Dumbbell incline bench press

[hanleyp]

A question about dumbbell incline bench press:
I know I'm talking about a minor difference that may not matter, but should I be going down to grazing my pecs or keep the dumbbell's a little higher at the bottom? Or does this really not matter?

Some background: The other day while I was doing Dumbbell incline bench press, the lifters around me were talking about not performing a full range of motion and keeping the dumbbell's above chest level at the bottom. The lifter's at the gym were stating that at the bottom you're just stretching the pecs which is not beneficial and may cause injury.

NROL states that you should lower the weights so that the edges of the dumbbells graze the outside-middle parts of your pecs. But, I notice in the picture that the dude doesn't appear to be actually going down that far.

Thanks.
-- Paul

[JoshDunn]

That Dude is Alwyn Cosgrove. He is bringing the weights down to his chest.

Don't worry about stretching to much or injury by bring down to your chest. This would only be an issue if you brought the weights below your chest.

[eastcoastsurfer]

I would think you generally want to do the fullest range of motion your muscles allow. If you can't do the weight you have with a full range of motion then you're probably using too much weight (which is common in gyms everywhere ).

[K-Court]

The lower you go, the more stress you place on your shoulder joint. I have a shoulder injury and my physio told me not lower my arms below 90 degrees when benching. As long as I do that, I have no shoulder pain; below 90 degrees, ouch.

[John Izzo]

Honestly, prior to my shoulder surgery I was unable to bring DBs down to my chest. Now, 2 years later, my ROM has improved becasue my flexibility and ROM at the shoulder joint has improved. The most important thing when using fullROM is this: can the muscle that crosses the joint stabilize and allow full ROM? In most cases...no. Why? Becasue alot of us do not train optimally.