Incline Bench: Touch Chest? Grip Width?

Oh and I generally favor a wider grip as it hits the outermost pecs for good shoulder girdle width and I have long arms so anything short of shoulder width is flat out uncomfortable(maybe for tri’s occasionally but then I seriously cut the range of motion).

[quote]ebomb5522 wrote:

[quote]therajraj wrote:
How much difference does it make touching your chest vs stopping a couples inches short in terms of muscle growth?[/quote]

prob between 6-15 lb [/quote]

hahaha

[quote]ebomb5522 wrote:

[quote]therajraj wrote:
How much difference does it make touching your chest vs stopping a couples inches short in terms of muscle growth?[/quote]

prob between 6-15 lb [/quote]

I disrespectfully disagree. It is certainly closer to 4.5-14.75 lb. U forgot the wrist size correction factor.

[quote]kickureface wrote:
i’m extremely weak if i try to touch the chest; very unnatural. my forearms seem out of position, no longer vertical.

what is the proper way?

also, how far out should the grip be – wider than flats? tuck or flare?

thanks.[/quote]

One way to check out your personal ROM is to unload the movement and check your ROM (i.e. do the movement with an empty barbell or whatever and notice your ROM and when you start to feel your chest stretch)

[quote]deat wrote:
One way to check out your personal ROM is to unload the movement and check your ROM (i.e. do the movement with an empty barbell or whatever and notice your ROM and when you start to feel your chest stretch)[/quote]

hmm that’s a problem for me. i’ve made BB incline benching my primary chest movement for the last year or so and its hard to get a stretch is the upper pec unless im doing the guillotine press

on the other hand if i DB or BB bench first i get a huge pump/stretch in the mid/low pec

anyone got any suggestions?

[quote]MAF14 wrote:

[quote]deat wrote:
One way to check out your personal ROM is to unload the movement and check your ROM (i.e. do the movement with an empty barbell or whatever and notice your ROM and when you start to feel your chest stretch)[/quote]

hmm that’s a problem for me. i’ve made BB incline benching my primary chest movement for the last year or so and its hard to get a stretch is the upper pec unless im doing the guillotine press

on the other hand if i DB or BB bench first i get a huge pump/stretch in the mid/low pec

anyone got any suggestions?[/quote]

Try it on the smith machine

[quote]MAF14 wrote:

[quote]deat wrote:
One way to check out your personal ROM is to unload the movement and check your ROM (i.e. do the movement with an empty barbell or whatever and notice your ROM and when you start to feel your chest stretch)[/quote]

hmm that’s a problem for me. i’ve made BB incline benching my primary chest movement for the last year or so and its hard to get a stretch is the upper pec unless im doing the guillotine press

on the other hand if i DB or BB bench first i get a huge pump/stretch in the mid/low pec

anyone got any suggestions?[/quote]
have you tried a different angle or grip width?

[quote]spar4tee wrote:

[quote]MAF14 wrote:

[quote]deat wrote:
One way to check out your personal ROM is to unload the movement and check your ROM (i.e. do the movement with an empty barbell or whatever and notice your ROM and when you start to feel your chest stretch)[/quote]

hmm that’s a problem for me. i’ve made BB incline benching my primary chest movement for the last year or so and its hard to get a stretch is the upper pec unless im doing the guillotine press

on the other hand if i DB or BB bench first i get a huge pump/stretch in the mid/low pec

anyone got any suggestions?[/quote]
have you tried a different angle or grip width?[/quote]

yeah. wider i go more pec major. closer i go hits pec major (to a lesser degree) and lateral tri

[quote]zraw wrote:

[quote]MAF14 wrote:

[quote]deat wrote:
One way to check out your personal ROM is to unload the movement and check your ROM (i.e. do the movement with an empty barbell or whatever and notice your ROM and when you start to feel your chest stretch)[/quote]

hmm that’s a problem for me. i’ve made BB incline benching my primary chest movement for the last year or so and its hard to get a stretch is the upper pec unless im doing the guillotine press

on the other hand if i DB or BB bench first i get a huge pump/stretch in the mid/low pec

anyone got any suggestions?[/quote]

Try it on the smith machine[/quote]

faaack. my boy has been trying to convince me to try it out but i detest OUR shitty smith machines. its so hard to line up the bench evenly but i guess i’ll have to give it a try… thanks

[quote]deat wrote:

[quote]ebomb5522 wrote:

[quote]therajraj wrote:
How much difference does it make touching your chest vs stopping a couples inches short in terms of muscle growth?[/quote]

prob between 6-15 lb [/quote]

I disrespectfully disagree. It is certainly closer to 4.5-14.75 lb. U forgot the wrist size correction factor.
[/quote]

All kidding aside I always did my inclines like Mcgrath bringing the bar to my neck or clavicles because it was the only way I felt the movement in my upper pecs and used to hit it frequently due to lagging upper pecs. Over the years for whatever reason began to lose mobility and wound up with tendonitis and torn rotator and labrum and got surgery. Since then I can only bring bar down to somwhere around chin area and results are no where near as good as when I used full range of motion. Dumbells didn’t give me the proper stretch in the low position because of tendency for elbows to travel to the 45 degree angle.
My point is that in my case full range to the neck was best but be sure to work on mobility, muscle balance, etc so you don’t run into shoulder problems. And on a side note I feel absolutely nothing in my upper pecs from a smith no matter what angle, hand placement, bar placement etc.