How far down do you go when doing presses?

[rivered]

I see people who barely lower the bar and some who lower dumbbells below their chest, I was just wondering what the benifits are from doing it different ways.

 

[rmbX66t1]

I see people who barely lower the bar and some who lower dumbbells below their chest, I was just wondering what the benifits are from doing it different ways.

I always drive well past my chest to get a full range of motion and complete contraction. Then, I see pros who barely bend their elbows. I'm not sure which truly serves the greater purpose, I just stick to what scientifically makes sense.

 

[stephenj37826]

I believe that going low will eventually injure your shoulders. I used to but I've made just as much progress doing 2/3 a rep. I also have stopped locking out. I keep tension on the chest the whole set. I'm making faster gains this way personally.

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[btech]

Down all the way.

For me, each rep begins and ends with the barbell resting in a rack position (upper chest/clavicles).

My grip is thumbless and is right where the knurling meets the smooth part of the bar. Going wider would be for those who don't go down as far.

 

[Bull_Nuts]

with dumbbells just below but with barbell i stop 1 inch from chest

 

[BEASTZ6]

I go with about two-thirds motion. Not going down all the way, and not locking out.

 

[alaski]

old shoulders

About as far my old shoulders will let me go, which is not all the way down for sure.

 

[Daniel11]

Close to but not touching the chest as much as possible. Always below my chin though.

 

[heavyhitter]

i stop 3 or 4 inches short of the chest. any lower hurts my shoulders

 

[Incognito1]

IMO it all depends on what part of the chest you are trying to activate. I change the depth and angle of press to suit what part of chest I am focusing on.
Going all the way down can be good but it can also bring alot of shoulders in to the press and this can be counter productive for your chest. I also like to do tris prior to chest to exhaust my tris, so that there is minimal assistance on the chest press from them.

 

[ManoftheWorld]

little confused by the topic since some guys are mentioning db which allow you go beyond just chest for added stretch but in regards to bb fuck ya I touch chest... although I touch a cpl inches below my nipple parallel line an have my hand width just a tad bit wider than shoulder width to allow for the bar to go down with my arms just below parallel... I get good stretch of chest and good extension of my tri's for an overall good ROM to work everything... keeping elbows as best as tucked in to isolate tris/pecs and take most of any strain off delts....

on incline though due to having a somewhat long arm span i do a wider span than flat and just go a tad below my chin maybe 1-2in above touching my clavicle to keep strain on delts to minimum as well... I can see why some ppl would only go down to where there arms are parallel to keep tension on their pecs but they better have some considerable hand width spacing to allow for some decent depth to where its almost like doing a flye of sorts.... otherwise all those turds who "rep out" going down a just a few inches from lock out need to be useful and just drop the weight on their neck for someone to call an ambulance then they would have a purpose in life for others to do a job their being payed to do... if not leave the benches alone for those wanting to do actual chest work..... its like curls in the squat rack?!?!?! really.........

 

[raw33man]

I go lighter, but I'd rather hit the chest ! I see better results

 

[StevenGFH]

80% ROM or so....cut out the top 10 and bottom 10%

The chest is only activated through a certain part...going down to your chest and touching...shoulders come in big time, the top end of it is a lot of tricep.

Depends what you are training for

 

[method2madness]

:yeahthat:

 

[tmuscle]

I go down to about 2-3 inches off my chest, close grip with my elbows tucked in to maximize shoulder safety. I use suicide grip

i'm not a powerlifter nor a strength athlete so I don't care if someone claims that i'm not doing full reps. when people ask me how much i bench i just tell them "i dont know" and i dont go around telling people how much i can bench


all i care about is developing a thick chest and triceps, and try to minimize the strain on my shoulder joint on the flat bench. I feel this works well for me. maximize safety and gains, minimize danger


fwiw phil h ernon also advocates not going all the way down either. but he advocates using a different grip

 

[DK0223]

80% ROM or so....cut out the top 10 and bottom 10%

The chest is only activated through a certain part...going down to your chest and touching...shoulders come in big time, the top end of it is a lot of tricep.

Depends what you are training for

this. i like to work my CHEST when training chest, therefor i try to take any load away from the delts/tri's when doing so

 

[btech]

Down all the way.

For me, each rep begins and ends with the barbell resting in a rack position (upper chest/clavicles).

My grip is thumbless and is right where the knurling meets the smooth part of the bar. Going wider would be for those who don't go down as far.

EDIT: Whoops, thought that "presses" referred to the press - not bench.

 

[MrX]

I go about two-thirds as it hurts my shoulder if I go any lower than that.

 

[prescot316]

Bar to lower chest. If using smith machine I try and isolate chest more with wider grip and bring closer down to the neck area. When using dumbbells I typically go lower than chest and squeeze at the top of the movement.

 

[love2build1]

On incline DB press, I bring mine a little below parallel - at the point where I can feel my pec "stretch" a little. Very cautious though, as I have heard of some people injuring. However, this is the way I have always done it - very slow, controlled, and deep..