[BoiBoi]

Should you use the whole range of motion, meaning that you hit your chest with the bar or do you just lower the bar till your arms form a 90° angle?

I googled it and people mostly say that you have to use the full rom, but whats your take on the matter and why?

[Repo]

If your arms are at a 90% angle, you have barely moved the bar at all, and most of the movement you have done is coming from your arms. It needs to touch your chest. That is the only way to fully activate your chest muscles.

[Hades]

Full ROM.

Otherwise you might as well rack the weights and go home.

[Oz.]

Let the bar crush your ribs and sternum otherwise no

[samsamsam]

Also, do not bounce it. Better to lift less and do it properly than try to do momentum lifting.

You will do more honest work. Unless you want to just brag about numbers to friends.

Proper technique has a little arch, but do not arch so much that is like a tunnel underneath you, that is another way of cheating and you risk injury.

[H1N1]

I think this is less cut and dried than is perhaps being presented. How long are your arms, what are your goals/why are you doing the bench, etc?

For me personally, I think if you aren't training for a competition then there is room to do what is comfortable. Personally, I find bringing the bar to about 1" off my chest gives me good strength and mass gains, and spares my shoulders, and allows me to make better progress moving the bar through a more constant path. Since I'm not training to compete in powerlifting, this form suits my goals. If it failed to, or became less effective over time, then ROM is one of the things you can play around with to try to kick start the lift again.

[Seamus]

(04-13-2015 02:12 PM)H1N1 Wrote:  

I think this is less cut and dried than is perhaps being presented. How long are your arms, what are your goals/why are you doing the bench, etc?

For me personally, I think if you aren't training for a competition then there is room to do what is comfortable. Personally, I find bringing the bar to about 1" off my chest gives me good strength and mass gains, and spares my shoulders, and allows me to make better progress moving the bar through a more constant path. Since I'm not training to compete in powerlifting, this form suits my goals. If it failed to, or became less effective over time, then ROM is one of the things you can play around with to try to kick start the lift again.

Agreed. I personally take the bar down to the chest, but my lifting partner does half-reps because he's concerned about shoulder injuries. The guy's chest is massive and he's injury free, clearly it's working for him.

[BoiBoi]

Thanks for the response fellas.

I normally bench using the full ROM, but a friend of mine told me that since I have pretty long arms, I shouldn't bring the bar all the way down in order to put less stress on my shoulders. I don't compete, just trying to build up my chest.

[Repo]

If your form is good, you should be able to bring it to your chest without fear of injury. That said, you can still have good results bringing to within an inch of your chest. 90 degrees is just way to high though. Do you feel stress around your shoulders when you bench? A common mistake with bench press is to bring the bar down too close to your shoulders/neck area, which places more stress on your shoulders. This is where most shoulder injuries come from in bench press.

[INegUThenLol]

Touch chest, HOLD the barbell for a sec at that lowest point, lift again. Don't lift the bar only in the air and don't bounce it off of you. What you should be thinking about though is where you elbows are positioned, at a 45 or 90 degree angle from your body. Depends on if you wanna fuck up your shoulders or if you're feeling fine doing it

[Hannibal]

When I do bench, I do them with paused reps to keep myself honest. It's a humbling experience, but a great way to build strength. If you're not strong in your least advantageous position, then you shouldn't be throwing around weights you can simply bounce. I'm not a great bencher, but a lot of the greats have said that paused reps are the way to go.

[Kaebs]

(04-13-2015 03:27 PM)BoiBoi Wrote:  

Thanks for the response fellas.

I normally bench using the full ROM, but a friend of mine told me that since I have pretty long arms, I shouldn't bring the bar all the way down in order to put less stress on my shoulders. I don't compete, just trying to build up my chest.

Based on your response then there's really no need for you to touch your chest. Rather pause about halfway between full ROM & touching your chest.

WHY?

Going any lower than that will just be taking the stress of your chest and rather be working your shoulders.

[Repo]

@Kaebs

Going down all the way can put more stress on your shoulders, but it is still your chest doing most of the work if done properly.

[Rutting Elephant]

Anecdotally, the weird pinch on one cuff (the childhood baseball/basketball one) I felt while benching more or less disappeared when I widened my grip.

[Jneg]

(04-13-2015 12:54 PM)Hades Wrote:  

Full ROM.

Otherwise you might as well rack the weights and go home.

This is the only response you need to read OP

side note - It's really funny to see dudes half repping on bench. Why even lift

[INegUThenLol]

If your arms are long, why not just decrease the angle between your elbow and your body and your elbow? No matter how long your arms are you'll still be lowering the bar to your nipple/lower chest and it's actually a powerlifting style that's easy on your shoulders

[TigerMandingo]

Similarly, on dips, do you guys stop once your arms are at 90 or do you go lower? Didn't mean to hijack the thread but since we are on chest exercises might as well.

[Repo]

I go lower, but it does seem when I do so Im working my shoulders more. I'm not sure if that is how its meant to be or just bad form on my part.

[Saweeep]

(04-15-2015 12:15 PM)Repo Wrote:  

I go lower, but it does seem when I do so Im working my shoulders more. I'm not sure if that is how its meant to be or just bad form on my part.

That's impossible to say without seeing you bench.

I see plenty of guys bringing the bar too close to their shoulders generally, not keeping it over the chest.

I have always struggled to grow my chest in line with the rest of my body (don't get me started on my lifelong battle with my calves...genetic weakness...dad's fault); it really is my nemesis body part.

The only thing that works for me, for hypertrophy, is to lower the weight and focus every essence of my mind on my pectorals as I lift, feeling every inch of squeeze & contraction and imagining the muscles working in my mind.

Otherwise I get too much shoulders and triceps.

[Repo]

Sorry crash, I was reffering to Cunnilinguists question about dips, not bench press. Should have been more clear.

[StrikeBack]

If you can touch your chest on the ground while doing pushups, you can touch the bar on your chest while benching. If you can't do the latter, it's because your form is not correct.

Bring the bar down to your sternum or even upper abs while arching your back, and bringing your chest up to meet the bar half way. Most gym guys bench with a too flat back and let the bar chase their chest (or chest run away from the bar) instead of confidently taking the bar with their chest.

[sixsix]

Definitely touch your chest.

It is a 'real' bench press, like doing proper squats.
It provides a fixed point where you pause (lower slowly, keep tension, don't rest on chest).
Otherwise, as you see with many guys, the bar follows an unstable and variable path.
E.g. first rep 2" from chest, second rep 4" from chest.
Then, if you lose control and lower it more than usual, your shoulder can get fucked.

If you switch to this, first considerably lower the weights so your shoulders can adapt.
In the end a full ROM makes you stronger instead of just bigger.

[StrikeBack]

Before someone brings up the usual long arm excuse...

Here's someone I've trained with:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doq3I_PdDJk

He's 6'8" with really long arms, even for his build. He's benched 165kg in powerlifting competition, in the 120kg weight class, at about 60 years of age.

If you can't touch your chest, fix your technique.

[heavy]

I know Scooby from YouTube only goes 90'...

For an older guy, some great pecs.

I go full to chest, but bc of this guy, I'm going to start not going so low.

[PHC19]

(04-13-2015 12:33 PM)BoiBoi Wrote:  

Should you use the whole range of motion, meaning that you hit your chest with the bar or do you just lower the bar till your arms form a 90° angle?

I googled it and people mostly say that you have to use the full rom, but whats your take on the matter and why?

Powerlifting to Win has some pretty extensive analysis of bench form.