when doing bench elbows in or out?

[McLurch]

I was just wondering which is better for strength and building mass. I have seen people do them many ways and was just wondering. Elbows in meaning that you have your arms tucked closer to your body, and elbows out means you have your elbows almost parallel with the bar. I do my close grips in and my regulars out.

 

[karde]

I can't imagine it being very nice on your wrists to make your elbows parallel with the bar. Maybe I am imagining this wrong.

 

[needsize]

When you let your elbows flare wide your shoulders are taking over a lot of the exercise and your putting yourself at risk for a shoulder injury, try to keep your elbows in when your driving the bar, you should find you're stronger and less prone to injury.

 

[Mike P.T.]

When you let your elbows flare wide your shoulders are taking over a lot of the exercise and your putting yourself at risk for a shoulder injury, try to keep your elbows in when your driving the bar, you should find you're stronger and less prone to injury.

i dont agree. if your goal is to hit the pec muscle as much as possible you have to flare out your elbows. keeping them close in as u would when doing close grip bench presses works the triceps more. even when doing dips as a chest exercise for example, flaring them out puts more emphasis on your lowere pec region. keeping them closer will hit the triceps more. of course since both are compound movements u cant just work one muscle without the other but u can emphasize on which u want to work more by the way u perform the exercise

 

[needsize]

This is all definitely a matter of opinion, but I always found when my elbows flared out, I had shoulder pain so bad it affected other workouts. But then I had a buddy show me how he did it (he has close to a 600lb competition bench), with a wide grip but elbows in, my bench immediately went up, my shoulders stopped hurting, and my chest got noticeably thicker.
A lot of it probably depends on individual physiology as well
Just my .02

 

[cure]

Well i got a different perspective. Keep them at a 45degree angle from the bar. Meaning that they appear to be between your body and your wrist. So they are not parallel to the bar and are not tucked in. Just squeeze your shoulders blades back and together and you'll focus more on your chest.

 

[The mann]

elbows in .........like he said,you put un-neede stress on the shoulders flaring them out,keep elbows tucked and press the bar in a straight line,not up and back over your face,also touch the bar low on your chest to help keep the good form(elbows in),that's why it's so important to nail th tri's so hard to bring up the bench,.....

 

[Hannibal]

elbows in .........like he said,you put un-neede stress on the shoulders flaring them out,keep elbows tucked and press the bar in a straight line,not up and back over your face,also touch the bar low on your chest to help keep the good form(elbows in),that's why it's so important to nail th tri's so hard to bring up the bench,.....

The Mann beat me to it.....tuck those elbows.

 

[karde]

Well i got a different perspective. Keep them at a 45degree angle from the bar. Meaning that they appear to be between your body and your wrist. So they are not parallel to the bar and are not tucked in. Just squeeze your shoulders blades back and together and you'll focus more on your chest.

This is what I do, and I have gotten some good results.

I will try keeping them closer in though, and see how that works for me.

 

[Mike P.T.]

This is all definitely a matter of opinion, but I always found when my elbows flared out, I had shoulder pain so bad it affected other workouts. But then I had a buddy show me how he did it (he has close to a 600lb competition bench), with a wide grip but elbows in, my bench immediately went up, my shoulders stopped hurting, and my chest got noticeably thicker.
A lot of it probably depends on individual physiology as well
Just my .02

i agree that alot has to do with individual physiology. heres the things though. if it is too painful for you to perform then your body wasnt meant to do the flat barbell press. alot of bodybuilders dont for the same reason that it puts too much strain. for those that can do it watch indivuald perform it. its not meant to be performed elbows tucked uless its close grip bench presses your doing. switching to falt dumbells may work better. i personally have trouble doing flat barbell as an injury to my shoulder years back prevents me from performing it correctly without the niggling annoying pain. i do em though with the dumbells and i have no problem because they allow for a more free range of motion. proper bench press for maximum stimulation for the pec muscle. lie flat on then bench firmly in place. foot stance in place. arch the back slightly to make the pecs do most of the work and not the anterior delts. slightly wider than shoulder grip. elbows flared out. again everyone is different but this is the standard proper way to perform it for maximum pec stimulation.