Benching: touch your chest or no?

hell yeah touch your chest with about a 1 second pause and youll fell the difference itll make you a helluva lot stronger than a half bench

 

Benching hits the chest the most in the bottom half of the movement. If you don't at least touch the chest, you're not getting the full work from the BP.

 

I think the idea is not to bounce it off your chest, or even rest it on your chest for that matter... which is what a lot of people are really doing, rather than a controlled "touch."

 

The idea is control. I see some guys bouncing it off their chest. Its more of a measurement on where to control your stop and ascend. You can definitely feel the difference.

 

Arnold says no bouncing! And no gloves you homos

 

Well yes, a pussy rest.

But on the other hand, if you pause at the end, its twice as hard to get it back up because all the elastic kinetic energy being stored in your spring loaded muscles dissipates. It's like starting the lift over, but working the chest first instead of the arms. Pausing for 2 seconds at the end forces maximum muscle fiber recruitment through explosiveness.

 

Right - I didn't mean not to pause, as long as the pause was controlled & you're still holding the weight. I mean the guys that literally set it down on their chest and take a little nap before sending it back up.

 

I never touch my chest when I bench. This is because I had hurt my rotator cuff when I was younger, and bringing you arms to a 90 degree angle greatly reduces the pressure on your shoulders. Just using a wide grip and going to 90 degrees works wonders for me, but then again it's just me

 

you should be going through your full range of motion whenever doing an exercise. so yes, you should touch your chest

 

I think that there is no doubt that to maximize the bench press exercise you need to have a controlled "touch" to the chest, sure. However I do not touch my chest, and here's why.

Touching the chest causes bulkier muscle to build in the pecs, which is something that most people want out of the exercise. However, I play baseball, where in fact it is actually detrimental to bench press and touch your chest, because the bulkier muscle is not beneficial for throwing, you need longer muscles to throw better, essentially. If you get too bulky, you can even lose the ability to throw completely effectively.

However I'd say for most people, a controlled touch is exactly what they need

 

As long as you don't overpush your muscles and strain them.

If you ask me, it doesnt make too much of a difference if you touch your chest while benchpressing or not. As long as you use good form and do not use momentum you'll be fine.

 

No touching

 

same. im naturally skinny too, my shoulders hurt if i go further then about 90 degrees. i messed my shoulders up a few years ago.

 

i ALL about stretching those muscles as far as they can go without hurting myself

bench all the way down. dumbell fly very low . cable chest pulls i also go far back huge.
pushups, i put a weight or hold dumbells in my arms to get the more stretch

the stretch is what gives me an advantage over those bulky motherfucker who look like they have no flexibilty.


to me being big is not everything. keeping my speed, endurance and flexibility is what keeps me above my 'competitors'

to note: when i increase my weight, go all the way down on the first few reps, then when i know i wont be able to keep going all the way down, i bring it down halfway or to a safe distance

 

You're actually not supposed to touch your chest (assuming that by touching you allow your chest to rest) with the bar for two reasons.

One, by not touching your chest, you maintain constant tension in the pecs and therefore work them harder.

Two, as someone mentioned above, it can place undue strain on your shoulders.

I used to "bounce" and would bench way more than I should've really been able to, now I stop the motion about 1/2 to a full inch above my chest and feel better workouts.

 

THIS. great advice

 

No resting the bar on your chest, as long as you keep control of the bar the whole way down I don't see why it shouldn't touch your chest.

I don't touch, but thats just me, because like other people have said, it strains my shoulders unneccesarily.

 

...I entered into a powerlifting competition in 2004 (in prison! LOL) ...I was in the 198lbs. weight class and took second place. squat= 445, deadlift= 495, bench press= 285 ...for a 1225 total. In the competition:

... on bench press day, they made us pause the bar on our chest .....until they say "UP!" ...your feet cannot move (must stay station) ....and your ass and shoulders must stay on the bench! ...your index finger must be on or inside of the rings....you can arch your back all you need, but you cannot come up slanting the bar too crooked.

...squat day, you can wear any support belt/squat suit (we didn't have the squat suits)...you can wrap your knees. You must go parallel ! ( the TOP of your leg along your quads must be parallel, which brings your ass below parallel ) ....you donot have to pause, but they will yell, "UP!" as soon as your quads are parallel. <<<< parallel is lower then most people realize, and most people were scratched because they didn't train below parallel....and you can't come up too slanted either in this lift.

...deadlift day, you can sumo, or standard lift. You can use straps along your wrist, elbows, knees. You can use a support belt around your weight (we didn't have the option of any deadlift suits)...and again you cannot come up slanting the bar too crooked.


...I didn't read all of this thread mind you, these were just some things I wasn't aware of walking into powerlifting, thought I'd spread the info. (if your considering competitions)

 

good lifts man

you still into powerlifting?