The Myth About Flat Bench is True

[The_Hammer]

For years I've always done flat bench and I've never had an discomfort or injuries from it.

For years I've seen people write how it's dangerous; even the great Dorian Yates says it's a bad exercise.

Finally last week I injured myself doing this movement, with only 225 lbs.  I thought it was a freak accident, and this week my shoulder has felt fine, until I did flat bench again.  I've done shoulder presses with 300 lbs the other day, and no pain at all, but 145 lbs on the flat bench cripples my shoulder.

It's only that exercise that causes the pain, therefore I believe the myth that flat bench is bad.

Heed this advice for you natural lifters.

[haider]

maybe you are not meant to have big, juicy, hard pecs bro

[Nails]

[El Diablo Blanco]

You need a weighted push up machine. Scroll down to Falcone's thread.

[Dr Dutch]

I had a terrible cuff injury from the flat barbell bench. Took me 6 months and I swore never to flat bb bench again. But I couldn't help it and I started again.
Still bad idea....

[Coach is Back!]

It's a myth. Joint stability before primary movers. Possibly doing it the wrong way that causes more stress on the joint and connective tissue. Overuse.

[Mawse]

Lern2bench

[cswol]

flat bench is an over rated exercise and many spend too much time and waste energy during their chest routine doing countless sets of bench press

[Irongrip400]

I was benching back in college, and I was repping with 315, and all of a sudden I had a weird pain in my armpit. I rested for a few minutes, then loaded anothe 20 lbs on to do my next set and couldn't press it once without getting help. I knew something was wrong. I didnt do chest for a few weeks after that, and when I did, flat and decline bench made that tendon in my armpit uncomfortable, but incline and shoulder press did not. It took a long time to heal, and every time I start getting heavy on bench for a while, it feels funky and I have to back it down. I believe it came from ego lifting. I hadn't worked out all summer, started juicing, and went from 275 for sets of eight to 315 for ten over a period of a few weeks(muscle memory, had benched like that before)

[bradistani]

warm up the rotators properly is crucial .

[Dr Dutch]

warm up the rotators properly is crucial .

No matter how I warm up or watch my form, I feel the flat bb bench in my shoulders, and my front delts get the most sore. With db bench my pecs get way more sore.

[mesmorph78]

flat bench is an over rated exercise and many spend too much time and waste energy during their chest routine doing countless sets of bench press

its amazing how many sets guys dedicate to bench.... and how hard they will try to go heavy on this excercise
ive gone in to the gym finish an entire workout and the guys i walked in on doing bench press was still doing bench press pulling the bar off each  other.... these sme guys never put that kind of work into deads or squats...

[bradistani]

No matter how I warm up or watch my form, I feel the flat bb bench in my shoulders, and my front delts get the most sore. With db bench my pecs get way more sore.

decline bench..

[Dr Dutch]

decline bench..

Don't want droopy boobs....

[EatYouForBreakfast]

It's called taking care of yourself. any excercise can be overdone, cause tense muscles, tight tendons and whatever else. take the proper care before and after and makesure you can be free and mobile to avoid injuries. if the shoulder is sore and nagging, maybe start by treating it to a massage to loosen up the tissues pulling on the muscle and causing pain. worked for me along with stretches and home remedies to help fix beat up tissues.

[deadz]

For years I've always done flat bench and I've never had an discomfort or injuries from it.

For years I've seen people write how it's dangerous; even the great Dorian Yates says it's a bad exercise.

Finally last week I injured myself doing this movement, with only 225 lbs.  I thought it was a freak accident, and this week my shoulder has felt fine, until I did flat bench again.  I've done shoulder presses with 300 lbs the other day, and no pain at all, but 145 lbs on the flat bench cripples my shoulder.

It's only that exercise that causes the pain, therefore I believe the myth that flat bench is bad.

Heed this advice for you natural lifters.

225lbs, LOL

[mesmorph78]

No matter how I warm up or watch my form, I feel the flat bb bench in my shoulders, and my front delts get the most sore. With db bench my pecs get way more sore.

this dumbells i feel hit the chest better.... by far

[funk51]

For years I've always done flat bench and I've never had an discomfort or injuries from it.

For years I've seen people write how it's dangerous; even the great Dorian Yates says it's a bad exercise.

Finally last week I injured myself doing this movement, with only 225 lbs.  I thought it was a freak accident, and this week my shoulder has felt fine, until I did flat bench again.  I've done shoulder presses with 300 lbs the other day, and no pain at all, but 145 lbs on the flat bench cripples my shoulder.

It's only that exercise that causes the pain, therefore I believe the myth that flat bench is bad.

Heed this advice for you natural lifters.

try  this bench , i severly[is there any other way] dislocated my shoulder and bought this bench and now bench in greater comfort, safety and rom than before.

[oldtimer1]

Using dumbbells for flat benches now. It really seems to hit the chest better. If you can't find heavy enough dumbbells try going really low. It seems when it comes to dumbbell benches most guys short stroke the movement so they can grab the biggest dumbbells in the gym.

[disco_stu]

for a start, DBs dont offer you greater range of movement than barbell. If you draw a line between your hands in the DB press u will notice that you dont go as deep.

secondly, depth in the flat press doesnt contribute to pec size. The last bottom third of the rep is mechanically disadvantageous and a shoulder wrecker.

The top 1/5th of the rep is also bad for the shoulders.

that leaves a small portion where its useful. The hammer strength machine is good as it lifts the resistance thruogh the upright plane for the portion of the rep that is useful. For both the bottom and top of the range, the weights are moving less against gravity.

The best pec exercises are machine or cable flyes. They are the only exercise that replicates what the pec does completely. Dumb bell flyes are good also, but again the top and bottom of the range is useless.

For shoulder issues, its more that the bar restricts the proper, natural arc of motion. Plus its overuse and ego lifting. All that equals shoulder damage.

I recommend to anyone to just not train shoulders as a result. They get plenty of work from back and chest, and you either have them or you dont. Once they are gone, so are your plans of becoming huge.

speaking from experience.

[cross-of-iron]

It's a myth. Joint stability before primary movers. Possibly doing it the wrong way that causes more stress on the joint and connective tissue. Overuse.

x2

I do flat bench work twice a week. Most people I see in the gym don't know how to bench. Incorrect setup, elbows flared, bar path etc. They dont even know how to unrack the bar, they press it out of the j hooks instead of pulling it out.

[Arnold jr]

For years I've always done flat bench and I've never had an discomfort or injuries from it.

For years I've seen people write how it's dangerous; even the great Dorian Yates says it's a bad exercise.

Finally last week I injured myself doing this movement, with only 225 lbs.  I thought it was a freak accident, and this week my shoulder has felt fine, until I did flat bench again.  I've done shoulder presses with 300 lbs the other day, and no pain at all, but 145 lbs on the flat bench cripples my shoulder.

It's only that exercise that causes the pain, therefore I believe the myth that flat bench is bad.

Heed this advice for you natural lifters.

Natural or not it's a bad lift...as is the Hammer Strength Incline Machine.

[Natural Man]

[wes]

Smith Inclines
Dumbell Inclines
Flyes


Thank me later!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

[Natural Man]