I have seen many different ideas on bench press but what do you feel is proper form for a taller guy? Going down to slightly under parellel or all the way down to the chest? I am 6'3 with pretty long arms.
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JMedic79
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aren't you like 5'4"? not being a douche, but you don't have personal frame of reference, especially to be labeling anything as "covering up weaknesses".
no, you don't have to touch your chest. stop a couple of inches from your sternum. doing that also keeps the muscle groups under tension for the entire movement.
it depends what your goal is - when I was powerlifting, I used a very wide grip, created a great arch, and barely had to move the bar to hit my chest - if you are bodybuilding, you need to feel comfortable in the motion and get as full range as you can get without straining your shoulders (rotators) - I'm not talking about wussing out, just staying safe - people confuse the "good" pain of really pushing it on a movement with the very "bad" pain of forcing your body to do something that it shouldn't.
Bottom line - do what works for you - push your limits but stay safe.
hope this helped.
just my 2c fwiw
It does help......I just like to stay in good shape and look good....I usually go about 3 inchs from the chest but just wondered if this is right....i see many people bouncing off their chest, yanking their ass off the bench and so fourth...I just like to keep a fluid movement and bring it down to where my elbos are slightly below 90 which would be roughly 2-3 inches above my chest....feels fine to me but wasnt sure if there were any issues with it.....
people do weird stuff especially when benching - it's definitely most important to keep control of the weight, and have the bar moving smoothly - going slightly below 90 is great - it's actually a more difficult exercise to do than those guys playing bouncy bounce!
_LG_
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I'm 6 1 I go all the way down. No bounce, just touch and go.
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bro, I do not take offense. I am speaking from years of training and experience weight lifting.
to obtain maximum muscle stimulation you need to do a full range of motion. stopping short of your chest will not fully stimulate your chest muscles (regardless of arm length).
NOTE: power lifters or people going for a 1rm maxes are not concerned with maximum muscle stimulation they are concerned with MOVING the weight, hence they can shorten the ROM by doing a power arch.
I am NOT saying that bench will be easy for you. I will also admit being shorter and having a shorter ROM is why short stocky people excel in bench press. However, this does not detract from the point that you need to properly stimulate your muscle fibers and to properly do that you should be doing a full ROM--at least for bodybuilding purposes (if your goal is to build muscle).
also, I say people hide behind excuses because that is exactly what they do. "I have long arms so i cant bench" or "dude your 5'4 of course you can bench a lot." Bro, i started with a 135lbs bench press and that was after 6months of pushup / pullup/ dip training. I worked for every pound of my 400lbs bench press. Short arms or not.
so, if you have long arms, struggle through the FULL ROM. don't cut yourself short and do half, or 90 degrees, or anything else. there will come a time for that sure (using plyes, etc). But, for general training purposes touch your chest and come back up.
I agree with Full ROM but do you not think that someone with longer arms may go to far if they touch their chest? I agree with going past 90 but is there a limit that could be two far? Longer arms will leave you going way back?
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Nothing is wrong with touching your chest
Biomechanics say so. Unless you are a mutant
Lighten your load do full reps.
If your experience pain then consult a grad student in biomechanics or physical therapy if you are at s university if not then speak to a therapist or properly educated trainer about any pains
But you should be fine bro
Biomechanics say so. Unless you are a mutant
Lighten your load do full reps.
If your experience pain then consult a grad student in biomechanics or physical therapy if you are at s university if not then speak to a therapist or properly educated trainer about any pains
But you should be fine bro
you should go down all the way to fully workout the chest, you don't need to break your sternum, just go down until the bar touches your chest. Some special bars are curved so that you go down a bit more like when doing dumbell presses.
going half way down will not work your chest well, you will instead use lots of triceps. in fact it is better to go down all the way but not up all the way (no locking) for training purposes.
and if look closer you will see that if things are all proportional, tall people with tall arms have wider chest and shoulders and a thicker chest and will use a wider grip than shorter people making the bar height the same for both and not a big difference in how far the bar travels. In practice however things are not proportional since the tall guy might have a relatively narrow chest a with his long arms, so you will find a difference , but still the difference is not too much in general but some guys have long arms compared to their width so....
but anyways if you want to train properly you should do the movement properly.
going half way down will not work your chest well, you will instead use lots of triceps. in fact it is better to go down all the way but not up all the way (no locking) for training purposes.
and if look closer you will see that if things are all proportional, tall people with tall arms have wider chest and shoulders and a thicker chest and will use a wider grip than shorter people making the bar height the same for both and not a big difference in how far the bar travels. In practice however things are not proportional since the tall guy might have a relatively narrow chest a with his long arms, so you will find a difference , but still the difference is not too much in general but some guys have long arms compared to their width so....
but anyways if you want to train properly you should do the movement properly.
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Hey bro im 6'8" i like to go to my lower chest with a semi narrow grip. Elbows should be be 45° at the bottom. Benching was always uncomfortable for me as well bro. Now i can do over 400 no problem. Keep experimenting brother.
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Good job man. Guy at my gym is like 6'7 and does 550. If you work for it and train you can accomplish it--unless you have some physical abnormality or injury that physically prevents you from accomplishing it.
You and a couple guys in white lab coats lol
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If that is a jab against me and the use of AAS.
I trained over about 9 years naturally and got up to 380lbs bench naturally.
White lab coats aside you can achieve good results naturally.
Touch your chest.
it seems everyone has definite views on this - some even on hand placement, which is definitely dependent on each person's individual body width - I would just like to point out if I may that full rom will definitely cause more muscle activation, but if the trade-off is a possible shoulder tweak every once in a while - is it worth it?
Hands should be at a width where your elbows are 45° from the body on the way down. Not next to your torso or straight out.
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Umm totally not worth it, god who does full range of motion on exercises...just silliness. Lets all do half reps or quarter reps, and stop when it "feels" right.
This thread is getting ridiculous.
gixxermaniak
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I can't go all the way down it puts to much stress on my shoulders .....so I stop four fingers above chest
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As I said in the threads above.
Unless you have a physical disability, mutation, or injury there is no reason why you can't do a full ROM.
If you have an injury or experience pain I said you have two logical options:
If you are at a university: Speak to a grad student in Biomechanics or physical therapy. -- This would be free if they are nice people lol
If you are not in a university setting then speak to a physical therapist or trainer that is educated enough to diagnose the problem and work towards rehabilitating you (if that is an option) or working around the disability / injury.
You Gixxermaniak, either have
1) injury, from the past
2) Weak shoulders
3) poor flexibility
4) or any number of possible things and should see someone about why you can not do a full ROM
celticthug
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im 6'1.an could say my arms are alittle long for my body.i touch an pause.i hope to push 500 this year.if ur shoulder joints dont hurt u,go all the way down.u get better devolopment IMO
gixxermaniak
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people have told me flexibility because I've never been injured I guess I'm just going to have to start going with lighter weight working it all the way down to build flexibility and comfort
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Full range all the way. If you can get your upper extremities into a chest touch position without pain, you should be going there. Doing otherwise is creating weakness as you won't be strong through a full range of motion. It's really up to you though.
And for what it is worth, I think most serious weight lifters wouldn't really give respect to a partial ROM lift.
And for what it is worth, I think most serious weight lifters wouldn't really give respect to a partial ROM lift.
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Few questions
1) how much do you currently bench--this isn't a pissing contest, but honest. What weight can you do for 6-8 reps
2) do you do pushups or dips?
3) I don't stretch, but you should--hell I need to start my damn self.
4) When you do shoulder exercises are you able to bring the weight all the way down without pain? Like if it is a barbell can you touch the bar to your chest if you wanted to.
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