Proper bench press form

[livewire57]

http://www.musclesurf.com/benchpress.html

If this is all true, i have been using completely the wrong benching form for the past year, which explains my huge front delts and smallish chest. What do you bros with big chests think about these rules?

[helium3]

how were you doing bench? i presume if you have built huge front delts you must be bringing the bar high up towards your neck?

[livewire57]

yea and my grip was way too narrow.. my forearms were never perpendicular to the ground during the bottom of my rep

[helium3]

yeah close grip can do that too ya! but close grip can be useful for reaching the inner chest gives a good stretch although a little tough on the tri's.

[stee]

yeah thats the proper form for a power lift. a guy i use to train with who competes told me to arch my back more to bring the sternem up nearer the bar, and press the bar from below your nipples, it makes the press easier because you dont have to lower it as far. but to make a full press in competition you need to hold the bar and maintain the form before you press it off your chest. which takes all the cheating out of it.

[mcpeepants]

How close do your arms need to be in a close grip bench to work your triceps. When I put my hands to close, I geta weird sensationon on my right wrist. To avoid this, I put my hands wider (12 inches or so) apart. Is the wider grip helping or should i do other tricep excersise.

[l2elapse]

i get that feeling my wirst sometiems too.. my wirsts doesnt bother me on other exercises

[stee]

How close do your arms need to be in a close grip bench to work your triceps. When I put my hands to close, I geta weird sensationon on my right wrist. To avoid this, I put my hands wider (12 inches or so) apart. Is the wider grip helping or should i do other tricep excersise.

i put mine shoulder width. and to vary the pressure some times ill move in closer or further out a cm or so.
you must remember that conventional bench presses are performed with your arms essentially at right angles to your body.
close grips arent so you will get some discomfort. i like to keep my hands just on the outside of my chest as i can get all the way down and my hands dont get in the way of the bar. maybe this is why your wrists hurt because they arent in natural alignment with the rest of your arms. try it so your first knuckles just brushes your nipple or in line with it. you shouldnt get too much trouble with it in that position so long as you keep your elbows by your side. not 90degree angles to your body, they will be pressing in a totally different direction to a conventional bench.

[nygsxr1000]

useful.........but a bit difficult to understand

[ascendant]

the form they give you is good on that site, but very restricted and not the optimal way to do it.

the two issues i see are this:
1) hand spacing - though they give a spacing that is supposed to be optimal for focusing on the chest, you need to vary your grip width to develop the inner/outer chest fully. the spacing they give should not be absolute and used every single chest workout. wider grips are for outer chest, closer grips for inner chest.
2) touching bar to chest - though they're trying to encourage a full range of motion here, touching the bar to your chest will limit your gains for one very big reason. if every time you come down on the rep the bar touches your chest, your subconscious will recognize the correlation between this exercise and the pressure against the chest, no matter how slight. what this does is makes the chest uncomfortable about expanding outward because of concern for additional pressure when that bar comes down to the point it normally does during the exercise. coming about 2 inches or so short of your chest allows it the space to feel more comforable growing, hence better gains in chest development.

[mcpeepants]

i'll try that out when i lift on monday. i also started doing headbangers and the ropes. do you know anyother tricep excersises i could add

[chest6]

Thats more of a powerlifting technique than bodybuilding, he said it wrong.

[Kal-El]

Ok reading that and doing wide grip and semi-close grip, I still have problems getting the upper/center of my chest to grow? Any ideas on that?

[boondockSAINT]

Ok reading that and doing wide grip and semi-close grip, I still have problems getting the upper/center of my chest to grow? Any ideas on that?

Well that link is more for power than for muscle growth. For the upper chest you should be doing inclines.

[digitalje5u5]

Best demo I have seen:

http://thefitshow.com/week3/milos_chest_med.htm

[digitalje5u5]

Also;
http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/anima...id=16&subId=36

&

http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/exercise1

[Panzerfaust]

Awesome video...i will definately put it to use, chest is my absolute worst body part by far, chest is the onoly day i wish i had a partner in the gym.

[Lavinco]

I like to put my feet on the bench and arch my back as hard as I can to complete my reps.

[Fletch3138]

That bench press video gave me some really good insight and answered alot of my questions with the growth and muscle development of my chest. Very nice!!