Ok, what is it that most people think about when they think about bodybuilding or weight training? For many that would be big muscles. But in my case the first thing that pops up in my mind are shoulder injuries.
And the reason is how most lifters train their chests and shoulders.
Simply put, modern bodybuilding has given people extremely distorted views on how to lift responsibly, with most lifters merely doing whatever will give them the most vanity muscle regardless of all other factors such as safety. And by far the worst example of this is how most people perform pressing movements. Or heck, even just the whole concept of isolating chest and shoulders specifically for that matter.
Simply put, you are not suppose to use your pecs and shoulder muscles as primary movers when performing a press. YOUR TRICEPS are suppose to be the main working muscle during presses, with your pecs and shoulder muscles playing a secondary assistance role. That means keeping elbows heavily tucked in with a rather narrow grip (neutral rather than a overhand grip, if possible), and not lifting/pressing the weight too close to your upper chest.
I can already imagine all the bench warriors screaming in protest.
"But if you do that you will activate more triceps and less chest! I wunt to train mah chezts for zem gainz brah!!!!". Yes, it's true that keeping elbows less tucked while using a somewhat wider grip will activate more chest, but that doesn't mean it's actually good for your shoulder health.
Please understand that the purpose of bodybuilding (which is where this whole idea comes from in the first place) isn't fitness, IT'S TO BUILD VANITY MUSCLE!!! Will a wider grip with less tucked in elbows and a overhand grip build more chest? Yep. Is it good for you? No. It's bad. Really really bad. Shoulder destroying levels of bad.
But it's not just the bench press that's bad for you (assuming we are talking about the bodybuilder style bench press I mean, close grip elbows tucked in style bench press isn't bad). Chest dips are terrible for the same reason.
Dips should ONLY be done while straight with elbows tucked in. Chest dips are possibly an even bigger shoulder killer than the bodybuilder bench press because of the risk of going too deep by mistake. Granted this can also happen with tricep dips, but it's still not as dangerous compared to the chest dip.
Oh, and the overhead press/military press is possibly the dumbest exercise ever created. It offers no advantages over more traditional chest presses in that it's training mostly the same muscles (triceps and the front delts, as well as parts of the chest), except that it also puts your body into a unnatural position (you rotator cuffs are not intended to hold massive amounts of weight directly over your body) and increases the risk of injury for no obvious benefit. This is basically an exercise that was created by old school lifters in the early late 19th/early 20th century before we knew anything about the human body, and I find it stunning people still use it.
All isolation exercises for chest and shoulders are also either pointless or dangerous, largely because as stated above,
your chest and shoulders are ASSISTANCE muscles, and aren't suppose to do heavy work on their own. Exercises like chest flys, cable crossovers, peck deck, side raises and so on forth, are all terrible for your shoulders and rotator cuffs.
Bodybuilders only do these exercises because they are BODYBUILDING, not for fitness. They don't care about their health, which is why they take huge amounts of drugs and do all of these stupid body destroying exercises. Most bodybuilders go on to develop messed up joints later in life even if they don't suffer serious injuries first.
Now, keep it in mind that this doesn't mean exercises like bench/chest presses or dips are actually bad for you, IF PERFORMED with a closer grip and tucked in elbows to make them more tricep dominant. My point basically, is that the whole concept of using your chest and/or shoulders are the main working muscles during an exercise is by nature stupid and will only lead to shoulder pain and injury.
Which is better? Having a bit more vanity muscle or functional healthy shoulders? You decide.
/End of rant.
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