# FITNESS and NUTRITION FORUM > WORKOUT AND TRAINING >  chest day - soreness in arm pit area.. picture included

## amature225

In the picture you can see where I marked in red. For as long as I can remember (over a year), when I workout chest it makes this part of my arm sore. If I do incline bench first, then my first set of 8 is ok, but on my 2nd set it starts to get really sore here, and even worse on my 3rd set. (the pain happens with ALL chest workouts - fly , decline, flat, dumbbell press). It a huge problem since I have to stop before my CHEST is fatigued.. the pain makes me stop. 

I have tried:
-Lower weights - does not help, it still starts hurting on 2nd set or so.
-stretching - doesn't seem to help at all (although, I am not very flexible)

Please let me know if you have any advice. It feels almost like a connective muscle or tissue.. It is not right on the edge of my armpit, but almost in 1 inch from the edge (where circled).

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## yungfaceb3

Well my question to you is this: 1) Does it hurt on BOTH sides of your body ( left and right) or just one
2) Do you use barbells or dumbells?
3) How wide is your grip...how far do you come down....go up... on presses?

That area is very sensitive area. When I first starting lifitng weights and for months and months following my start....I used to be really sore in that area and even at the underside of my arm just where it connects to my arm pit. it used to feel like a muscualr pull or sprain. Nowadays i am pain free when doign chest..but every now and then on a rare occassion when i go heavy at an unfamilair angle or such...i will have pain/sensitivity in the same area as you depicted.....but it won't be that bad and doesnt prvent me from training. it usually gets strecthed out and heals within a few days. My thoguhts would be that since your starting with incline pressess, I am assuming barbell, your grip may be too wide or you are at an unfamiliar angle. Try changing your grip or lowering the elevation og the incline a few degrees. That are of my arm/chest tends to feel alot of pressure when doing barbell incline presses at higher elevations..and is usally the cause of my pain when I feel it there on rare occassions. Also..when doing incline presses...the bar tends to drift forward and/or not come down completely horizontal...this is a major cause of pulls and injuries to that chest/ shoulder region. check your form..or lower the degree of incline a little and use dumbells. switch your routine up..take more time off...let it heal...shorten your range of motion until you find the poiint in the contraction that it hurts..and slowly..over time...increase your range of motion until it can move thoughout the entire range pain free. good luck.

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## amature225

1) hurts on BOTH sides equally
2) I can try Barbells, and it starts hurting in set 2, but a lot more pain in set 3 and this pain limits my lifting! I can also use dumbells and it is the exact same place that hurts!

3) I don't go down all the way (because I am not quite that flexible, and since it causes more pain). I probably stop the bar about 5 inches from my chest on incline. maybe 3-4 inches for flat bench.

Also, I have been lifting 4 days a week for 3 years straight now.. this pain is always present ONLY on chest days. It does feel more like a "connective" muscle or tissue .. like it isn't strong enough to lift what my other muscles can.

I will try and bring my grip in quite a bit to TEST out your idea! any other ideas? I really thought that even lifting lower weights would help, with more reps.. but it always ends the same! This area hurts MOST when doing flys with machine or dumbbells!

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## amature225

thanks for the info guys.. keep any other ideas coming as well.. I will document and post any changes

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## yungfaceb3

well you really are not very flexible at all are you? I think you should work on that big time. Focus intently on stretches...don't just force a deep stretch very quickly...slowly..work your way into it. when it starts to hurt back off or slowly increase the stretch until it doesn't hurt as bad when you are stretching it. I would say this a problem with your muscle tissue or some other form of tissues not stretching because lack of flexibility and/or strength. I say thsi becasue the deep stretching exercises (flyes) are what cause you tha most pain. i would probably recomend taking a week or so off from chest and then starting back fresh. when starting back i would not even so much worry about hitting the weights as i would about eliminating that pain and strenthenning/ stretching that tissue out. Stretch for 2-3 minutes just your pectoral..from all angles. Then I would say try some extremly lightweight dumbell flyes and come down as far as you can until you move throughout the entire range of motion pain free. It doesn't matter if you have to use 5-10 pound dumbells for 50-100 reps..stretch it out. slightly increase the weight..see if it hurts when you increase..if so..lower it again and get that stretch. as for presses...i wouild recomend machine presses..where it locks you in place seated upright where you press the handles dierectly forward in front of you. try to come back as far as the machine will allow you to..and push it all the way out. by using this machine you wont have to worry about the stabalizer msucles or the cumerous angles that gravity pulls..but you will be locked into a solid..fluid motion. the key is to stretch it ouit.....to strengthen that muscle tissue...good luck

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## amature225

damn good ideas. thanks for that. I will focus on those ideas - intensely stretching, and trying just machines for a few weeks. I DID already try taking 2 weeks off.. No result.

thanks bro

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