Straight up: all my bench injuries happened while I was on gear. Natural lifters usually don’t push beyond what their bodies can handle. Drugs help muscles and recovery, but tendons don’t adapt as fast, so tendons often fail first — pec tears at the attachment, rotator cuff stress, triceps at the elbow. My rule is bench no more than twice a week — one heavy day and one medium day — so you avoid constant soreness and microtears that turn into big ruptures. Ignore the online noise about benching five times a week from guys who don’t lift much. Also, warm up properly: shoulder mobility, rotations, pendulum swings, then on the bench do 8 reps with the empty bar, then a plate per side, and increase by full or half plates as needed. I often start with 6 reps at 135 and taper down to singles before the max. Don’t do single reps at each weight jump like some people do — that’s asking for trouble.
