Please Scroll Down to See Forums Below 
Hello, everybody. This is by far the most helpful online forum I have ever come across. I've been coming here a few months now, this is my first post.
In October I started doing lots of cardio and cutting back on my junk food, in an effort to get my wife motivated to get into shape as well. We were both junk food junkies. It didn't work on my wife, but I liked it. I got skinny pretty fast and she felt weird that I weighed less than her. I started training for mass and strength on Dec 1st, at 143lbs. I peaked at 176lbs on May 3rd. I trained with my uncle and his co-workers at a police gym 5 years ago, and for my first couple of months training, I just used what I knew from that experience. But when I started reading more of the 5x5 strategy, I decided to give that a try. I took a week off, to read all I could about it, and to rest. I have two jobs that take up about 10 hours a day, 6 days a week, so I wanted to be well rested. After being so psyched about a new routine, my first workout sucked. I broke my right middle finger doing sqauts. Completely idiotic mistake. I had too much weight on the bar (had never done ATG sqauts before) and a bit of forward momentum grabbed me when I was coming up for my last rep of my last set. I don't know why on earth I didn't just drop the bar behind me when I realized I was screwed, instead I felt I could just throw 225lbs over my head onto my bench that was a few feet in front of me. Didn't work out that way. I ended leaning forward and rolling the bar about 90mph over my neck and head. That scraped me up real nice. And the bar landed on my right hand, my hand was gushing blood and my finger was broken. So I had to take about 3 weeks off. Lost a little bit of weight and got discouraged. But I gained it back, and all has been well, until last week.
I was going for a new PR on the bench, which thanks to this board has climbed 55lbs since I started. I got it, but I felt a horrible pain in my left shoulder, and like an idiot, I finished my workout. That was Saturday, and I waited until today (Thursday) to bench again. I was hoping that whatever I had done had healed, and I had no pain, until I bench pressed. Now I'm worried. I always hear horror stories about the bench press and shoulder injuries. How much time should I give this before attempting to bench press again? And what exercises can I continue to do while waiting that out? I've fallen in love with squats, and forgiven them for my broken finger, I love deadlifts and bb rows as well but I am worried I'll do more damage..
So this long winded post/ introduction to my scenario leaves me with two questions: How long should I not do bench presses, and what exercises are safe to continue. Thanks.
In October I started doing lots of cardio and cutting back on my junk food, in an effort to get my wife motivated to get into shape as well. We were both junk food junkies. It didn't work on my wife, but I liked it. I got skinny pretty fast and she felt weird that I weighed less than her. I started training for mass and strength on Dec 1st, at 143lbs. I peaked at 176lbs on May 3rd. I trained with my uncle and his co-workers at a police gym 5 years ago, and for my first couple of months training, I just used what I knew from that experience. But when I started reading more of the 5x5 strategy, I decided to give that a try. I took a week off, to read all I could about it, and to rest. I have two jobs that take up about 10 hours a day, 6 days a week, so I wanted to be well rested. After being so psyched about a new routine, my first workout sucked. I broke my right middle finger doing sqauts. Completely idiotic mistake. I had too much weight on the bar (had never done ATG sqauts before) and a bit of forward momentum grabbed me when I was coming up for my last rep of my last set. I don't know why on earth I didn't just drop the bar behind me when I realized I was screwed, instead I felt I could just throw 225lbs over my head onto my bench that was a few feet in front of me. Didn't work out that way. I ended leaning forward and rolling the bar about 90mph over my neck and head. That scraped me up real nice. And the bar landed on my right hand, my hand was gushing blood and my finger was broken. So I had to take about 3 weeks off. Lost a little bit of weight and got discouraged. But I gained it back, and all has been well, until last week.
I was going for a new PR on the bench, which thanks to this board has climbed 55lbs since I started. I got it, but I felt a horrible pain in my left shoulder, and like an idiot, I finished my workout. That was Saturday, and I waited until today (Thursday) to bench again. I was hoping that whatever I had done had healed, and I had no pain, until I bench pressed. Now I'm worried. I always hear horror stories about the bench press and shoulder injuries. How much time should I give this before attempting to bench press again? And what exercises can I continue to do while waiting that out? I've fallen in love with squats, and forgiven them for my broken finger, I love deadlifts and bb rows as well but I am worried I'll do more damage..
So this long winded post/ introduction to my scenario leaves me with two questions: How long should I not do bench presses, and what exercises are safe to continue. Thanks.
