Do you touch the bar to your chest when you bench?

[Halo]

I do now because I'm PL'ng

 

[lymbo]

my chest touchs the bar only when i sit at one...LOl could resist

 

[hawkeye]

I do. Not only am I a powerlifter, but I think there is some type of CNS connection with the weight and your body and how it react. I get the constant tension theory for bodybuilders, but I think it's important for your chest to feel the weight on your chest and etc....practice as you play.

 

[M-Rods]

With chest, before i even pull the bar off, I make sure my shoulders a back, then i always move the bar slow and controlled coming down to about 1/2 in above my chest. I find if i bring it all the way down, i relax the muscles, then use to much shoulder for the push back up.

^^^Same here, I'm trying to build my chest on fried shoulders as well.

 

[M-Rods]

my chest touchs the bar only when i sit at one...LOl could resist

Baaaaaaaaaaaaam

 

[deadweight]

touch and go..i do alot of pause reps too.the bench press was made to touch your chess and go...Those of u that dont go back to the basics 101 and in chaper one called mastering the bench press it will tell u that touch and go is the correct way to perform the lift.dw

 

[69nites]

touch and go..i do alot of pause reps too.the bench press was made to touch your chess and go...Those of u that dont go back to the basics 101 and in chaper one called mastering the bench press it will tell u that touch and go is the correct way to perform the lift.dw

Yeah I normally touch and go. Pause for the last rep.

 

[prime]

I've always touched but half the guys in the gym don't.

 

[MAYO]

I touch it when I mutha ****ing feel like it...and when I don't, I don't. Bitch.

 

[graniteman]

I use to touch my chest with the bar but then found for myself that it was very counter productive. I'm a taller guy with long limbs and touching my chest would activiate my front delts which have always over powered my chest. This would take tension away from my chest which is obviously the opposite of what we are looking for in regards to time-under-tension (TUT) for the muscle we are trying to target. I now stop 2-3 inches short which keeps the tension on my chest and never push to full lockout which again, will only take the tension off your chest and put more stress on your rotator cuffs and elbows.

They both have their use, keeping tension and exploding off your chest. don't like the 'bouncing ' tech, just lower your weight or get spotters. If you're gettin pain in your rotator cuffs sounds like you're flarin your elbows out too much. jus my 2 cent

 

[J-dub]

They both have their use, keeping tension and exploding off your chest. don't like the 'bouncing ' tech, just lower your weight or get spotters. If you're gettin pain in your rotator cuffs sounds like you're flarin your elbows out too much. jus my 2 cent

^^^Yup!^^^ You can kind of tell the guys who don't know how to bench just by reading this post. Tucking your elbows and recruiting your lats relieves a lot of that pressure on the shoulders. I bet the guys who say they can't go past 90 are completely flared out to the sides.

 

[Rein]

I think this is a very personal/comfortable choice. For me, I find that the lower down I go with the barbell, the more it works my front delts. So much so that it inhibits my bench workout. For this reason, if I'm doing a barbell bench, I'll go just a tiny bit past paralell with the elbows. I'd rather work the front delts individually than while I'm working chest. If I rely too much on the front delts to push the weight, the less my chest benefits.

For you guys, this mostly will depend on the size of your chest. If you're a beast, touching your chest may only be just past parallel.

This ^^^^^^^^