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Db bench press

gtjacko

New member
basically i've started getting a bit of pain in my outer chest and front delt. I tried doing each rep with my palms facing each other the whole time, and this was loads more comfortable, no pain. I was wondering though, if using this grip hits the pecs as much as the regular palms forward grip?

cheers for the help
 
No, neutral grip DB will not hit your pecs as hard. They will help your bench and is one of the few DB press exercises the powerlifting guru Louie Simmons recommends. You will be able to use more weight usually, I personally attribute this to greater recruitment of the delts (that is where I feel it more with neutral grip). :bigbuck:
 
BlondBomber said:
No, neutral grip DB will not hit your pecs as hard. They will help your bench and is one of the few DB press exercises the powerlifting guru Louie Simmons recommends. You will be able to use more weight usually, I personally attribute this to greater recruitment of the delts (that is where I feel it more with neutral grip). :bigbuck:

well, do you think the fact that you can use more weight will compensate for the fact that it is not hitting your pecs as hard, in that a secondary muscle is being recruited to a greater degree? And do you think that in the long run using a neutral grip will result in muscle loss, or just the slowing down of muscle gains? trouble is with me i feel like im using my front delts too much as it is with a palms forward grip (i dont like bb press for this reason too) at least with dbs i can get a realy good contraction at the top! i guess i will just stick with the neutral grip for a while, and see what the results are!

cheers for the advise

ps has that louise simmons got much info on the net?
 
you won't get great contractions from any pressing, cuz the movement is not in isolation, if you want contraction for chest, do flyes and try to touch your wrists together.(you won't, but one you get proficient in doing this, you'll know what i mean.)
 
i have always done my flyes after my presses, but i have seen some guys superseting them together, what do you reckon?
 
A lot of people try and press with dumbells while holding them away from the side of the body. When you do this you place a lot of stress on the area you are talking about having pain at. Can you do a normal (palms facing feet) bench press with your hands in tighter to your body without pain? See if you can....you just may be stretching the pec/delt too much without realizing it.
 
sounds like good advise, i will give it a try and see if the pain in still there. what is a good guide line, ie should the inside plate be touching my shoulder at the botton of the lift, something like that, instead of out to the side?
 
Yeah, give that a try. Never do an exercises that causes you joint/tendon pain. Just keep the dumbells in tight to you body. Get the stretch on the pec from coming down with the weight, not away from the body. Remember, it is not a fly, it's a press. The pec/delt area is very sensitive to tears or strains. Find out what groove that you have that doesn't hurt and use that.
 
curgeo

do you agree that pressing with your palms facing each other through the whole lift isnt good enough for the chest, as this is the most comfortable for me?

cheers
 
how about pressing with your elbows at more of a 45 degree angle from your body instead of flaring the elbows completely out to the sides?

usually thats where people strain something. they tend to have weak rotators and try to lower too far down, you'll get way more ROM the smaller the angle of the upper arm away from the body.

ask a PL'er if they get enough "chest". its not a concern...but at the same time, you'd be hard pressed to find a good PL'er that doesnt have some solid development. just my opinion but the whole "elbows flared" thing has been perpetuated for far too long. its lead to tons of people swearing off BB bench press, and generally leads to a number of injuries because usually rotators arent taken care of...because they don't show in the mirror.

my $.02. take it or leave it.

:)
 
I would have to disagree with you bignate73. The form that powerlifiters utilizie while performing the bench press is good for two things: 1. strengthening the bench press motion, 2. developing the delts and triceps. It is true that if you ask most PLers that they will contend that they get enough chest work, but that is false. I once had a PLer tell me that floor press and board presses would hit my chest hard enough in response to an inquiry of mine into the fact that my chest being underdeveloped (this was at the time when I was PLing competitively). Also, most PLers have too high of a level of bodyfat to tell if they have good chest development, and the lean ones I have met normally have overdeveloped delts and triceps. Johhnie Jackson is one of the few PLers that I have ever seen that has good chest development, this is due in larger part to his old school non-Westside style of training. :bigbuck:
 
If you get pec stimulation from it, give it a shot....but make sure whatever you do doesn't hurt. Do inclines hurt your shoulder? Howabout fly movements. Make sure to experiment with different positions....you will know what activates your chest and what doesn't.

I am a powerlifter and I tend to agree with blonde. I was a bodybuilder for years so my chest development is pretty good, but most of us don't work our chest to improve our lift. I do work because I want to maintain a little chest mass and it helps when getting the explosion of the chest without a shirt. When I train my bench I mostly do an ME movement and 1 or 2 tricep exercises as this is the most important to get lockout.

I agree with Nate in the fact that a lot of PLifters have good chest development from what I have seen. You still get some pec stimulation, but not BB pec stim from pressing the way we do.

gt....usually when I press I have palms facing together and I do get a chest benefit from it, but again, you need to experiment with your own body to find out what works. Do a couple of different exercises to see what hits your chest the best. Just make sure to keep your elbows a little tighter to your body like Nate said. It's the rotation on your shoulders that is causing you pain. You might even try not coming so far down when you press. I don't touch my chest when doing incline barbell press, not because I am trying to shorten the ROM but because if I go any farther, it hurts too much.

I think when you press with your palms facing each other your elbows are tighter to your body and when you bench normally, you flair your elbows out....Am I correct?
 
here is how i understand things:

if you are weak off the chest ie: the beginning part of the ROM, you need to work your lats and chest more. more rowing, pullups, illegally wide bp, db press, palms facing, floor presses in some cases. this is how i understand it.

the further up your ROM that you are weak, the more delt and tricep you need to add in. more floor presses, board presses.

understanding the transition to dominance of each muscle group throughout the movement can help those that use this compound movement as a "chest builder" or whatnot. then that trainee can select exercises that are more specific. whoever told blondbomber that board presses would help his chest was misinformed. generally speaking board presses are great for lockout work, working with a shirt.

the next thing to consider is ROM of the humerus. here is the test, how much ROM do you have with an elbows flared BP? now tucking the elbows a bit how much more ROM do you have? maybe thats not the only argument to substantiate my claim, but then we have flexibility. most people who bench elbows wide can't touch their chest without shoulder pain, because the ant. delt is stretched so much. even less ROM and a potential red flag! so its a matter of possible "max" stimulation in the eyes of BB'er, with greater injury potential OR less stimulation, as its thought, and a more safe movement.

next argument: constant tension. constant tension is bunk as it relates to this movement. if you want constant tension do slow flyes. you'll get more ROM and thus more tension throughout this ROM. The point of a compound movement is progressive overload. you can progressively overload a group of muscles and also distribute it over multi joints. keep the constant tension stuff to isolation movements, that involve only one joint. you don't hear about people bragging on a PR on side raises, flyes, or leg extension. its not thier purpose.

So here is the choice:
bench safe, bench specific to the "weak" points you want to bring up (if its cosmetic, learn the mechanics of a bench press and find out what exercises you need to use to target that area), use isolation exercises as accessories. moderate rep flies as a follow up. just like a PL'er will do max effort work, which would seemingly fry their triceps, then do some moderate tricep work later in the workout or later in the week to keep improving.

just my take. its hard to apply PL'ing principles when the lift is performed differently. elbows flared makes the lift somewhat different to diagnose. but a slight change can improve safety, longevity and give you some means of "pinpointing" what you want to achieve from bench pressing without taking away from the effectiveness.

my $.02
 
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Cheers guys

seems like i've got a few options to try. I think the point about the elbows being flared out too much could have hit the nail on the head! i have always tried to keep my elbows staight out to the side as i thought this this was "perfect form", so you reckon alowing my elbows to come in a bit more to my body say at a 45 deg angle is perfectly OK as far as form is concerned?

as for doing inclines i have never felt the pain. Because i am able to see myself in the morror as i do the lift i make sure that i dont go too deep, my palms come down to my chin level. whereas doing the flat bech, and with the heavy sets i cant visually check on myself for how deep im going. The strain is on the left side only, maybe i went too deep, combined with elbows flared out, and there is a bit of a strain there.

ive got a ten day hol coming up for christmas, so i wont be touching any weights, that will give my body plenty of rest and when i come back i will make some alterations to my bench pressing movements.

thanks for the tips...............jacko
 
Damn good advice,I've been looking for a thread like this,my chest is lagging and my delts are huge,now I know why and how to correct.Thanks. :)
 
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