Do you touch the bar to your chest on flat bench?

[babymonkey]

Is there some sort of research done on this? Is it better to touch the bar to your chest or to stop an inch or so from your chest and then go up? I've seen it both ways. I used to always touch my chest but found myself bouncing the bar sometimes to help get it up (the bar...HA,HA). I just started stopping the bar an inch from my chest and found I had a little more control. I don't know why but it just felt that way. Is there any concrete info on this or is it all opinion on what works best for you?

 

[needsize]

I've always beieved that the longer the range of motion, the more muscle fibres you stimulate, which in turn means more growth. So when I bench I lower the bar all the way to my chest, and lock out at the top of each rep (some people dont like to lockout). The key is to keep it slow and in control

 

[thriller]

i always touch the chest. i always use the most range of motion possible in every exercises

 

[spatts]

I never touch it to, or above, the chest...I bench to my sternum.

That in mind, if I want to eliminate any momentum, and train my speed out of the pause, I "touch down" on the sternum and pause, but I don't let it just sit there. Gotta stay tight.

 

[BodybuildingUniverse]

if you dont touch — it aint a bench!

 

[babymonkey]

I said chest but meant the bottom of my sternum. Between Spatts' and Needsize's posts, I need not look any further. They are both a source of true wisdom. I just felt phylosophical for a minute. Thanks.

 

[duritz]

go to a powerlifting competition. You gotta pause at the sternum for 2 secs and then press in order for them to consider it a press. If you practice doing this during your sets, with full control you will have godlike strength. The guys who use momentum or the wusses who don't even touch their chest don't train their entire muscle. You need full range of motion. I have taken this pause to an art form. I can pretty much pause with 315 on my chest for a rep. I weigh 205 btw. I like the idiots in the gym who need you to bump them up when they do dumbells on their first rep. If you can't press it from scratch you shouldn't do it. I can easily take the 100s and pause for like 15 secs on the bottom of the rep and still press them during incline press. That shows true for and power Sorry to ramble on

 

[Lord_Suston]

Always have touched, no bouncing but a controlled pause then explode out of the hole....

 

[RusPA81]

Unless you have somekind of shoulder injury that prevents you from going all the way down you should always go down to the chest. Those last few inches are important. I am not actually suppose to go all the way down because I tore my rotator cuff playing football in high school, but I still do it and have had no problems even though my doctor recommended against it.

 

[Victorian guy]

Injury concerns

If you are using a weight that you can handle for 10 reps, then go all the way down.
But I say that on maximum effort sets, when you shoot for 3-5 reps, you dont go all the way down...

What I'd like to know is what part of the movement benching injuries occur at...haven't had a bench injury yet, though I have had back, shoulder and chest injuries from other movements.

 

[spatts]

VG, for people that are prone to it, the BB style bench (high and wide) involves a great deal of shoulder rotation. Those who are prone to rotator cuff issues may find that they can't bench as much as they'd like in this form due to the amount of shoulder involvement. I used to bench 95 pounds high and wide, with my shoulder throbbing the whole time. Now I'm at about 190-200 pounds, elbows tucked close to the body, benching to the sternum, with a pause. Have you ever seen a powerlifter bench with their elbows out and down to the chest in competition? I haven't. There's a reason. Well, two actually...safety and strength.

 

[Tarheel]

I've heard a few folks say you shouldn't go lower than when your upper arm is parallel to the ground, as it puts undue stress on the rotator cuffs, although I do go a bit lower than that.

However, I dont lockout usually (on most any exercise). That takes the strain off of your muscles and puts it on your joints and bones. Instead I just sort of go almost to lockout and hold it there, torturing the muscles.

 

[spatts]

Wouldn't work for powerlifting, but if meets your goals, that's all that matters.

 

[SeekerOfKnowledge]

Doesn't the bringing the bench down to the sternum work more of your lower pecs instead of middle pecs like a flat bench press should do. I have the bar touch right at the middle of my pecs on flat, upper pecs on incline and lower pecs on decline. Is this right or will I not gain mass and strength this way. Thank

 

[spatts]

Let's put it this way....many powerlifters have benched well over 600 pounds with torn pecs. Why? They don't use them much to bench. The powerlifter's bench is triceps/lats/shoulders.

However, I have yet to see a powerlifter with a poorly developed chest.

 

[SeekerOfKnowledge]

So stronger lats and shoulders will increase my bench as well?

 

[bigdelt69]

strange.........but your right.

 

[RipDsel]

if you dont touch — it aint a bench!

no doubt..i fucking hate it when people, especially guys who think they're huge when they're half the size of me, dont go all the way down...girls i can understand not doing it, but guys that do it think they're strong cause they go half way down, but if they go all the way down they'd prolly do a lot less weight.

 

[babymonkey]

My initial thread read "an inch or so from my chest". I acually find it harder to stop just before touching my chest, but this is just me. Also after this thread I am going all the way down. I do know the guys you are speaking about that go half way down. I mostly just see that on DB press. I see more bouncing off the chest to help it up on flat bech.

 

[AMBB4L]

Yeah, I touch the bar to my sternum. I've found that point to be much better than using the nips as a guide for where to touch.

 

[spatts]

monkey, we do it both ways in the gym. Frequently on speed work we will stop the momentum above the chest, because like you said, it's harder. For max effort work though, we train to bench the way we'd compete.

Partial benching IS effective for building bench strength though, especially through weak points. That's why you always hear about power lifters doing 5 board, 4 board, 3 board, 2 board, floor press, lock out, etc... We train portions of the lift, and as the portions become stronger, the whole bench becomes stronger.

 

[SeekerOfKnowledge]

5 board, 4 board, 3 board?

 

[SeekerOfKnowledge]

Thanks a lot

 

[Vortexx]

I suppose the sheer weight used by benchpressing PL style makes up for the more precise BB style

 

[spatts]

More precise? For what purpose? PLers don't care about chest development. Why would they want to bench high and wide?

 

[bignate73]

More precise? For what purpose? PLers don't care about chest development. Why would they want to bench high and wide?

the chest development is a nice byproduct of training heavy AND safely.

im more than happy with changing styles of bench pressing. may even switch to a WSB style of training for a month or 2.

unaccustomed stimulus that overloads=growth
low reps for strength
higher reps for hypertrophy
periodized to avoid overtraining

win win situation for a bb'er.

 

[spatts]

low reps for strength
higher reps for hypertrophy
periodized to avoid overtraining

win win situation for a bb'er.

E X A C T L Y ! ! ! !

I have been trying to get BBers to understand this forEVER.