The Bench Press-Part I
***One of the most popular free weight exercises; yet
one of the most misunderstood exercises***
The reason I say misunderstood is that a
large percentage of the gym population is performing this exercise in a manner
that places them a greater risk for injury than they might realize.
As
I stated in my blog posted back on Oct. 16, 2011- What Is Good Exercise Form?
(if you haven’t read this blog, I
highly suggested reading it to help put this article perspective), all exercises
have a certain amount of risk-to-benefit ratio. The goal for most of us is to find exercises that have a
high benefit/low risk ratio.
Where
the bench press is concerned many who have a goal of general health/fitness and
the aesthetics; are performing this exercise using the form/technique that was
developed by the sport of Power Lifting.
The problem with this is that this form can be very detrimental to the
long-term health of the shoulder joint.
The
crude version of the Brench Press that eventually evolved into the exercise as
we know it today first surfaced in the early 1930’s.
The
form that we most frequently see today mirrors the rules for the strength
competition we know as “Power Lifting”. It is very surprising to me that much of the research
findings into the biomechanics of weight lifting has not filtered down to the
everyday gym floor. These research
findings have been out for several years now, but the “old school ways” seem to
be hard to break. Even more
concerning is that a quick google of the words “Bench Press”, will feed us
links that give us the standard Power Lifting form. Also, a glance at many of the mainstream fitness magazines
and bodybuilding books will again yield the standard Power Lifting form.
It
is not until you delve into the teachings of such modern day fitness experts
such as Douglas Brooks, M.S., and Everett Aaberg that you realize the hidden
dangers of the “Power Lift” version of the Bench Press. Also, it will be a great surprise
to many that using this form will limit us from reaching our maximum muscular
development potential.
Now
let’s get specific about this exercise. The main problem with the Power Lift style bench press
is that it requires us to lower the bar all the way to the chest (as seen in
the photos below).
As can be seen in the photos above, when the bar is
lowered to the chest (elbows going below the midline of the body) the larger
more powerful pectoral muscle is
stretched which lessens its
ability to generate force.
The greater the stretch, the less force this muscle is able to generate,
thus putting the pectoral muscles at mechanical disadvantage. As a consequence of this a larger
portion of the loaded barbell weight is then shifted to the much smaller and
more venerable shoulder joint.
Here in lies the danger of this method for the Bench Press
Exercise. The shoulder
joint is one of the most complex joints in the body, and thus very susceptible
to injury.
Above is a very simple (layman’s terms) explanation
of this issue. For those who would
like a more explicit explanation of the anatomical issues involved, I listed an
excerpt below taken from Douglas Brooks’ book Effective Strength Training (Official
Textbook For The International Weightlifting Association).
How “Deep” Should A Chest Press Or Flye Be
Performed?
It is common,
when performing chest exercises to bring the fists to the level of the chest,
or to cue “touch the chest” with, for example, a barbell. However, this places the joint in a
loaded, horizontally extended/abducted position, which in turn puts the
shoulder joint capsule at risk for injury. Cahill (1992) was the first to
describe a series of weight trainers who suffered trauma to the distal
clavicle. In other words,
hyperextension of the shoulder—elbows behind the midline of the body—places
excessive stresses on the acromio-clavicular joint during pressing movements,
and is likely to contribute to an injury process in this area of the body
(Reeves, et al., 1998 Weight Training Injuries, Part 2).
In addition,
allowing the elbows to move beyond the body line that divides it into front and
back halved decreases the force angle (the line formed from the elbow to
shoulder) of the shoulder. As the
force angle decreases, the ability of the pectoralis major to produce muscular
force continually decreases. When
the muscle is extremely stretched at this angle, insufficient actin and myosin
overlap occurs. (Actin and myosin are the protein filaments that slide past one
another to produce muscular force and movement.) Insufficient overlap leaves
the muscle in a position where it is not capable of effectively producing
muscle force, which in turn leaves the join vulnerable to injury. Why? The joint is literally being held
together passively by relatively weak shoulder muscles and ligaments, since the
pectoralis major is largely incapable of producing significant force. Any exercise that places the elbow
behind this mid-body line places the shoulder at a mechanical disadvantage that
may contribute to rotator cuff injury or anterior shoulder instability (Reeves
et al., 1998 Part 1; Wolfe et al., 1992). The pectoralis major doesn’t have a
good line of pull until the elbow-shoulder line reaches a point where it is in
line with the frontal plane that divides the body into front and back halves.
In the coming weeks, I will post Part II of this
blog. In Part II,
I will break this exercise down into its most basic
components and present a safer more effective way to perform it.
