The Bench Press Question!

[BigMikeD]

As far as working the muscle goes... what is the difference between touching the bar to your chest and not touching it?

Was always taught (by my lifting coaches in HS) that it was not necessary to touch the chest when benching. They siad that touching the chest only encouraged cheating (i assume they ment bouncing the bar) and that most stress was put on the muscle when you started bringing the bar back up 2-3 inches above the chest.

Anyway... So that’s how I’ve been doing it for a long time now, never really questioned it. However a while ago I started to notice that yes I was lifting relatively heavy weight, but my chest really wasn’t filling out like I would expect. So that brings me to this thread, thought this may have something to do with that.

So if someone would just kind of explain the mechanics of the lift and how it works the muscle I would appreciate it.

[lee thompson]

apart from the safety aspect of bouncing a heavy weight off your chest,i think the main thing here is that if you lower the weight to an inch awayfrom your chest everything is under tension but if you touch your chest then there is a tendancy for everything to relax?i suppose rather like not locking your elbows out on presses aswel?

[mcchunter]

i always pause for a split second on my chest then lift
i controll the weight at all times never bouncing it
i think you would be working your arms more if your not going all the way down
my 2cents

[RyanLRams]

I don't think there is really a problem with "everything relaxing". At least, I hope your not resting a couple hundred pounds on your chest.

I like to do a 3 count on the lowering of the bar and as soon as it touches my chest, I explode up as hard as I can. I don't really even pause at the low point. It is one motion. You shouldn't be bouncing it off your chest.

Your not in high school anymore. Go all the way down. You should have enough control to not cheat by bouncing the weight off your chest.

[mcchunter]

no its not a couple hundred pounds its 350#s
and no it does not rest on my chest
its a controlled movement
i never meant to rest it on your chest

and fyi you can do racks
they dont come all the way down
its just another tool in helping your bench out

mike- all i was saying was to come all the way down to get the full movement to work your chest a little better

[BigMikeD]

Originally Posted by mcchunter

no its not a couple hundred pounds its 350#s
and no it does not rest on my chest
its a controlled movement
i never meant to rest it on your chest

and fyi you can do racks
they dont come all the way down
its just another tool in helping your bench out

mike- all i was saying was to come all the way down to get the full movement to work your chest a little better

Ya, i completely understand what you're saying... Paused sets are pretty popular actually.


But to be honest i was really hoping someone could explain exactly how you benefit from bringing the bar all the way down to the chest... Is it just that you're simply working the muscle more, or maybe that lowest position targets a certain area of the muscle?

*also, lets keep the "Dont be a puss, touch your chest" to a minimum please. Thanks!

[BigMikeD]

part of the reason why i have never really made a huge effort to change my style (until now) was that it just flat out hurt to extend my shoulders that far back. Same problem with squatting, hurts like a sum***** trying reach back to balance the bar on my back.

Really trying to improve that though.. been doing a lot of shoulder stretching before and after WO's.

[mcchunter]

my lifting partner has the same problem with his shoulders
usually once he gets them warmed up the pain goes away
he trys different grips and that helps out a little
he also uses icy hot on his shoulders and says that helps him


imo not going all the way down your working your arms more than your chest
for example-if you do rack lock outs your working your arms more that would be like benching like you are. if your chest is lagging behind, then maybe going all the way down will help out a bit more.

i would see a dr and see if you have an injury

what kind of warm up sets are you doing?

hopefully someone else will chime in here and correct me if im wrong

[RyanLRams]

Originally Posted by mcchunter

no its not a couple hundred pounds its 350#s
and no it does not rest on my chest
its a controlled movement
i never meant to rest it on your chest

I wasn't commenting on your post. I was writing mine when you posted yours so I didn't even read it till after mine was up. lol. My comment was pointed at Lee Thompson: "but if you touch your chest then there is a tendancy for everything to relax".

[lee thompson]

ha ha just lift it!

[Red5]

To change the question a bit, why wouldn't you use the full range of motion. Racks, pause sets etc have a place but they are to help improve the full exercise.

[mitchcumstein]

Im not sure its really necessary to touch up to your chest. Hell, one of the biggest and strongest guys in my gym does it like that by stopping about 3 inches short. Doing it that way keeps the muscle under tension. To each his own unless youre planning on competing in a PL comp.

[CubanChick]

I come down really close scraping and then pause it for sec and explode it in a controlled manner. It works well on my chest!

Chest tonight.

[BiggerGuns=LongerDrives]

I have the tightness in my shoulders too until I warm up, but once I am warm and begin my working sets, I touch the bar on my chest before thrusting it back up again.

But I have bad elbows and there are plenty of occasions I use a shortened range or motion on a day they are acting up.
I set the pins to work either only the top half or only the lower half of range of motion

[BigMikeD]

I do a lot of warming up... i always do a full range of push ups before i start anything followed by my normal bench warm up sets. Its just a range of motion issue for me, i can warm up all i want but i still have issues. Its not an "Injured" pain really, just an over extending feeling.

I think its just the way my damn shoulders are built. Its a bit easier to understand if you see me in person... I'm all neck and traps... very little shoulder space left. I HAVE TO WEAR ONE OF THOSE FRUITY MESSENGER BOY BAGS TO SCHOOL BECAUSE NORMAL BACKPACKS WONT STAY ON MY SHOULDERS!!!

however, all i have to do is get a pissed off look on my face and pop my traps and everyone runs for the hills... so its got its advantages i guess!

[BlackWinterDay]

A fairly large gym buddy of mine told me a few weeks ago to stop going down all the way. It puts too much stress on the shoulder...he injured his by benching a while ago and now he just goes to 90 degrees.

Since then I've been doing it, but I kinda feel it's cheating since I'm able to get up more weight, however the pumps in my chest don't lie.

[BigMikeD]

So i just got back from the gym, it was chest day today. I decided to drop the weight and just play around with this for a while.

I put 225 on and just did supper slow controlled declines all the way down to my chest (tried a few diff grips), it was ok, but i still feel like i am over reaching. From all of the different grips i tried, it seems like the most natural thing to do was to stop about an inch off my chest, which actually puts me over a 90 degree bend in my elbows...

Friday will be my heavy chest day, so ill give this little experiment another go then, but im starting to get the impression that 1in off the chest is gonna be the sweet spot for me.

[BiggerGuns=LongerDrives]

Originally Posted by BigMikeD

From all of the different grips i tried, it seems like the most natural thing to do was to stop about an inch off my chest, which actually puts me over a 90 degree bend in my elbows...
.

Listen to your body as it's talking for a reason. I always train with instinct no matter the movement.
Even if my method is unconventional, it may be totally conventional to my particular body as we are all put together differently, joints hiinge differently, different limb sizes, etc...etc.
So some things I do very different from the regular Joe's.

I have actually learned that alot of the fundamentals that I have (little stuff that amounts to big things) I picked it up instinctly and later read about or was learned in some manner it was the correct thing to do.
Not holding your breath, not rounding the back, etc, etc..

[Gill]

I broke two of my ribs wrestling this past Christmas. Since then, doing bench has been out of the question because of the stress it puts in that area. It really hurts! For awhile, I just was working what I could and basically leaving chest out. My pecs started to noticeably soften and I couldn't stand it anymore.

I started doing push-ups which only hurt minimally; however, something I noticed is that with push-ups, I feel the pec burn a lot more than I do with bench. Further, the closer to the ground you drop your body before exploding back up definitely effects how your pecs feel. The closer I drop down, the more it burns in my chest as opposed to a 3/4 motion where my arms do most of the work.

The good news is that pushups have tightened my chest back up wonderfully. I may not be gaining mass, but atleast I'm maintaining my physique and still gaining strength.

I guess what I'm mainly getting at is that if you would like to feel the difference in range of motion for chest work outs, do push-ups and pay attention to the activated muscles during different ranges of motion.

Sorry for the tangent.

[BigMikeD]

Originally Posted by BiggerGuns=LongerDrives