When it comes to measuring strength in the gym the vast majority of people compare bench press weights, I'm sure at some point in the gym the question "how much do you bench?" has cropped up, the bench press is the staple exercise for chest development but not only this it also incorporates the use of stabiliser muscles and its these muscles that are easily injured and often overlooked when benching.
I'm sure you've also come across the expression "you're only as strong as your weakest link" this is never more relevant than in the bench press. When you bench press there are four tiny muscles that play a major role in whether you're going to complete the lift or just have a bench press blowout!
By building these overlooked muscles in you can dramatically decrease the chance of shoulder injuries caused by benching. These tiny muscles are the weakest link in 90% of weight lifters and when your benching heavy and not paying attention to these muscles you are risking being stuck in a plateau or even worse permanent injury to your shoulders.
What allot of people don't realise is that when bench pressing you need to have stability and strength in your shoulders not just your chest and triceps and the four muscles predominantly responsible for offering this stability are the: teres minor, infraspinatous, supraspinatous and sucscapularous collectively known as the 'rotator cuff' and if you feel pain in your shoulders during the bench press this is often due to weak muscles in the rotator cuff.
The reason most people get stuck in a plateau with their bench press is due to having the rotator cuff strength of a little girl this means your body has to limit the amount of weight you can lift and stabilize in order to prevent injury, it's because of this that is not uncommon to see people who train their rotator cuff muscles specifically smash through a plateau they have been stuck at for prolonged periods of time.
A rotator cuff workout should be performed with light weight as the muscles are only small and using heavy weight can lead to injury it also prompts your body to assist with other muscles which defeats the point of working the rotator cuff muscles. You should also try to avoid doing this workout within 48 hours of a heavy bench press day or shoulder day to help decrease the chance of injuries.
It's because of this most people will perform a simple rotator cuff workout after a chest/shoulder workout once the other muscles in these areas are exhausted, this allow you to target the rotator cuff more easily and prevents stronger muscles from preventing the workout having benefit.
We've all heard of people who were really into bodybuilding or powerlifting who really looked forwards to chest days and bench pressing on to be forced to stop due to injury, make sure you're not one of these and take care to strengthen the weakest link in your bench press and set new personal bests!
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