When hitting chest should elbows be flared out?

[D Animal]

When doing chest should the elbows be flared out parallel to shoulders or sort of inwards...I was watching a video where the person said if u flare your elbows out to much you'll be hitting more delts?

 

[mike1107]

When doing chest should the elbows be flared out parallel to shoulders or sort of inwards...I was watching a video where the person said if u flare your elbows out to much you'll be hitting more delts?

took a lot of stress off of my long biceps tendinis (sp?) since I had problem there

 

[oldfella]

If you flare your elbows out too much I know you'll be hitting more than your delts!!! Your shoulder joints will take the beating of a lifetime.

 

[STEEDA69]

Placing you elbows Parallel to your delt's DOES place more of an emphasis on your anterior delts and should be utilized when performing Incline BB presses to better isolate your upper pecs and anterior delts. On Flat bench or "heavy inclines" you would be better off 'tucking' your elbows in, placing most of the load on your pecs and triceps.

JD~

 

[edge250]

i think that is a question of personal biomechanics, i think each and everyone of use is unique and you should find your own groove in pressing movements. allow your body to find its natural way of moving thru the range of motion, dont force it one way or the other, find the middle ground.

 

[STEVO 47]

Agreed, do it the way thats more comfortable to you.

 

[oldfella]

i think that is a question of personal biomechanics, i think each and everyone of use is unique and you should find your own groove in pressing movements. allow your body to find its natural way of moving thru the range of motion, dont force it one way or the other, find the middle ground.

SOOOO TRUE!

 

[littlemack]

Keeping your arms flared out will provide more stretch on the pecs, but I am not convinced that it is a good thing as it puts a lot of strain on the tendon as well(which is thin and flat-fan shaped). The trouble with the flat bench is that it places a lot of load on the pec tendon at the bottom of the movement. Flare out the elbows and this increases the load on that tendon even more. I forgot the percentage, but a group of med students simulated the bench press on a cadaver and measured the load on the pec tendon. I studied all of this after tearing my pec of course... lol.

 

[km2000]

i started doing this about a year ago, i will flare the elbows out so the are in line with one another... i will bring the bar down to 2 inches of my neck and press up in a simular fashion...i cant go nearly as heavy (70% of what i used to do) but my chest has grown leaps and bounds from it.... i am able to feel the chest working much more effective this way, as opposed to the shoulder and tri....

i dont know about the tendon being stressed or what that is supposed to mean?

 

[Conan21]

Good Observation

i started doing this about a year ago, i will flare the elbows out so the are in line with one another... i will bring the bar down to 2 inches of my neck and press up in a simular fashion...i cant go nearly as heavy (70% of what i used to do) but my chest has grown leaps and bounds from it.... i am able to feel the chest working much more effective this way, as opposed to the shoulder and tri....

i dont know about the tendon being stressed or what that is supposed to mean?

A muscle Stretched with resistance receives maximum overload. Flaring the elbows and bringing the bar more toward the neck targets chest must better.

if it hurts or you get injured. You were using too much weight.

Instead of overly emphasising the weight you just use repeated effort method. 8x8 or 5x12 for example. the sets might end up like 12,12,10,11,9 but you get the idea.

I guess it all comes down to whether you are trying to lift the heaviest amount of weight possilbe for X amount of reps or trying to break down a specific muscle the best which will determine your form.

 

[Chrysler]

A muscle Stretched with resistance receives maximum overload. Flaring the elbows and bringing the bar more toward the neck targets chest must better.

if it hurts or you get injured. You were using too much weight.

I tried doing it that way to bring up a lagging upper chest but even the bar alone makes it feel like my shoulder is gonna rip out of place. With inclines though, I can keep my arms parallel to my body and bring the weight down to my collarbone without any of the negative effects that I feel with flat bench with trying to do the same type of form. I see bodybuilders suggest this type of form to really stretch the pecs, but, for me, I don't think it's wise, as it creates the "bad" kind of pain regardless of the weight I use.

 

[Moen]

Elbows in does nothing for my chest, I have no idea with what I'm actually pressing then because I dont get a shoulder or tricep pump either

 

[STEVO 47]

This is a situation where everone's going to have a differant opinion
As far as flaring out the elbows and pressing from the neck, I screwed
my shoulder doing that. I feel much more stress in the delts then chest.

 

[joe914]

ive tried flat like that and it put soo much stress on my shoulders i couldnt do it ...but on incline it feels fine when not going to heavy ...

 

[littlemack]

So I went to find that article from the American Journal of Sports Medicine. I thought the loads were studied on the tendons but they were actually looking at the fibers.

http://ajs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/...INDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=HWCIT


"Wolfe and associates (14) studied the length-tension characteristics of the pectoralis major on the hemithoraces of cadavers during a simulated bench press to determine the mechanism of injury. They found that the inferior fibers of the pectoralis major have a mechanical disadvantage. In the final portion of the eccentric phase of the lift the distal fibers can be stretched 40% past their resting point, thus causing rupture to occur when greater loads are applied to these maximally stretched fibers."

 

[alan1973]

elbows tucked in a bit will get you more activity at the first 6 inches off the lift because your lats are joining in. You never see a powerlifter with his elbow out too far.