True bench for long arms?

[tredburn08]

Hi guys, recently we have aquired a couple people at the gym who are going on a 'from and technique' spill. I had one of them on my ass the other day telling me my bench form was not proper because i was not touching my chest.

I have a pretty decent wing span and as I have found in the past, coming all the way down to my chest often feels like it is stretching the muscle too far due to the fact that it is somewhat painful, so when doing my normal bench, I get within two inches of my chest, and my arms are still further to the floor than parallel to my body.

Is this possibly a flexibility problem that i need to work on with my chest or am I correct in thinking it is stretching towards injury?

[redz]

This is argued quite often, for competition you definitely go all the way down but outside that I think the reacreational lifter should only go as far as they feel comfortable. I feel your pain, I have 80" reach and know exactly what you mean. I usually leave a couple inches myself but not always.

[Bigd89]

Im 6'2. From middle finger to middle finger I have a 78' reach. I touch my chest every time I bench press.

[38jumper38]

be a pro men.

[tredburn08]

I wont ever be doing competition lifting, just lifting for size. My guess is the extra two inches is going to hurt me more than help me? and I am the same as you redz, 80" reach

[BgMc31]

84" wingspan here. But I'm a competitive lifter. I don't get why people won't go all the way down, I've never understood that. Living in Vegas, I've seen a ton of bodybuilders lift as well as strength athletes and all of them go all the way down when benching.

[crazy_rocks]

person at work who is also a personal trainer always says that going all the way down may place stress on the shoulders and there are people who get hurt for it.