DB Press

Recently (after my shoulder injury) I’ve changed the hand positioning on my DB presses. I now maintain about a 20 degree inward twist, and also bring the DB’s in closer to my body and lower on my chest rather than far out. I was criticized yesterday by a personal trainer saying I should go lighter (I was doing 100 lbs per arm) and go wider to work the chest, and keep the DB’s straight.

Does the PT have a point? Am I cheating myself? My goal is functional strength, more than size.

It sounds like he doesn’t know what the fuck he’s talking about. Firstly, if you’re looking for “functional strength” primarily, you’re going to want to train the movement rather than the muscle. And the elbows tucked variation mimicks closer to real life movements. Think of a football player pushing another. The don’t keep the elbows to the sides, the keep them in towards the body.

And also, the elbows flared version is more likely to be dangerous for your shoulder health than the tucked variation. So don’t worry about the trainer.

-MAtt

[quote]Matgic wrote:
It sounds like he doesn’t know what the fuck he’s talking about. Firstly, if you’re looking for “functional strength” primarily, you’re going to want to train the movement rather than the muscle. And the elbows tucked variation mimicks closer to real life movements. Think of a football player pushing another. The don’t keep the elbows to the sides, the keep them in towards the body.

And also, the elbows flared version is more likely to be dangerous for your shoulder health than the tucked variation. So don’t worry about the trainer.

-MAtt[/quote]

Matt’s %100 correct. The more flare, the greater risk of shoulder problems is a good rule of thumb.

The trainer is actually somewhat correct, though, since wider flare will put more stress on the pec. He just had no business recommending that given your goals and history.

-Dan

He should’ve found what your goals are before offering advice.

I think you are using the right technique for what you want to do.