suggestions?

Also, since I primarily feel it when I bench (and do pullups, when it's already exhausted), what are some ways to help make it go away (assuming I want to stay with a barbell and not dumbbells)? My grip is fairly wide, my elbows are out, and I lower the bar all the way down, so it touches my upper pecs.

Wow. Sounds like you have the same problem that plagued me for awhile. After benching, my shoulders would absolutely kill me (and during benching as well). They would hurt so badly that just stabilizing my arms while doing dumbell curls two days later caused substantial pain. So, I did some reading, and came to the conclusion that 1) I was overtraining, and 2) My rotator cuffs were too weak.

At the time, I was doing bench twice per week (and shoulders twice per week). So, first thing I did was take about 10 days off -- which I was loathe to do for fear of ruining all of my progress, but I decided to do it anyway, and I was going to temporarily commit to only exercising a given body part no more than once per week. So, after 10 days, I went into the gym expecting to suck royally on bench. To my surprise, not only was my shoulder pain gone, but I set a personal best on bench! I couldn't believe it. I also decided to ease myself back into my shoulder routine by initially focusing on rotator cuff exercises...and avoid military press for the time being.

Slowly, I worked my way from benching every 10 days to bench every 7 days -- and it has worked so well that I've stuck with it. I now do my full shoulder routine without a problem. I also limit my "benching" to 3 sets on flat bench (2 hard work sets), and two sets incline dumbell press. I still show strength gains almost every week.

My right shoulder is completely pain-free. I have very slight nagging pain in my left shoulder, but it doesn't hurt at all when I do bench, and neither does it hurt when I do dumbell overhead presses -- it just bugs me every once in awhile, but it is very mild discomfort.

So, my experience suggests taking a break, and incorporating rotator cuff exercises into your routine.

Other potentially helpful tips: It might be better to bring the bar down to your lower pecs (around the sternum area) as opposed to upper pecs. Bringing it to upper pecs really stresses the shoulders.

Also, make sure that your push/pull exercises are evenly balanced. An overabundance of "push" exercises can cause strength imbalances in the shoulders and contribute to your pain.

Hope some of this helps -- and good luck!



Occasionally, when I bench-press, I feel a soreness in my shoulders (sometimes the left, sometimes the right).

Now, I'm wondering why. My shoulder is used on an almost daily basis in a myriad of compound exercises I do (pullups, tricep extensions, bench pressing) and I also have a day where I focus on it, could it be overtraining?

If so, any suggestions?

Also, since I primarily feel it when I bench (and do pullups, when it's already exhausted), what are some ways to help make it go away (assuming I want to stay with a barbell and not dumbbells)? My grip is fairly wide, my elbows are out, and I lower the bar all the way down, so it touches my upper pecs.

It doesn't sound half as bad as yours was. The only time I actually feel pain during a bench is when I hit the last rep. I have a good combo of pull/push exercises, and do each muscle group once a week.

I'll try lowering the bar to my lower chest, though.

Reduce the total volume of execise done around teh shoulder girdle. The Bench Press has an especially bad rep as a shoulder killer. As well as lower the bar to lower chest ( this is good form advise) make sure you thoroughly strech the area, add specific work for teh rotator cuffs ( L Fly etc) and you should be pulling as much if not more that you are pressing.

Rudd

As one who has always battled rotator cuff pain (from years of way too much baseball) I agree with what everyone has said. Also don't lower the weights too far when doing dumbell bench or shoulder presses. Do take breaks and let yourself heal.

I found that doing cuff exercises helps a great deal. I do L-flyes, but I found most benefit from inverted front lateral raises with really low weights (5 to 8 lbs). Inverted front raises are just that, front laterals with your thumbs pointing down and your arms at a 45 degree angle from the center of the body. I do these as a warm up for bench and other shoulder exercises.