Flat bench form (barbell)

[shortstop]

Ive always had trouble completing the movement at the bottom of each rep. Touching my chest with the bar is impossible. It causes me horrible shoulder pain. Because of this, i generally stay away from flat barbell presses. When i started lifting as a teen, a friends father, who was an ametuer bb, taught me that the correct form is to lower the bar about an inch from the chest, and at the top of the movement, never lock the elbows. But now, after 15 years of heavy lifting, and a shoulder injury, lowering the bar to an inch from the chest is too painful. And if i go lighter, just to complete my workout the way i learned from him, my shoulders are completely shot the next day. Should stick solely with dumbells? Or am i getting enough out of it lowering the bar an inch and a half or so from the chest? I have long arms, so the movement from top to bottom is deep. Ive seen so many variations over the years, and most of the older cats have a very short range of motion.

 

[skinnyd]

I have long arms too, you dont have to lift heavy to build a good chest.

I go about an inch from the bottom and almost to 3/4 of the way up its a feel thing, have to find your grove.

Have you tried the smith machine, it helps for me or some of the hammer strength machines.

How about the pec deck or cables?

I learned to work around injury's or problem areas.

Hope that helps and good luck

 

[bjg]

the proper form for bench press is to lower the bar to the bottom of your pecs at the lower half of the sternum and raise it up above your neck ( the movement is not vertical) your hands should placed wide (wider than shoulder width) , your elbows spread open , for maximum lift you can tuck in just a bit your elbows as you push up. the bar must touch your chest. However this is for powerlifting purposes. many variations exist for bodybuilding purposes, for example i lower the bar a bit high towards the upper chest and my hands are pretty wide.
Lowering the bar till your chest does work your chest better and going up don't lock.
now to avoid hurting there are many tricks you can try: try to not grip the bar with your hands , just keep your hands relaxed and open (thumb behind the bar) and just push the bar don't grip on it hard ( but be careful not to drop the bar)..this can be done with the smith machine also.
you can try inclined bench.
try varying the level where the bar is lowered(up towards your neck or down towards your lower chest)
try different grip width
don't lift heavy just work on repetitions.
if nothing works , stick with dumbbells for a while and retry after a month.

 

[Diesel618]

make sure you are squeezing your shoulder blades together and keeping your shoulders and back flat on the bench throughout the movement. I've noticed I have a tendency to want to roll my shoulders forward on flat bench for some reason, and that can create some discomfort in the shoulders for me.