Critique my DB Bench
darreneatschicken
Posts: 669 Member
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNEMcJ7ixBY&list=UUfp6G6JnSdF0XYP6MCVgOQA&index=2Replies
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I tuck in my shoulder blades back and down, causing chest to go up, but I still feel some stress in my bicep (shoulder joint?) area. Maybe going down a bit too low? I haven't really encompassed leg drive; prefer just to have feet firmly placed on the floor in a neutral position. One of my trainers once told me to have my feet way back, driving from the heels, but this feels like I'm arching through my lower back and not my thoracic extension. Maybe just need to foam roll thoracic extension more?0
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Dude, bring them lower.
Apart from that nothing much else to say
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little_simon wrote: »Dude, bring them lower.
Apart from that nothing much else to say
I feel like doing that will put more stress on my biceps area though.
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Use a more neutral grip (no need to hold it like your holding a barbell). Turn your hands slightly so your pinkies are closer to your body. Also if it's bothering your shoulder, than you either move your elbows closer to your body or lower the amount of weight you're using.
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I tuck in my shoulder blades back and down, causing chest to go up, but I still feel some stress in my bicep (shoulder joint?) area. Maybe going down a bit too low? I haven't really encompassed leg drive; prefer just to have feet firmly placed on the floor in a neutral position. One of my trainers once told me to have my feet way back, driving from the heels, but this feels like I'm arching through my lower back and not my thoracic extension. Maybe just need to foam roll thoracic extension more?
First, yell at the guy at 26 seconds. When I perform this exercise I like to keep my hands at a slight angle with my pinkies a little closer to my body, it makes the motion feel a little more natural. I would also tuck in your elbows a little closer to your body and go down a little lower.
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Touch the DBs to your chest, you're only doing half the exercise. You will probably need to lower the weight since this will be much harder.
Try not flaring your elbows as much either. Put them closer to a 45 degree angle to your torso, not 90 degrees straight out.0 -
Touch the DBs to your chest, you're only doing half the exercise. You will probably need to lower the weight since this will be much harder.
Try not flaring your elbows as much either. Put them closer to a 45 degree angle to your torso, not 90 degrees straight out.
This is one form incorrection that I think lend to my tear. Get those elbows closer to your body.
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first thing you got to do is go lower. biggest advantage of the dumbbell press IMO is that you can do full range of motion for the shoulder/pec.
If you can't bring them down as far as possible then press them back up, choose a lighter weight0 -
I wouldn't say 90 degrees is inherently wrong, but how close your elbows are to your body will effect how much stress different muscles take on.
The closer the elbows to the body, the more the triceps will take over0 -
Touch the DBs to your chest, you're only doing half the exercise. You will probably need to lower the weight since this will be much harder.
Try not flaring your elbows as much either. Put them closer to a 45 degree angle to your torso, not 90 degrees straight out.
I was going to say the same.
Work on the leg drive now also.
http://youtu.be/JVBUgvsMNtk 0 -
I agree with @little_simon bringing them lower won't increase stress on your biceps (which are a tertiary muscle group at best when benching, probably tied for third with your lats), but rather increase utilization of your chest muscles (Primary muscle group worked). Here's how it usually goes: when benching, the top half of the lift (arms straight to your elbows being bent at around 45 degrees), your primary muscle being worked is the tricep, chest is secondary. However, during the lower half of the lift, your primary muscle being worked is the pec, and tricep becomes secondary. Here's an article describing what I am talking about. http://bruteforcestrength.com/2013/12/overcoming-weaknesses-in-your-bench-press/0
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- Stabilize yourself with your legs and your core, you're shifting around way to much
- tuck your elbows a little bit more; I wouldn't say go full-on neutral grip but you're flared far too much
- use a weight you can manage better so it comes down to chest level and your can press with some force to lockoutI agree with @little_simon bringing them lower won't increase stress on your biceps (which are a tertiary muscle group at best when benching, probably tied for third with your lats), but rather increase utilization of your chest muscles (Primary muscle group worked).
Bench pressing is more like, Triceps, Chest, Delts, Lats, etc. Triceps are the prime movers of the bench press.
Edit: Actually some EMG studies display the deltoids as having the most activation. A lot is dependent upon grip-width.0 -
Ok guys sounds good. I'll tilt my hands a bit so that my palms are facing each other more. Doing this will assist me in tucking in my elbows, relieving the stress on my biceps, while at the same time, bringing more of my triceps into play. Also, I'll deload and practice with a lighter weight, so that I can go down further. I'll get up a new video ASAP.
So just to make sure. You guys want me to bench more like this, right?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9nf-QZeYWI 0 -
Ok guys sounds good. I'll tilt my hands a bit so that my palms are facing each other more. Doing this will assist me in tucking in my elbows, relieving the stress on my biceps, while at the same time, bringing more of my triceps into play. Also, I'll deload and practice with a lighter weight, so that I can go down further. I'll get up a new video ASAP.
So just to make sure. You guys want me to bench more like this, right?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9nf-QZeYWI
Yeah, Mark Bell is a smart and very strong individual to take advice from.0 -
Ok so I tried bench pressing like Mark Bell (with tucked in elbows, and thus, more tricep activation):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyxlQmNCb5o&index=1&list=UUfp6G6JnSdF0XYP6MCVgOQA 0 -
and then I made another video of me bench pressing like how I did at the top of this post (flared out elbows, more pec activation but less tricep activation), however this time, I went down lower with the dumbbells:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnYG7xAAvmo&index=2&list=UUfp6G6JnSdF0XYP6MCVgOQA 0 -
Yeah, Mark Bell is a smart and very strong individual to take advice from. [/quote]
yup, this ^
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and then I made another video of me bench pressing like how I did at the top of this post (flared out elbows, more pec activation but less tricep activation), however this time, I went down lower with the dumbbells:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnYG7xAAvmo&index=2&list=UUfp6G6JnSdF0XYP6MCVgOQA
Those look much better. The path is out a little farther on your left arm. Not uncommon just something to keep an eye on.
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so which form should I perform in the gym? should I bench like Mark Bell, with elbows tucked? or allow them to flare out? or should I do both? like if I want to focus on tris, I'll tuck my elbows in, and when I want to focus on pecs, I'll allow my elbows to flare? or is it only correct to bench like Mark Bell? people who don't, risk the chance of tearing their rotator cuffs?0
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so which form should I perform in the gym? should I bench like Mark Bell, with elbows tucked? or allow them to flare out? or should I do both? like if I want to focus on tris, I'll tuck my elbows in, and when I want to focus on pecs, I'll allow my elbows to flare? or is it only correct to bench like Mark Bell? people who don't, risk the chance of tearing their rotator cuffs?
I dont change my form to target a particular muscle. I find the position where I am the strongest to do that lift. For the bench press it is usually somewhere in the middle where pecs and tris are being engaged and neither is overpowering the other.
If I want to add extra pec work I would do something like chest flies. If I want to focus on tris I would do skull crushers or cable push downs. My tris get worked when I do overhead press, incline press and bench press so I rarely add additional work.0 -
so what do you think I should do?0
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so what do you think I should do?
Pick which one felt strongest for you. Somewhere between 90 and 45. Dumbbells allow for freedom of movement to turn your wrists to where you feel strongest. They allow for an arc in the lifting path also. Its a great lift.
Keeping wrist at a 90 and lifting in a straight path is like doing a barbell bench press. Which is also a good lift.
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so what do you think I should do?
Whatever you want.
Flaring your elbows completely is going to isolate your front delts and pecs a lot more and as a result will limit the weight you can use. (this is very similar to a pec fly)
Tucking your elbows all the way to your sides will isolate your triceps more and will limit the weight you can use (this is very similar to a close-grip bench press).
Tucking your elbows a bit but not all the way (in between the above two) ends up recruiting all the above muscles to an extent and will generally be the most powerful of the movements (max weight). But it won't hit any of the muscles super hard as they're all sharing the load.
So it basically depends on what you're looking to do. If you want to move maximal weight, use the method that you feel/are strongest at. If you want to isolate particular muscles (maybe to shore up a weakness or build extra mass in a certain area) then adjust accordingly.0 -
so in the video where I tuck my elbows in, is that in between the two?0
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