Bench Press for Knuckle Draggers

[juanderlei]

Do you go all the way down with the dumbells, or do you stop those at 90 degrees also?

I don't disagree that there is more tension on the shoulder at the bottom few inches of the movement, but I think there's a difference between more tension on the shoulder and increased risk of injury. And yes there is a significant stretch going on at that portion, but stretch is required for maximal contraction. All movements have strong and weak points and mechanically advantageous and unadvantageous positions. I don't think that the shoulder being in a mechanically unadvantageous position is a good excuse to not do the movement.

On the other hand, the detail we haven't discussed here is grip width. Most sources seem to agree that benching with a wide grip and/or with excessive flare of the elbows actually increases the risk of shoulder injury, despite being mechanically advantageous overall in the sense that a wide grip allows you to bench more weight (and usually emphasize the chest more). In your specific case, I think putting a blanket statement that people with long arms can't bench to their chest because it's very risky, is highly dependent on grip width. Even if your arms are extremely long relative to your torso (which is all that matters, not the absolute length, just the ratio) you can probably still bench to your chest comfortably with a close grip (which I'm defining as hands being as close to the smooth part as possibly, while still being on the knurling).

Getting back on track to your initial questions, I think this quote by you is important:

"I have used bands, etc. with no problem, and I've never had any serious issues as a result of "full range of motion benching", but then again I've never really benched in that manner, except for a few competitions I've entered in the past."

I don't think there's any 100% need to bench to your chest, unless you are powerlifting. That said, you are essentially looking for ways to increase your chest growth so obviously you want to change something in what you're doing for chest. Based on what you said, I don't see any reason not to at least try full range benching for 6-8 weeks and closely monitor the results. If it doesn't help then don't do it anymore if you don't like it. If you're a bit leary, you could either use one of the accommodating resistance methods I listed earlier, or start off benching with a close or close/medium grip. I really think you are overblowing the chance of injury though. Many people bench to their chest often with no problems. Again, most problems seem to stem from using very wide grips. Even if you were going to have a problem, it's not so precarious that you're all of a sudden going to just rip your anterior delt out of the blue because of it. There will most likely be many warning signs before anything serious happens.

If you do decide to do it, I'd advise you to take it slow, since you are probably quite a bit weaker in the bottom ROM given that you don't train it.

Cato -

Thanks for providing such a detailed reply, I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to do so.

I will try benching with full range for the next 8 weeks and see how it goes. In the past I have required physical therapy for rotator cuff issues, which was not a result of bench press. Guess I probably should've provided that tidbit a little sooner...

Thanks again for the reply Bro!