Training Q&A

Should you have baseball/overhead athletes bench press? 

I think it’s important to view each sport through its own unique lens. We have a lot of things to consider – from the energy system demands, chronic positions they spend their time in, to the time of year (off-season vs in season).  I don’t like to completely eliminate an exercise just because of a sport. I try to avoid these absolutist points of view.

I’m not sure how we got to this place where a bench press = injury. Is it because it’s such a popular lift and people often over train it, perform it improperly, don’t warm up, try to blindly add weight to the bar and then get hurt doing it?

Because I’ve seen people get hurt doing barbell curls, broad jumps, and shoulder presses too, yet those are ok. Dumbbell presses bother my shoulders, barbell bench doesn’t. This is why we should treat the individual.

I can make a strong anatomical argument against shoulder presses too or just about any movement. Do we know their acromion type? Take a kid with a type 3 acromion and kyphosis and a pronated grip dumbbell shoulder press can be problematic. If we choose that lift and it doesn’t pass the eye test or causes extreme discomfort, it’s OUR fault, not the shoulder press.

I absolutely believe I can program in a block of barbell bench press (maybe floor bench, maybe with a shoulder saver pad, swiss bar, or maybe full ROM) in a baseball player safely.  However, I would certainly consider the individual, goal, and where we are in the training cycle.

Why I think it’s useful in general:

• Scapular retraction and depression (most baseball players have protracted scapula and could use this work)
• Good set-up requires decent thoracic mobility (most baseball players can be found doing tons of thoracic mobility drills with Cressey, no?)
• Co-stabilization of the rotator cuff, lats, deltoids, etc. important in shoulder health and creating stability in the joint.

There are many ways to train strength or power, so use the most appropriate means for the situation. But if you’re going to try and “cancel culture” attack the bench press, at least have some strong reasons why.

How should you train around pain?

Start small. Start simple. Start with what’s most impactful. Let’s focus on the things we can control – the “big rocks” (exercise, sleep, stress management, nutrition).

Maybe pain isn’t always a problem that needs to be “fixed.” Maybe it’s a “break” from some rigid pattern we’ve overdone or weren’t ready for or able to recover from.

When training, use pain as a guide and build awareness and new brain maps. I just need to find one movement, no matter how big or small, and then explore it. Let that snowball into other movements.

Once I truly learned how athletes trained, I recognized that those same principles are how everyone should train (on their own continuum of course).

We want an athlete to move fluidly and efficiently. We want them to develop all of the bio-motor abilities. We expect bumps in the road, great – we will overcome it. We train to endure – stress, fatigue, high volumes of work/loads. We train to build a robust, adaptable person ready for the chaos that is the world.

A sound program should cover all those bases, and as long as it does, the exercises themselves are just a means to an end.