I was reading a Tate article about proper benching tech. He discussed where the bar should touch the torso (with strong emphasis to keep the elbows-in so there is a straightline from elbow to grip). Thus, he says most lifters will touch their lower chest or upper abs with the bar…well, I have long arms and the bar would touch in my bellybutton area. That must be wrong?
I generally do dumbell chest press with elbows slightly out because it feels better on my shoulders AND feels more like a compound exercise - I feel my chest, shoulders, triceps, and forearms working together. With barbell bench press, I mostly feel the lift in my anterior delts.
Please comment on why this is the case and if I can continue using dumbells for bench as my main compound chest exercise.
[quote]BoratG wrote:
Thus, he says most lifters will touch their lower chest or upper abs with the bar…well, I have long arms and the bar would touch in my bellybutton area. That must be wrong?
[/quote]
WHAT?!??! I have to see this. Please post a video of you bench pressing to your belly button.
…well, I have long arms and the bar would touch in my bellybutton area. That must be wrong?
…With barbell bench press, I mostly feel the lift in my anterior delts.
[/quote]
Obviously not CT, but I also have long monkey arms and have had similar issues in the past.
How wide is your grip? If I have a close grip (index fingers on the smooth part of the bar) my press hits around my navel. But if I move out to a wide grip (middle finger on the rings) the bar comes to my lower chest. The wider grip forces your arms out wider, which raises how high the bar comes. You still need to concentrate on tucking your elbows
Barbell bench does hit your delts heavily. Pull your shoulder blades down & back during your setup, and that should help a bit.
Go watch the “So you think you can bench” video series, it should explain things quite well.