04/03/2026
If your elbows hurt during bench press… it’s probably not your elbows.
Most people respond by focusing only on the elbow.
Stretch it.
Massage it.
Brace it.
Maybe even stop benching altogether.
But every time they come back to pressing…
the pain is still there.
Because a lot of the time…
the elbow isn’t the root problem.
During a bench press, your shoulders are supposed to control the movement and handle most of the load.
But if your shoulders lack mobility…
If they lack strength and stability…
Your body has to find another way to move the weight.
And that stress gets pushed down to the elbow.
Especially at the bottom of the press…
Or when the weight gets heavier…
Or when fatigue kicks in.
Over time, the elbow gets irritated.
Not because it’s weak…
But because it’s doing more than it’s supposed to.
That’s why just treating the elbow doesn’t last.
Because you’re addressing the symptom…
Not the reason it showed up in the first place.
When you improve shoulder function and build pressing capacity…
You take stress off the elbow.
You move more efficiently.
And the pain finally has a reason to go away.
The goal isn’t just to press without pain—
It’s to build a body that can handle heavy loads without breaking down.
DM “PERFORM” and we’ll send a link to help you build stronger shoulders and eliminate elbow pain during pressing.
