posted Fri, 08/23/2019 - 15:37
3617
Touch your chest or not?
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Hey All,
I am hoping to settle a dispute. I have a buddy that swears that proper for on a bench is to not touch the bar to your chest. I however, have had full range of motion drilled into my head for my entire life. Now I am not talking rest the bar on your chest think about the world's problems and then put it back up. I'm talking down and right back up. I understand where he is coming from, as if you just about touch say and inch above and back up would maintain more load on your muscle throughout the movement......... What are everyone's thoughts? Can't think of any better group to ask then here!
Thanks
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If you're trying to BB barbell bench is stupid when you have dumbbells imo. Just as stupid as me realizing this is a 6 yr old post and commenting on it....
If u have the genetics your chest will grow no matter what u do
Swoledad250You definitely don’t have to touch but I do bc I like the stretch
No need to touch as everyone has different levels of mobility. So expand pec muscles as far as you can and thats enough. With time work with mobility and you could touch the bar eventually.
Hey buddy, you're responding to posts that are old as hell. The op hasnt even logged on in 5 years. Doubt he's gonna see your reply.
True I just wanted to pass on the message maybe a new comer see the comment and learn something.
Which means someone like me has to chase your ass around the forums making sure you’re following the rules for stupid attaboy comments to old posts.
Hey I am sorry but I am little new and dint knew I am not suppose to comment on old posts and I apologize for that.
Holy moly i checked and 23-24hrs ago you commented on like 30 posts 2years old or older. Why!?
It's not that you're not supposed to, but nearly half of your posts had nothing of value to contribute. And, it pushes current conversations down the page and out of sight.
It's just bad etiquette in any forum.
Attaboy!
Bastard!
I’ll touch your chest
I'd bust on his chest!
I will drag my nuts across your forehead with every rep of bench you do
Now we are talking
I get best results if I control the movement and lower slowly to just above my chest without touching it hold for a second or 2 then slowly raise the bar and squeeze my pecs, time under tension is key and you touch chest your removing the tension. Now if I was about power lifting I would bounce it off my chest but that’s not my thing @press1 and @DeeMan are into powerlifting so I’m sure they have a particular form
As I'm sure you will already know mate, no Powerlifter is ever going to say its all about the mind/muscle connection - I can't imagine anyone thinking about squeezing the muscle and the pump when they are repping out with 180kg Plus. All you are concentrating on is how many reps you are gonna get Lol All us guys are concerned with is how much weight is on the bar, the number of reps we are gonna get and getting that barbell from point A to B. How a Powerlifter looks is of no concern to them, its an obsession with Strength pure and simple, hence why you will never see a Powerlifter calling out another powerlifter to take a picture with his top off Lol On the other hand Bodybuilding is totally different, all about feeling the weight and actually 'working' the muscle engorging it with blood, rather than just using it as a force production unit. Hence why you will see you guys do maybe another big compound exercise after normal bench and then sets of Isolation exercises. You don't develop power by 'working a mind/muscle connection - you develop it by progressively overloading over a number of months and manipulating rep ranges/weights. In all honesty I don't know how you can bounce a heavy weight off your chest anyway without injuring your rib cage, I think the limit you can bounce is about 275 and then after that you have to control it. Coming down too slowly and over emphasizing the negative is always how guys get pec tears, I've never seen anyone get a tear by bouncing it as effectively if you are bouncing the weight you are 'bumping' it through Dead mans land being the most difficult region up to 3 to 4" off your chest.
@stokes500 hope all is well with you and your family man. I appreciate the reference. Lol bouncing off the chest lol...man you'll mess around and tear your shit off doing that. Like you said, regardless if you're looking for power or to just build muscle, in my opinion and some may not agree, but you always have to concentrate on the muscle doing the work. Man honestly it's all about that mind- muscle connection. Arnold mastered that. When we lose focus and use sloppy form trying to satisfy our own ego or show off, that's when you enter Rip City territory. No one wants those problems. I've been fortunate. Anyways hopes that helps anyone. Take care
I enjoy working up to heaviest set, then dropping weight and concentrating on time under tension and squeezing to get as much blood into muscles as possible.
Depend on flexibility of your shoulders. Personally I no longer Touch Bar to chest as am not flexible and have had a few niggling shoulder problems. Always say slow negatives and powering up is best for growth.
I'm with him. My lack of flexibility I can't go to my chest without tearing something
I think touching your chest takes tension off your muscle and is not good for bodybuilding. Also how many people actually touch their chest without cheating and getting a Lil bounce. So i think it's better for hypertrophy to stop an inch above and only go up about half way to 3/4. Watch Jay cutlet, Ronnie Coleman, Kevin levrone, nick walker, samson dauda. They all stay in a small range of motion at the bottom and pump like a piston.
Now for strength and power i think touching your chest and pausing at the bottom far half a second to stop momentum so there's no bounce back or elastic rebound from the muscle, is best for powerlifting and strength.
I would love if we could post videos on here so i can post one of me repping 365lbs. Then I'd love for someone who can't even bench 316, but thinks they know everything about gear cuz they read on the internet all day too tell me I'm wrong. Lmao.
I honestly believe maybe 10, 15% tips and i think that's being generous actually really know how to workout on this forum. And it's obvious by the way they focus so much on the gear. But how often u hear anyone talk about actual workouts? Not often. Then also look at some people's pix, like they never lifted a finger or did a push up or any sport a day in their life. And they are all into doing gear. I don't agree with that. If u can't even bench your body weight 20 times don't touch juice. If u haven't been working out for 3 to 5 years don't touch juice. And don't be online trying to tell someone who physique size and strength which u have to take my word for on that what to do. Just cuz u read an remember more than me about steroids. Cuz i live in reality and in my reality results is what matters idgaf.
And i just scrolled through and see this post is old. Lmao and i just ranted and vented thank you.
@press1 u know i don't think this applies to u with all the shit i ask u. Lol
100% true though
Hypertrophy is accentuated by putting muscles in an elongated, stretched position so the deeper the stretch during benching, the better. And yeah man, tapping the chest has been the benchmark in my experience.
Exactly buddy, it would be like doing shoulder press and only coming down to your nose instead of your clavicles. Still I have seen some shocking form on bench and they still have the development of a Bull Lol Once saw Branch Warren inclining and man it was horrific, I doubt if he came halfway down but look at the guy Lmao
I can't go near me chest on incline.lol I get it
You do know this thread is 5 years old right?
Someone resurrected it lol
Steveblol , it is a very short way of answering
Lmao
One other thing. And the main reason I say you should be touching your chest if you’re going to be calling it a bench press.
Everyone is chiming in about not touching your chest if your goal is building muscle. If your goal is building muscle I don’t see the point in doing flat bench anyway. Incline barbell, flat dumbbell and weighted dips are much better overloading muscle builders than flat bench. If I was just trying to build muscle I’d prolly never flat bench.
At least not for chest. I’d do close grip for tris. And touch my chest (well, upper stomach really) or pause 1” above it.
This is great info. I already do these with the flat. So would you say that I should axe the flat bench altogether? Summer is over and it's time to eat and hit it hard. Time to chase some new goals.
jayiskSmart move. Should always have goal/program to follow with training. See way too many people do the same shit in the gym yr after yr. And they just look the same, never make any improvements and also never get any stronger.
Yes, nutrition and rest is where the growth take place but you need to breakdown those muscle fibers training hard in the gym.
Agreed
Agreed I rarely do flat barbell bench anymore, incline barbell is much more effective at building my chest. However I use the same principal on incline keeping the bar an inch or two from touching top of my chest
When I was young I had Gyno and was touching my chest all the time.
...I was lonely then, so very lonely.
LMFAO!!! The King of Drole ....
This gem of a comment deserves to be resurrected if this thread does, LOL!
If you're looking to maximize hypertrophy, keeping the muscle under constant tension during the exercise is key. I keep the bar about 2 inches from touching my chest during bench to maintain the tension on the pecs and avoid any overuse of the anterior delts. I kill my shoulders on another day no need to on chest day.
IMO it is really depends on how you been training and what’s your goal is
If you let the bar touch your chest your shoulders will take over and your engaging more muscle not focusing completely on your chest I’m one of the guys who let the bar hit the chest 2 inches to 3 inches before the bar hit your chest is good
This is just my opinion
The answer to this depends on where your elbows are. If you can hit your chest without your elbows going below your shoulder, great. If you can’t and elbows go below shoulder, great risk of tearing pecs based on the pecs origin.
Jay gave you the best answer you’re gonna get.
But don’t walk around saying you rep 315 if you’re not touching your chest. That’s you repping 315 on the spotto press, not bench press.
Full way down to touch the chest and back up. If I go for a max and failed to touch I simply will not count it and don't kid myself in anyway that I got it. The hardest part in the lift is at the chest as this is where you are in terms of leverages your weakest, so creating as much speed and power from this point takes skill and timing to then be able to drive the bar through the midway sticking point between your shoulders and triceps.
It depends on your instincts, clearly you don't have to download the weight on your chest. However, you can use a small shot in the last repetitions if you don't have a spotter.
Do yourself a favor & look up videos of top pro bodybuilders doing chest. You will be hard pressed to find anyone that does full range barbell bench where the bar touches the chest before being pressed up. Most if not all stop the bar right before touching before driving it up. While bodybuilders attempting to build maximum muscles while still remaining relatively safe (as pec , tri, & bi tears are all too common) keeping constant tension on the muscle keeps the body in the safest position while still getting quality range of motion.
I don’t touch my focus is to keep all the work on the chest. But for each it on.
jayiskfor PL you need to do a paused bench press..the bar has to come to a complete stop on your chest.
there is touch and go. you touch you chest with the bar and continue to lock out.
there is bounce and go. this is when someone has too much weight on the bar and doesnt know what the fawk they are doing. they let the momentum of the bar bounce off their chest to try and make the lift. usually they stall and the mid way point then their ass comes off the bench and they try to turn it into a decline press or the spotter helps them and tells them "its all you bro"
Spoto press- this maybe what you are referring to. you purposely stop the bar short from touching your chest at all to keep constant tension on the lift. it is a specific exercise. google it...
I do all my reps controlled and methodically. I like to "feel the movement", so I know I'm hitting the muscle groups. From reading your reply and the others it seems that that there are 2 schools of thought on this. Now I'm wondering if I could squeeze out a few more lbs on my max if I don't touch.......hmmm.