Bench Press

obi604

So ive been going to gym for last 5/5 years and have plenty experience with weights so im not a novice
My question is on the bench press
My interest is muscle toning / definition
I have been on you tube looking at bench press form / technique videos. I went to the gym with my new found knowledge and now im totally confused

1st Question
Some say grab the bar as if you are stretching it out , in the same sentence they same do it as if breaking the bar, so they are kinda insinuating that both are the same. However , they are different motions, stretching the bar is one motion. doing as if breaking the bar is another motion

Which one should be used ? break or stretch

2nd Question

from lookin at you tube, I dont know where my elbows should be. Some lift the bar off the bench and then kinda twist their elblows in towards them so as to bring elbows close to body, others just lift off and dont do this elbow twist at all
What do you recommend ?

3rd Question

based on above answer, should the shoulder form be the same for flat bench press and incline bench press ?

4th question

Some of them lift the bar off and sort of bring it down well below their nipples, look like its gonna fall on to them : ) ( and these were big and toned lads !! ) Others just bring it down mid chest . any tips here ??


Thats about all for now

any help greatly appreciated

and and more tips would be very helpful - without getting too confusing and technical : )

squod

I reckon try keep your elbows close to your body. Also keep the bar accross your nipples. I'm a bugger for it. I bring the bar down lower on the chest and I have to 'travel' more with the weight.

You'll see some people 'arching', and bringing the bar down below the nipple while raising their backs off the bench. Arching has completely eluded me, another thing Squod can't do.

hardtrainer

I always grip the bar slightly wider than shoulder width and then keep my elbows out directly under the bar and bring the bar down to about nipple level like http://tinyurl.com/34w6jp

gottaluvlabs

I dont really know what to say about Q1 only if you can think like that your not benching enough. When you benching you just want to get it up if your aggresive like describing tryin to brake the bar you will lift more slow and staedy like strtching is ok but not for lifting weight.

Tuck your elbows in as this brings more lats and triceps into the movement which means more power.

By bringin the bar to the lowest part of the pec you are again incresing power distrubution from other muscles.

Also leg position is very important tuck the back and fully on the floor so you are very stable.

Use this stuff for flat benching it will increase power which will give bigger muscle but when your doin incline go slow and bring the bar to your upper pec with elbows wide to really directly work the muscle

NFH

When you say you've been going for 5/5 years, does this mean one year because 5/5 = 1 or do you mean 5.5 years, but then that is extremely exact

obi604

NFH

That shud be 4/5 years : ))

gottaluvlabs

Thanks for your reply and advice

Bringin the bar to lowest part of PEC feels like im going to lose control of it : )

So based on technique from these 2 links

1 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh3t6T-nqP0

2 = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRzK10X9 ... re=related



The techniques in 1 and 2 are very different

1 = big arch in back, bringing bar down to lower chest

2= fairly flat back, wide grip and bringing bar down to upper chest


Which one would you recommend ??

Inspector Coptoor

having a big arch and being able to use that big arch properly takes practice.
start with a small arch and increase it gradually.

arch the back,
pinch the lats and shoulder blades,
make sure the back of your head and your ass are on the bench nice and tight
feet flat on the floor,
fill your lungs with air,
bring the bar down to the highest point on your chest (which should be around the nipple line),
elbows tucked in,
pause on the chest,
explode up while keeping elbows tucked in
begin to exhale when the bar is gone about half way up.

that is the powerlifting way of benching recruiting as many muscles as possible which allow you to generate more power and move more weight. normal rep range would be 1-5

if you keep the elbows out with on the flat bench it will focus more on the middle chest (and triceps) and is more of a body building exercise which is normally done for 8-12 reps

obi604

Liam

Thanks for detailed reply

To be honest, I woudl be more in to the bodybuild type of body

So your technique below, could you change that for a "body build " type bench press if you could : )

Inspector Coptoor

obi604 wrote: »

Liam

Thanks for detailed reply

To be honest, I woudl be more in to the bodybuild type of body

So your technique below, could you change that for a "body build " type bench press if you could : )

I'll try:

to hit the middle chest in the flat bench

1. have a slight arch in the back, just enough that you can slip your hand under your back, (this engages the chest muscles more than if the back is flat).
2. have your feet flat on the floor
3. grip the Olympic Bar, line your two baby fingers up on the rings on the Bar. (try this at first and then experiment to see what you feel engages the chest most)
4. unrack the bar
5. bring the bar down slowly in line with your nipples and keep elbows out (not too wide tho, again you'll have to judge this yourself as everyone is different.)
6. as soon as you make contact with the chest push the bar back up to the starting position and repeat for 8-15 reps.

you could also do partial reps to keep tension on the chest at all times. this way you do the same as outlined above but you dont fully lock out the lift at the top. the key here is slow controlled reps that keep the chest muscles under tension for as long as possible.

hope this helps

obi604

thanks for the help Liam

gottaluvlabs

first one is very good it would prob be better if the guy wore a tight t shirt you would see the back poition IPF powerlifting law says your back and ass need to be on the bench the arc on the back will help. The first one technique is very good perfect really the second one isnt wrong its right too but you wont bench 200kg with it you rarley hear of a powerlifter with a pec tear with the second guy go too heavy the pec will prob tear some day. sorry no perfect answer really i do the first one myself

Hanley

gottaluvlabs wrote: »

you rarley hear of a powerlifter with a pec tear

Seriously?? I totally disagree.

TheCandystripes

why bother doing bench. use dumbells.

Hanley

TheCandystripes wrote: »

why bother doing bench.

Because it's a ridiculously effective all-round upper body strength and muscle builder?

And OP, if you want to build your chest, don't bench like Dave Tate says in that video. It's how I've benched for the last 3 years and I've no chest whatsoever. Bitch'n pair of tri's, but no chest!

obi604

HANLEY

thats exactly what im thinkin

As I said, Im loooking to define my muscle, I dont want to be a power lifter

So Dave Tates way may prove to be safer, but I dunno, that arch in the back and bringin the bar down low on your chest does not seem safe, it seesm to be mainly for tri's !! but what do I know : ))

squod

Hanley wrote: »

Because it's a ridiculously effective all-round upper body strength and muscle builder?

And OP, if you want to build your chest, don't bench like Dave Tate says in that video. It's how I've benched for the last 3 years and I've no chest whatsoever. Bitch'n pair of tri's, but no chest!

I gotta start doin' what you do so. I'm all chest, it's no fun. Also I get leg rub, sometimes I gotta put on cycling shorts just to do the weekly shop. Annoying!

Hanley

obi604 wrote: »

HANLEY

thats exactly what im thinkin

As I said, Im loooking to define my muscle, I dont want to be a power lifter

So Dave Tates way may prove to be safer, but I dunno, that arch in the back and bringin the bar down low on your chest does not seem safe, it seesm to be mainly for tri's !! but what do I know : ))

Seriously, ask anyone who knows me in person, I've NO chest. Like I've benched 140kg x4 using the technique Tate describes and it's done nothing for my chest. I'm working incline benches and flys now to try and bring it up.

At the other end of the spectrum, the topless guy in the vid you posted isn't going a great job either. The answer, as usual, lies somewhere in the middle!

squod wrote: »

I gotta start doin' what you do so. I'm all chest, it's no fun. Also I get leg rub, sometimes I gotta put on cycling shorts just to do the weekly shop. Annoying!

Haha that is a pain alright!!

gottaluvlabs

This is why there is no true answer both techniques are good but if you want big full pecs and power heres what you do..........

1 Flyes (on a slight incline just 5-6"will do) 5 sets 12 to 14 reps

This will fill the muscle with blood and as you get an intense stretch you will really work the muscle.

2 Bench press powerlifting style as your pecs are warmed up you can start heavy 5 sets 6 to 8 reps remember the bar should come to the line between your pecs and abdamon not the nipple you need to hold for 3 seconds and breath outon the way up never hold your breath i find keeping my head up forces my shoulders into the bench makin me more stable

3 Flat bench dumbell presses 4 set 10 reps

thats it really every few sessions try doin just the bar for 120-100-80 reps this is ****in torture but really works for growth and is great if your in a rush cos after 15mins your done

also try lighter weight bring the bar down as norm and explode out this works fast twitch fibers and is great for power

this is a good way to get strong and get good pecs

but its only my opinion

obi604

ALL OF YEE, thanks for all the help

so in summation, there are kinda 2 types of bench press ( correct me if im wrong )

1. the power lifter kind > dave tate job - really arched back, shoulders beat down, legs doing alot of work. bring bar down to very bottom of chest, on the way up bar takes path from very bottom of chest to towards your chin at lockout, so kinda like a curve if lookin from side angle . more triceps involved

2. the body build kind - wider grip than above, not as much arch on back, shoulders not so much beat in to bench , legs at 90 degrees. less triceps involved. bring bar down to mid chest and at top , its at mid chest too. so from side, kinda looks like straight up and down , less triceps involved

Inspector Coptoor

gottaluvlabs wrote: »

first one is very good it would prob be better if the guy wore a tight t shirt you would see the back poition IPF powerlifting law says your back and ass need to be on the bench the arc on the back will help. The first one technique is very good perfect really the second one isnt wrong its right too but you wont bench 200kg with it you rarley hear of a powerlifter with a pec tear with the second guy go too heavy the pec will prob tear some day. sorry no perfect answer really i do the first one myself

second way out lined is for bodybuilding training and hypertrophy.
you wouldnt be benching 200kg for reps of 8-15 with that technique unless you were a genetic freak.

Inspector Coptoor

obi604 wrote: »

ALL OF YEE, thanks for all the help

so in summation, there are kinda 2 types of bench press ( correct me if im wrong )

1. the power lifter kind > dave tate job - really arched back, shoulders beat down, legs doing alot of work. bring bar down to very bottom of chest, on the way up bar takes path from very bottom of chest to towards your chin at lockout, so kinda like a curve if lookin from side angle . more triceps involved

2. the body build kind - wider grip than above, not as much arch on back, shoulders not so much beat in to bench , legs at 90 degrees. less triceps involved. bring bar down to mid chest and at top , its at mid chest too. so from side, kinda looks like straight up and down , less triceps involved

that's pretty much it in a very black and white sort of way.
everybody has different body compositions so they'll bench a little differently making it more of a grey area.

It can depend on factors like:
which muscle group is stronger? triceps or precs
if you;re tricep dominant, you'll use a narrower grip, pec dominant and the grip will be wider.

it depends on how long someone's arms are. Arm length will play a role in how wide your grip is AND if you;re arms are really long, you'll have to move the bar through a greater range of motion.

it can even depend on how big your belly is. A lot of very heavy powerlifters do belly benching where their bellies come up higher than their chests so they lower the bar to highest point which is their ned kelly.
smaller lifters would lower it to the chest because that would normally be the highest point when the body is in the bench press position.

tbh OP, if you're looking to build a big chest, you need to develop the three main parts of the chest, upper, middle and lower using incline, flat and decline variations of BB benching, DB benching, DB flies,

If you're fairly big (over 90kg or so) maybe even include cable cross overs (which are really only for definiton for guys who ALREADY have big chests).