Posted: 3/2/2009 8:12:00 AM EDT
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When I bench, I get a decent wide grip. I bring the bar down to touch my chest and push it back up.
Problem is when the bar touches my chest, my tricepts are way below parallel from the ground. I'd say that they are almost 30 degrees below parallel/horizontal. I've been reading that this could cause shoulder damage. Would this also be the problem of why it's hard for me to bench more than 320 lbs? If I don't have to go all the way down, heck, I can push a check of a lot more! Hardwarz |
| I don't really bench much....To be honest it feels like I'm just using my arms and frankly puts a hell of a lot of strain on my shoulder joints. When I do bench I only let my arms go to 90 degrees/parallel with the floor, and maybe just a hair past it. It seems to be less of an issue when I do that compared to going all the way to my chest. Lately I've just been using dumbells to do my bench presses....feels like I get the muscle with those as opposed to with the bar where it feels more like my triceps and shoulders getting strained |
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Anyone who benches triceps are going to be below parallel.
You arms shouldn't be pointing straight out at a 90* angle from your body, as that will increase your chance for injury. And, anyone can bench more if they don't bring the bar to their chest. And the 320, you've hit a plateau. Time to change your routine. |
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Quoted:
When I bench, I get a decent wide grip. I bring the bar down to touch my chest and push it back up. Problem is when the bar touches my chest, my tricepts are way below parallel from the ground. I'd say that they are almost 30 degrees below parallel/horizontal. I've been reading that this could cause shoulder damage. Would this also be the problem of why it's hard for me to bench more than 320 lbs? If I don't have to go all the way down, heck, I can push a check of a lot more! Hardwarz were at ohio are ya? im from piqua about 25 minutes north of dayton up 75. I do a bit of benching. for your grip how long is your arm span and were do you currently grip the bar. my arm span is 6'0" and in my raw grip i put my pinkies on the outside rings. when i bench in my shirt i use the max legal grip (indexes on outer rings) but grip shouldn't have to much to do with it being hard to press more then 320. to help your shoulders how much of an arch do you take? that should help line things up better and decrease your ROM so you can press more. the more arch the better and safer. Arch up as high as you can with your shoulders and butt touching the bench. |
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if your wanting to stop short you need to do it for the right reason. us power lifters do board presses to work the upper range of the motion if it there is a stall point.
i usually slow down at the three board position raw, so when im trying to work my weakness i do allot of two boards or chains. |
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Quoted:
were at ohio are ya? im from piqua about 25 minutes north of dayton up 75. I do a bit of benching. Akron, OH.... 30 minutes south of Cleveland. Quoted:
for your grip how long is your arm span and were do you currently grip the bar. my arm span is 6'0" and in my raw grip i put my pinkies on the outside rings. when i bench in my shirt i use the max legal grip (indexes on outer rings) but grip shouldn't have to much to do with it being hard to press more then 320. Pinkies on the outside ring lately. Usually, I go a thumb's distance from the inside edge where there's no checkering. The heavier I go, the wider I go. Quoted:
to help your shoulders how much of an arch do you take? that should help line things up better and decrease your ROM so you can press more. the more arch the better and safer. Arch up as high as you can with your shoulders and butt touching the bench. Little to no Arch. I feel like I'm cheating if I arch. Then again, I've never lifted with anyone except novices. Hardwarz |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
to help your shoulders how much of an arch do you take? that should help line things up better and decrease your ROM so you can press more. the more arch the better and safer. Arch up as high as you can with your shoulders and butt touching the bench. Little to no Arch. I feel like I'm cheating if I arch. Then again, I've never lifted with anyone except novices. Hardwarz Squeeze your shoulder blades together and puff your chest up under the bar. Activate your glutes and nail your feet into the floor. This will create an arch, but it's not cheating. Just imagine it as the same torso positioning for any other heavy lift. Extending your back, creating an arch, and squeezing your ass also makes it so that the weight of the bar is transferred down your spine and through your feet into the floor, instead of across your spine and into the bench. |
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From the starting strength pdf at the top of this forum:
"This is the standard bench press for a novice. 1) Lie flat on the bench, ensuring that you are evenly balanced from left to right. Falling off of one side of the bench in the middle of a press is embarassing and decidedly nonanabolic. 2) Your feet need to stay on the floor at all times, and not move. If you need to get blocks or use plates on either side of the bench so your legs can reach, then do so. Don't lift your feet in the air or rest them on the bench. Your knees should be bent at approx. 90 degrees, and your feet should be on either side of the bench, with your legs spread at approximately 30 degrees to either side. An extra wide stance will generally be uncomfortable, an extremely close stance will not allow for proper stability and can encourage the lifting of the butt off the bench, which is a no-no. Find a comfortable stance and foot width, and maintain it throughout the motion. 3) Your glutes should stay in contact with the bench at all times, and should be contracted during all repetitions to help maintain a stable base. 4) Tuck your shoulder blades underneath your body and pinch them together and down. This will elevate the ribcage and stabilize the shoulder girdle. Maintain this state of tightness in your upper back/traps during all repetitions. This will also create a natural arch in the lower back, and will create a stable platform out of your upper back muscles for you to press from. This is called "shoulder joint retraction" and will make your rotator cuff very happy when benching. 5) Without protracting your shoulders (allowing them to roll forward/upward and lose tightness), reach up with each hand and grasp it equidistant from the center of the bar. Use the outer "smooth ring" as a reference point. You should use a hand spacing that places your pinkies within an inch or 2 of the smooth ring. Wrap your thumbs around the bar and allow the bar to rest along the heel of the hand, rather than up near the knuckles (which will cause unnecessary stress to the wrists) 6) Unrack the bar and move it so that the bar is directly over your lower chest area. Do not unrack the bar and immediately lower it to your chest from the rack in a diagonal line. 7) From a stopped position with the bar directly above your lower chest area, take a very deep breath, maintain tightness in the upper back and "pull" the bar to your chest in a controlled fashion. Your elbows should not flare or tuck excessively. Ideally, your upper arm bones (the humerus) will form an angle that is approximately 40-60 degrees from your torso. If your elbows flare out wide to the sides (~90 degree angle) then you hit your pecs incredibly hard at the risk of your rotator cuff's health. If your elbows tuck into your body (20-30 degree angle) then you will place too much emphasis on your triceps and delts, and not enough on your pecs. 8) Touch the bar to your shirt, not to your chest - if you visualize this and then try to perform it, this will pretty much guarantee that you don't bounce off your chest. 9) Press steadily and evenly to complete lockout without hyperextending your elbows or protracting (lifting) your shoulders from the bench (i.e. your upper back/traps should stay tight even at the top). 10) Lather, rinse, repeat 11) On the final repetition of the set, do NOT press directly toward the rack. The last rep should look identical to the first. Once you lockout the final repetition directly above your lower chest, then allow the bar to fall back toward the rack." |