Bench, Elbows in or out?

[PfCgymrat]

I am considering changing my form to elbows in, I have read this in many articles, currently benching 410 or so w/o shirt. Just curious if anyone has any imput on this good or bad...

 

[IceShadow]

depends on what your looking to do. it is much harder on your shoulders to have a wide grip but it hits your chest much better. you seem to be doing ok, as long as you dont have shoulder pain, benching 410 is alot. your body will naturally put itself in its most comfortable position. get down and do a pushup and see where your hands go and that is where i would position my hands on the bar. hope that is helpful.

 

[PfCgymrat]

I"m looking to add weight to my bench i'm not satisfied with 410 and i do have shoulder pain but it comes with the territory. and i put my pinky's on the power rings

 

[brbb]

That is a hell of a raw bench! Tucking your elbows gets your tri's more involved in the lift and is generally recomended for shirt benchers. There are a couple of guys on my team who bench RAW. I will ask them what the advantages are from their side and post back in a day or two.

 

[IceShadow]

my shoulders used to hurt like shit until i started tucking my elbows in. you have to lift it farther but your triceps should take up the slack when they get used to the workload.

 

[PfCgymrat]

Well that is a raw lift but i will be using a shirt in meets, I have noticed most shirt benchers lift with their elbows in, and everything i have read from big benchers say elbows in.. Advice from raw and shirt benchers would be apprecitated thanks brotha

 

[fortunatesun]

I bench raw, but the principle's the same either way. First, your elbows are what provide support for the bar on the way down. You shouldn't be using your hands to manage the bar into place, but let your elbows act as the fulcrum to guide the bar down. Where your elbows end up is where the bar is going to be. So, when you bring the bar down, they should end up in a position that best supports the weight and be ready to drive the bar back up.

A shirted bencher may want to bring the bar down a bit lower than a raw bencher- that is more on his upper stomach than the top of his abs, though I'm not sure of the reasoning on this.

In any case, when they say tuck the elbow, it's really only a slight tuck Instead of flairing the elbows out, or hyper-extending them in (a sin I used to be guilty of when I first tried 'tucking them in') it should be a natural type of motion.

So you've taken the bar out, and let your elbows guide the bar on the correct path down. As they come down, you tuck them in by slightly rotating them in. It's a procedure that takes practise, your want them to end in a position to maximize your power: supporting the bar and ready to begin the drive up. Once the bar is halfway up, you begin rotating your elbows back out in order to support the bar into lockout.

When I warm-up, this is something I still practise with no weight on the bar. It's important to find that groove that's going to let all the component sof your bench to work together.

 

[Parabellum]

With a shirt I go out, in and out again.

 

[brbb]

Hey man,

I talked to a few of the guys on the team and the general consensus is that it takes a lot of the stress off your shoulders. One of them benches in both types of meets (raw 465 BP and equipped 570 BP) and said that he gets a lot more explosion off his chest with elbows tucked. I saw where you said in one of the later posts that you plan to use a shirt in the future. I would have to say based on this that it would be best to practice the same for both. I don't bench in any raw meets but my form is the same everytime I bench whether it is in a shirt or not. Hope all of this helps you out.

 

[SugarJay0126]

I point my elbows out for as long as I can. I find that when I reach failure like this, I am usually good for a couple more reps with my elbows tucked in, so basically I use this when it's time to "call in the reinforcements". -Jay