2012年5月6日星期日

Bench Press - Proper Mechanics

I think the bench press is probably one of the most overused and frequently talked about exercise in the entire fitness world. Undoubtedly, when you are talking about training with someone, you are asked "how much you can bench" and it's not just bro bodybuilders that do this type of nonsense, but it is also experienced lifters as well.
Bench pressing is a fun and useful exercise. It is useful because it teaches your body how to push an object away from you and increases your ability to do so. The problem with most peoples bench press is - they are doing it wrong.
Unless someone knowledgeable or an experienced coach has sat down with you and and showed you the proper mechanics of a compound movement, then most likely your form may need minor adjustments. I don't care how long you've been lifting or how much you can lift; if you weren't taught how, it usually doesn't come naturally.
The biggest issue I see with the bench press technique is the elbows placement during the exercise. The elbows far too often are flared out by weightlifters and this can often occur either naturally, or because the lifter has been give improper advice by a magazine enthusiast. Understanding body mechanist means to first under anatomy and physiology.
During the bench press, your elbows should be tucked and you should be pressing upward with the forearm and upper arm at a 90 degree - right angle. If you flare your shoulders out, you are doing it wrong. The further the perpendicular distance from the elbow and the chest, the more the upward force must be initiated from the shoulder. This is bad because it puts unnecessary stress on the rotator cuff and acronym and is not the way the shoulder was designed to move.
There is a particular activity I always show someone when I am teaching them how to bench press. Take your elbow and flare it out and hold it up while standing, now try to pull it back like you are going to row something. Notice you didn't make it far? What stopped you from continuing was your acronym coming in contact with your rotator cuff. That is because the shoulder is not spherically symmetrical; it is a ball in socket joint. The shoulder moves more efficiently in the plane of the motion parallel to the body, not perpendicular.
I now ask that you tuck your elbows and pull your elbow back as far as you could go. Depending upon your flexibility, your humerus (upper arm bone) shoulder have almost reaches parallel to the ground. This was the way your shoulder was designed to move. Your triceps take some of the stress from your shoulders during a bench press and this should be a fact that you take complete advantage of for the sake of your shoulders!

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