We’ve all heard statements like “long arms help make it harder to bench” or “short armed lifters can bench press more.”
But folks, there’s obviously much more to physics and leverage in lifting than that type of simplistic approach.
Bone length, length of muscle belly, placement of tendon attachment to bones, and more all have an effect on lifting prowess I would believe.
I’ve also read that lifters with long arms should take a wider grip.
Here’s my predicament. I can do a standing strict curl 150 lbs at 175lbs of bodyweight. I just performed a 135 lb strict curl in a powerlifting meet where the back had to stay against a wall. That was REALLY strict! No slight, natural swaying at all. I had never tried curling like that until I went to the meet and had to do it. But my bench is only 270 lbs (raw) and has increased very slowly since I was a teenager.
Is leverage responsible for my strong curl and relatively weak bench press? I have very long upper arms. I just tried some JM presses in my last workout (had never done them before) and they’re not too far off from my bench press poundages. With long upper arms would a narrower grip be better in terms of leverage? Sure, a super wide grip may shorten the distance of the press, but I think there may be more to it than that.
I saw a photo of Bill Seno bench pressing and he uses a fairly narrow grip. From what I could see, his upper arms appear to be rather long compared to his forearms.
As impressive as being able to curl bodyweight would be, I’d much rather get my bench into the low 300’s w/o gaining too much bodyweight.
yes - you are correct, how far the tendons insert down the length of the limb is also a factor that improves leverages. The closer to the joint the insertion and origin, the worse the leverage will be. The further away from the joint, the more the lever arm is effectively shortened. So it is somewhat of an overgeneralization that long-limbed lifter may have problems in certain lifts. But it is also generally true. Just not ALWAYS true.
Joe - I was at that meet as well, some people don’t realize Raw and Nasa include the curl as a possible event.
Leverages are complex but in general long arms suck in the bench. The normal suggestion is to start using a grip with your forearm perpendicular to the bar either at the bottom or at your sticking point and then adjust from there.
For the curl having long forearms would suck but having longer upper arms and shorter forearms would be okay, which it seems you might have. With the longer upper arm you might have luck driving your elbows forward as you curl to keep the fulcrum near the weight, not excessive but certainly don’t hold the elbows back. I have a bit of the same scenario and that seems to work for me.
Good luck with the lifting, hope to see you at another meet soon,
Tim
Sorry man, but that is pretty much all that there is to it.
This doesn’t mean that you can’t develope a good bench press, it just means it may not be your best lift.
It’s just my opinion, but if your JM press is close to your regular bench, you are using mostly tricep and front delt to move the bar. You may see some good improvements by using a wider grip to shorten the distance the bar is moving and develope more pectoral recruitment.
Another meet strategy is to play to your strengths. Do as well as you can in the bench press, but put more training emphasis on the squat and dead. You may be able to get 30-50 more lbs. on your bench, but you may also be able to get a few hundred on your total with a better squat and dead.
[quote]Airtruth wrote:
Welcome2TRME wrote:
Okay, I stand corrected. It just seemed funny, Curling at a Powerlifing meet.
My bad.
Does this mean I can finally do my curls in the squat rack?[/quote]
If you can curl plates for reps, then I doubt anyone is going to tell you to move. Just don’t be pissed when I’m using your preacher curl station for RDL’s. J/K.
[quote]Tim Henriques wrote:
Joe - I was at that meet as well, some people don’t realize Raw and Nasa include the curl as a possible event.
Leverages are complex but in general long arms suck in the bench. The normal suggestion is to start using a grip with your forearm perpendicular to the bar either at the bottom or at your sticking point and then adjust from there.
For the curl having long forearms would suck but having longer upper arms and shorter forearms would be okay, which it seems you might have. With the longer upper arm you might have luck driving your elbows forward as you curl to keep the fulcrum near the weight, not excessive but certainly don’t hold the elbows back. I have a bit of the same scenario and that seems to work for me.
Good luck with the lifting, hope to see you at another meet soon,
Tim[/quote]
Tim,
I’ll try that position in the bench. Thanks for the advice. I got good lat developement and a naturally wide lat spread when relaxed, but I have difficulty flaring my lats in a double bicep pose. I should try to push off my lats as much as possible in my bench since I bent row almost as much as I bench press.
Talent-you have some or a lot or you don’t
Technique-You can learn it and must in a shirt
Training Approach-To bench big raw or shirted takes a specific training approach.
It is doable if you decide it is a training priority.
[quote]Modi wrote:
Airtruth wrote:
Welcome2TRME wrote:
Okay, I stand corrected. It just seemed funny, Curling at a Powerlifing meet.
My bad.
Does this mean I can finally do my curls in the squat rack?
If you can curl plates for reps, then I doubt anyone is going to tell you to move. Just don’t be pissed when I’m using your preacher curl station for RDL’s. J/K.[/quote]
If I can curl plates for reps…sweet I can finally put the 2.5’s on the bar and do it up in the squat rack. Fuck I’m so happy I finally reached plates haha (jk)