Bench's

[tonymctones]

Ok so I used to go all the way down to my chest when I did bench's but nowadays I go down to about an inch or two off my chest. Ive had shoulder problems and when I try to go down all the way now I feel a decent amount of pain in my shoulder. Any thoughts on if its ok or should I try and get back to going all the way down to my chest?

[jondy]

Continue stopping an inch or two short of your chest. For a lot of people, touching their chest puts the shoulder in an unnatural postion and leaves them vulerable to injuries. Also, when doing benches, the goal is to work the chest. Dropping all the way down to the chest can take tension off during your reps. The more you can keep tension the better. So, unless you are a powerlifter, in which case it is required to touch the chest, keep doing what you are doing.

[webcake]

Yeah, it is often thought that you have to bring the bar to touch the chest for optimal chest stimulation whilst benching. I never really let the bar touch my chest on flats (i can bring it down lower on inclines), but an inch or two from the chest is fine and will keep tension on the pecs throughout.

[powerpack]

I agree with the above.
Use the best form possible for you body type.
I also damaged my shoulders bye trying to force myself to use text book form that just did not suit me.
I also stop about an inch or two above my chest for the last few years and my shoulders are a lot happier because of it.

[The Freakshow]

When benching you NVER want to bring your elbows below your torso. On inclines that's not as deep as flat bench.

If you go any deeper, you get absolutely no additional benefit to your chest, only greater risk for injury.

[Emmortal]

Letting the bar hit your chest risks cracking your sternum and causing burn spurs (calcium deposit buildup) in that area over time.  I always bring it about 2" above my chest never letting my arms break parallel with the floor.

[powerpack]

I got very long arms in proportion to my body so I rather conecentrate where my elbows are rather than where the bar is, I go just below parallel.
With my bone structure my elbows can be the whole way back and my shoulder blades locked out and the bar will still not be at my chest, I must take a very wide grip and bring it down quite low on my chest to get it to touch.
Every one to his own, in body building there is no one right way.

[G.R.H.]

isn't going fully down to your chest and bringing the bar back up considered a full rep? i see guys tryiny to show off by trying to do reps with much more than they can handle and never fully getting the actual rep in.

[The Freakshow]

isn't going fully down to your chest and bringing the bar back up considered a full rep? i see guys tryiny to show off by trying to do reps with much more than they can handle and never fully getting the actual rep in.

In bodybuilding, A "full rep" is when you go from the begining of the range of motion for a particular muscle to the end of the range of motion for that muscle.

It has nothing to do with the position of the bar.

However, in powerlifting the muscle has nothing to do with the rep. It is soley based on the position of the bar.

IMO, it is much harder to control a weight and stop at the bottom of the range of motion, pause and press. It is easier, for me at least, to go through the bottom and bring the bar to my chest, rest and press. I can do much more weight that way. I choose not to do it that way though cause it has a serious potential for injury. Trust me, I know. I've torn my pec before.

[PANDAEMONIUM]

Ok so I used to go all the way down to my chest when I did bench's but nowadays I go down to about an inch or two off my chest. Ive had shoulder problems and when I try to go down all the way now I feel a decent amount of pain in my shoulder. Any thoughts on if its ok or should I try and get back to going all the way down to my chest?

My advice?  Stop BB benching altogether for a while.  Do lots of rotator cuff strengthening exercises and stick to high rep dumbbell bench pressing for a couple of months.  Then go back and ease into the BB benching again.  You may notice that the shoulder pain disappears.  Or if it's still there, then you can build your chest routine around DB benching.  If you use FULL ROM, i.e. take the dumbbeels down past your nipples, I guarantee you'll get a better all around chest/tris workout than with regular BB benching.

[mass 04]

My advice?  Stop BB benching altogether for a while.  Do lots of rotator cuff strengthening exercises and stick to high rep dumbbell bench pressing for a couple of months.  Then go back and ease into the BB benching again.  You may notice that the shoulder pain disappears.  Or if it's still there, then you can build your chest routine around DB benching.  If you use FULL ROM, i.e. take the dumbbeels down past your nipples, I guarantee you'll get a better all around chest/tris workout than with regular BB benching.

I agree, one thing with dumbbells is they let you know if one side is compensationg for the other. I had a shoulder problem and the pain subsided after eliminating the BB press. I like the DB, you get a better stretch and range of motion. You can let the elbows go where they want to go, in contrast to the BB where the ROM is locked in. The BB bench is great but i never liked it, and my form was always good. I still incline with a BB, but rarely flat bench with one.

[thewickedtruth]

sounds like we've got abunch of pussies and lazy bastards in here..pandamonium has great advice. Just like "bad knee" syndrome everyone seems to have...people alwaysseem to have an "sosi"  or sudden onset shoulder issues when asked why they stop at parallel with the bar about 8 inches away from their chest.

Rotator therapy and dumbbell bench pressing for awhile will really do you a big favor in teh long run. Always including dumbbell work will really help unilateral strenght AND help with unit stabilization.

[endless_raine]

When you bench with the barbell, how do you lower it? I'm wondering what is the proper. I came across youtube and the professional says that you should lower until between your nipples and neck, is that true? Or should we go lower than the nipples? I wonder which works more?

[PANDAEMONIUM]

Rotator therapy and dumbbell bench pressing for awhile will really do you a big favor in teh long run. Always including dumbbell work will really help unilateral strenght AND help with unit stabilization.

Word up right there.  I benched heavy for years and even though I knew in my head I should have balanced the BB benching with DB benching and rotator pre-hab, I always said fuck it and went for the heaviest ass weights I could throw up on the flat bench.  Now I'm forced to stick mostly to DB benching because of the bad right shoulder.  At first I thought life as I knew it was over because I could say goodbye to the "big bench"...but actually I've come to like the DBs a lot more.  It's a fullbody workout hoisting those bad boys up and pressing for high rep sets, then doing it all over again for several sets.

[tonymctones]

thanks guys for the advice, i did flat bb benchs yesterday for the first time in months and definitly felt the pain in my shoulder...I think ill stick to db's for a while and concentrate on the rotator cuff exercises...it just sucks b/c ive already lost strength in my bench (except for my incline for some reason thats gone up) and shoulder presses and i know im probably gonna lose more before it starts to come back up

[KingCol]

Textbook form = Light weight Baby!!

[PANDAEMONIUM]

thanks guys for the advice, i did flat bb benchs yesterday for the first time in months and definitly felt the pain in my shoulder...I think ill stick to db's for a while and concentrate on the rotator cuff exercises...it just sucks b/c ive already lost strength in my bench (except for my incline for some reason thats gone up) and shoulder presses and i know im probably gonna lose more before it starts to come back up

Sorry to hear that man.  But like I said above, it's really not the end of the world.  If you stick to low reps with max dumbbells, you won't lose as much on the BB bench.  But you will still lose SOME on your max BB bench over time if you stick to DB benching.  But that shouldn't matter.  Your goal in weightlifting should be to better your body, overall.  So, if you do something that fucks up your body in the long run (like hurting your shoulder more by BB benching, just to get the ego satisfaction of benching more), then you're getting into no-no territory.

[tonymctones]

Sorry to hear that man.  But like I said above, it's really not the end of the world.  If you stick to low reps with max dumbbells, you won't lose as much on the BB bench.  But you will still lose SOME on your max BB bench over time if you stick to DB benching.  But that shouldn't matter.  Your goal in weightlifting should be to better your body, overall.  So, if you do something that fucks up your body in the long run (like hurting your shoulder more by BB benching, just to get the ego satisfaction of benching more), then you're getting into no-no territory.

true that its more about what you look like than what you move in the long run. thanks for the advice