Bench Press Question for You guys

[natural al]

Ok, my wife had a little surgery yesturday and while I was waiting I walked down and bought the new Flex.  In it there's an article about bench pressing and jay cutler says when he benches he stops about 3" from touching his chest with the bar, he claims this saves his shoulders and elbows. 

I really have not benched seriously in awhile so I'm wondering if the good of doing it this way outweighs the bad.  how much of that 3" space is really the pecs working?  Do you guys think this would really cut down alot on elbow and shoulder wear and tear, I've got bad shoulders and my elbow has been bothering me lately.

Discuss.

[thewickedtruth]

After recently having some shoulder surgery done after a dumbass egolifting mistake on my part, I can say that most of the weight when you go all the way down, is felt in your shoulders before it kicks into your chest and triceps. I feel the entire pressing movement from the bottoms involves these muscle groups in this order in which they're doing the majority of the work. From the bottom I would go as far as to say the shoulders/delts do all the work first, then your chest, then your triceps. For those that are real explosive benchers, I would also consider slowing your reps down and pausing at the bottom. I used to train explosively just for power but in doing so I hurt myself. I have no shame in admitting I was an ego lifter. We all make mistakes and now I've learned from it. I'd rather do things right than risk being injured a second time and having to go through the trenches again or possibly no longer being able to lift. 

[natural al]

I almost feel like looking it up in one of those bodybuilding kinseology-sp-books to see what portion of the bench affects what part of the body.  I know the lats come into play at the very bottom but I have not been serious about benching in years so I have kinda lost touch with what I knew about it.  I'm thiking of working inclines into my next blast and wondering if this 'stopping a couple of inches from the bottom" would be benificial.

[pumpster]

What was funny was the thread here a few months ago in which various getbig experts claimed with 100% certitude  that only FULL ROM and strict reps will do. Not true at all, in fact sometimes partial ROMs are BETTER.

Books might help somewhat but bottom line it comes down to feel. Have to determine for oneself which parts of the ROM are the most effective, after which there is absolutely nothing wrong, and a lot right, with focusing on those more favorable areas.

Partial ROMs are very similar to cheats, which are known as the best size developers by focusing the ROM on the most productive parts.

Some exercises with established benefits, even advantages from using partials: box squats in lieu of full squats, cheat curls, rowing motions, flys, benches, etc.

[mdgkmg]

Ok, my wife had a little surgery yesturday and while I was waiting I walked down and bought the new Flex.  In it there's an article about bench pressing and jay cutler says when he benches he stops about 3" from touching his chest with the bar, he claims this saves his shoulders and elbows. 

I really have not benched seriously in awhile so I'm wondering if the good of doing it this way outweighs the bad.  how much of that 3" space is really the pecs working?  Do you guys think this would really cut down alot on elbow and shoulder wear and tear, I've got bad shoulders and my elbow has been bothering me lately.

Discuss.

if you're trying to cut down on shoulder stresses from bench pressing stopping the bar short of touching your chest is a good idea keep it 2"-3" off your chest that should help.

[JPM]

Actually you might be causing more harm to the shoulder and elbow joints if halting a downward motion and than suddenly reversing the action upwards again. Compounding undo stress on the whole shoulder girdle.  If you don't want the full range of motion to touch  the pec's , than place a board or 4X4 (special straps for that) on the chest and lightly rebound when hitting the board/block.  Better choice would be to do benches in a power rack and set the pin's 3", or so, above the chest.

Of course partial ROM's are not similar to cheating. Shorter range benches  are not to be confused with any type of cheating. Good Luck.

[pumpster]

Of course partial ROM's are not similar to cheating. Shorter range benches  are not to be confused with any type of cheating. Good Luck.

Of course they are, for those who think outside of the box.

[Princess L]

This might be of interest.

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=895659

[trulytoned]

Actually you might be causing more harm to the shoulder and elbow joints if halting a downward motion and than suddenly reversing the action upwards again.

I agree that halting the downward motion then forcing it back up would seemingly be more stressful on the shoulders.

[GET_BIGGER]

I feel less strain on my joints doing dumbell presses......which is why I switched to them.

[Jr. Yates]

I feel less strain on my joints doing dumbell presses......which is why I switched to them.

dumbs is definatly the way to go. full stretch, full contration and your not locked into an un natural postion. I prefer them for shoulder presses as well.

[Sir Mixalot]

Try going all the way down and only up 4 inches. Your tris and delts dont get involved in the movement as much that way. This is how I built up my bench poundages and with heavy negatives.

[Carmello]

Hate to break it to you guys, but the range of motion is only half the battle. The perfect form to maximize the stress on the Pecs only, involves more than stopping 4''from the chest or not. First off, your grip should be wide. I know many guys in the gym that have complained to me about hurt triceps, or bum shoulders and it's because their packing the weight with a narrow grip placing much stress in the shoulder first, and the triceps second with minimal stress on the pecs. These are also the guys with the smallest chest. so keep your grip wider than shoulder width.

Second, keep your shoulder blades together on the bench, with an arch in your lower back, and feet flat on the floor, knees out comfortably. Don't make like a lat spread when you're on the bench, or you'll put the stress on the frontal delts.

Lastly, don't roll your wrists backward on the pressing motion. Keep 'em tight, and try to keep your knuckles almost facing the ceiling. I like to keep my thumbs out, but that's up to you.

As far as letting the bar touch your chest or not....do whatever u feel doesn't bother any joints,or tendons and pay close attention as to where u feel the pump after your set. If u don't feel it mostly in your chest, then make an adjustment on where u r stopping the bar at the bottom of the motion. With these rules of thumb, I feel about 90 percent of the stress, and pump in my pecs, and very little if any pump in the shoulders or arms. My chest is very tight, vascular, and well proportioned.

[king]

Hate to break it to you guys, but the range of motion is only half the battle. The perfect form to maximize the stress on the Pecs only, involves more than stopping 4''from the chest or not. First off, your grip should be wide. I know many guys in the gym that have complained to me about hurt triceps, or bum shoulders and it's because their packing the weight with a narrow grip placing much stress in the shoulder first, and the triceps second with minimal stress on the pecs. These are also the guys with the smallest chest. so keep your grip wider than shoulder width.

Second, keep your shoulder blades together on the bench, with an arch in your lower back, and feet flat on the floor, knees out comfortably. Don't make like a lat spread when you're on the bench, or you'll put the stress on the frontal delts.

Lastly, don't roll your wrists backward on the pressing motion. Keep 'em tight, and try to keep your knuckles almost facing the ceiling. I like to keep my thumbs out, but that's up to you.

As far as letting the bar touch your chest or not....do whatever u feel doesn't bother any joints,or tendons and pay close attention as to where u feel the pump after your set. If u don't feel it mostly in your chest, then make an adjustment on where u r stopping the bar at the bottom of the motion. With these rules of thumb, I feel about 90 percent of the stress, and pump in my pecs, and very little if any pump in the shoulders or arms. My chest is very tight, vascular, and well proportioned.

very good advice!

[Old_Rooster]

Ok, my wife had a little surgery yesturday and while I was waiting I walked down and bought the new Flex.  In it there's an article about bench pressing and jay cutler says when he benches he stops about 3" from touching his chest with the bar, he claims this saves his shoulders and elbows. 

I really have not benched seriously in awhile so I'm wondering if the good of doing it this way outweighs the bad.  how much of that 3" space is really the pecs working?  Do you guys think this would really cut down alot on elbow and shoulder wear and tear, I've got bad shoulders and my elbow has been bothering me lately.

Discuss.

Gunter's trainer had him begin doing the same thing, principal is it keeps the pec flexxed throughtout the rep.   Its how i've always benched.  Avoids the problem so many benchers fall into, bouncing the bar off the chest and thinking they really benched the weight they bounced.

[pumpster]

Hate to break it to you guys, but the range of motion is only half the battle. The perfect form to maximize the stress on the Pecs only, involves more than stopping 4''from the chest or not. First off, your grip should be wide. I know many guys in the gym that have complained to me about hurt triceps, or bum shoulders and it's because their packing the weight with a narrow grip placing much stress in the shoulder first, and the triceps second with minimal stress on the pecs. These are also the guys with the smallest chest. so keep your grip wider than shoulder width.

Second, keep your shoulder blades together on the bench, with an arch in your lower back, and feet flat on the floor, knees out comfortably. Don't make like a lat spread when you're on the bench, or you'll put the stress on the frontal delts.

Lastly, don't roll your wrists backward on the pressing motion. Keep 'em tight, and try to keep your knuckles almost facing the ceiling. I like to keep my thumbs out, but that's up to you.

As far as letting the bar touch your chest or not....do whatever u feel doesn't bother any joints,or tendons and pay close attention as to where u feel the pump after your set. If u don't feel it mostly in your chest, then make an adjustment on where u r stopping the bar at the bottom of the motion. With these rules of thumb, I feel about 90 percent of the stress, and pump in my pecs, and very little if any pump in the shoulders or arms. My chest is very tight, vascular, and well proportioned.

All good except the grip width. Sometimes medium grip will work the chest as well, with a lot less shoulder stress, just like medium-grip can sometimes work the lats as well or better on chins or pulldowns.

Just like ROM, this is an individual thing.