Bench Form

[Brice]

Every time I bench press, the moment it starts to get hard and I start to struggle, my arms tend to flare out A LOT, and I end up using a lot more shoulders than it seems as though I should. Does anyone have a good solution to this problem with my form? Any help, suggestions, or constructive comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Brice

[gymBum]

my arms tend to flare out A LOT

How exactly do they flare out? What part of your arms and such? having a hard time visualizing this

[rlhaney]

in muslce fitness magizine Scot Medenlson had a article( he just sat the world record for raw bench and with a bench shirt) he talks about the way he benchs and it works
when you lay on the bench place your body so the barbell is at your solar pelexs place your feet under the bench as far back as possible and put your weight on your toes like so your ankles touch each other then grab the bar and shove your body down and arch your back as must as possible before you push the bar off the rail squeeze your shoulders together and push ( this will help you get a copule more reps out ) dont bring the bar to your chest bring it to your solar pelexs doing this is very hard at first but from doing this i brought my one rep max jumped up 30lbs in two weeks
try it and tell me what you think

[Chris]

The human body will take to path of least resistance to perform any movement. However, that doesn't mean that the the muscles being used were the ones meant to perform the movement being executed. It's difficult to say for sure what's going on with your bench without actually seeing you perform the lift. But, basically you have some sort of muscle imbalance. Meaning one or some group of muscles are over active and tight, and some others are loose and weaker. Don't worry, you can fix this problem with proper stretching and excercise choices. Basically at some point in your bench the muscle meant to perform the movement is getting overridden by a stronger muscle that is taking over...although it wasn't mean to perform that movement. Can you tell me any more about how you feel and what may be incorrect with your form?

[Brice]

What I'm trying to explain by "flare out" is that, rather than my elbows being tucked at my sides, they end up at a 90% or greater angle from my body.

Also, rlhaney, what are your "solar pelexs"?

[yoked662]

Hey guys Im new to the forums.

I trained with Scot Mendelson for the past year and a half. I had this problem too with my elbows. You need to just practice keeping them in try to use lighter weight and squeeze in. You can always use a shirt but for reg workout I think the shirt is overkill and doesnt let you perfect your forum. Try arching your back as well

[big g]

Originally Posted by Brice

What I'm trying to explain by "flare out" is that, rather than my elbows being tucked at my sides, they end up at a 90% or greater angle from my body.

Also, rlhaney, what are your "solar pelexs"?

brice what i think your doing by ur explaination is that you are working your triceps more with this movement. it is normal for your elbows to move out because your pecs are the largest muscles used in bench. your brain doesnt understand that you are lifting weights is just knows that the best way to push something off of your body is to use your pecs. also something to mention is that going with a wider grip with elbows 90 away from body that you develope more of ur pectoralis major because ur using more of ur pecs than ur triceps. this movement developes the area of the pec major that attaches to the clavical and the anterior deltiod which makes that big ball shape

[Brice]

interesting...thanks