Bench press: Arms getting tired before chest.

[obsolete29]

When I do flat, barbell bench presses my arms are usually the part that fails first. I don't really know the name of the muscle but specifically it's the muscle that goes from my under arm to my elbow. Am I doing something wrong and is there anything I can do to correct the issue?

I'm pretty sure my form is right... I'm guessing about the only thing you can mess up is hand placement. I place my hands just slightly wider than shoulder width.

Thoughts?

[gobbla]

when you lower the bar make sure you lower it in a controled manner to right about where your nipples are. Strait down...Strait up.

[myr11]

if you havent been working out for a very long time, or if you havent been bench pressing (flat bb) for a very long time then it is common for people to have trouble with their arms fatiguing before their chest...first of all the closer your arms are the more your triceps(the back of your upper arm) will come into play. your hands should be on the marks on the bar...your elbows should be around 90 degrees, a right angle.

[obsolete29]

I usually place my middle finger on the ring on the bar.

I haven't been doin the flat bench, bb bench press that long.

Thanks for the information.

[madein_korea]

I had the same problem for a while....then i started doing my flyes before my bench presses....since it isolates the chest w/o much triceps involved, when u actually get to your benching your chest is already fatigued, so your chest starts giving out before your arms

[Hefty]

I had the same problem for a while....then i started doing my flyes before my bench presses....since it isolates the chest w/o much triceps involved, when u actually get to your benching your chest is already fatigued, so your chest starts giving out before your arms

Same here. I do the flyes first. Also the flyes seem to be wicked for working your forearms. You really gotta hold on to the dumbells [img]smile.gif[/img]

[myr11]

doing flys before bench does nothing but make your chest tired. However it will help you learn to control your pecs better. I would work on isolation exercises just for 1 or 2 weeks with full body workouts, so you get a feel of control for your muscles.

[TrainingGirl]

Question...my understanding has been to perform compound movements prior to isolation. So I've always started with BP, then did flyes. Is this not correct? Or is there not a huge difference in the order?

Thanks

[Simon.]

Well TG to be honest I don't think anyone REALLY knows. It's a conspiracy I tell you. On the one hand, most people on this forum will tell you there's research that proves pre-fatiging a muscle by isolation movements before compounds is actually counter productive. On the other, there are those abcbodybuilding freaks who swear by the most ridiculous training methods I've ever seen(well they sound that way at least), and appear to be quite fanatic about it but you can't say they don't have the results to show for their effort.

[chris_f]

TrainingGirl: Compound before isolation... always!

Think about it - if you're triceps tire first, you're going to want to do an isolation excercise to PREFATIGUE your chest and minimize loading!? No way!!!

Do compounds, and then when you're triceps fail you but your chest still has umph, finnish it off with flies.

Simon: You can't say they don't have results to show for their efforts, but you also can't say that their efforts produced their results (or produced them in the most effective manner).

[TrainingGirl]

Shark, that's always been my understanding. That's why I didn't understand everyone saying they did flyes first. I was gettin' all confizzled.

[BillyB]

Assuming you have a barbell with standard marks, you might try putting your index fingers on the marks instead of middle fingers. I know that sounds like a really small difference, but I personally have a lot less problem with fatigue using that slightly wider grip. As someone above pointed out, you obviously have greater tricep stimulation the closer together your hands are.

The angles and hand position will vary depending on your size, arm length, etc. but you might give that a go and see how it feels.

[chris_f]

Despite common perceptions, Benching is heavily a tricep exercise. If anything, triceps are more important than chest. Keep at it... your arms will catch up.

[von_Hayes]

posted June 20, 2005 05:02 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Despite common perceptions, Benching is heavily a tricep exercise. If anything, triceps are more important than chest. Keep at it... your arms will catch up.



not if you do partial reps

[Will Haskell]

All the clinical research aside-are you benching correctly? The way you describe your hand placement sounds correct but are you retracting your shoulders keeping your elbows aligned close to the midline of the body?
The bench press is not an isolated exercise and clinically you should do the most taxing lifts first followed by supplementals. Practically...it doesn't make sense to fatigue the body and then attempt to do complex lifts. I recommend evaluating your technique before you start making changes in your lifting regiment. Thanks for the input everyone.

Will Haskell
Athletic Development Specialist

[chris_f]

Originally posted by von_Hayes:
posted June 20, 2005 05:02 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Despite common perceptions, Benching is heavily a tricep exercise. If anything, triceps are more important than chest. Keep at it... your arms will catch up.



not if you do partial reps

of course, we're not talking about partial rep benching. We're talking about full range of motion, normal benching.

[Esteban]

For this very reason, that is, the case of small muscles giving up before bigger muscles (e.g. triceps before chest/shoulder muscles) in compound movements, some professionally-designed programs such as the ones you'll find in the "Book Of Muscle" (King, Schuler) start with a "corrective" phase that prepares smaller muscles in order to enable them to assist bigger muscles properly in compound movements in the future. In the case of the upper body, the programs in BoM start with several weeks of isolation exercises for the triceps (back of the arm), biceps (which is just one of the muscles in the front of the arm), forearms and shoulders. That way, when the time comes for compound movements (e.g., presses, rows) --which, by the way, should normally constitute the majority of your workouts-- you'll be able to exercise all the involved muscles (big and small) to the maximum extent possible.

[obsolete29]

All the clinical research aside-are you benching correctly? The way you describe your hand placement sounds correct but are you retracting your shoulders keeping your elbows aligned close to the midline of the body?
The bench press is not an isolated exercise and clinically you should do the most taxing lifts first followed by supplementals. Practically...it doesn't make sense to fatigue the body and then attempt to do complex lifts. I recommend evaluating your technique before you start making changes in your lifting regiment. Thanks for the input everyone.

I feel like I'm doing the exercise correctly. I place my middle fingers on the ring and I lower the bar in a controlled manner and then raise it back to the full extended position for one rep. I don't bounce the bar off my chest and when I lower the bar to my chest it comes down to my chest right about nipple height. Where I place my hands, where I lower the bar to and how fast/slow I do the rep are the only things I keep in mind as I do the exercise.

From the feedback so far I don't really plan to change my routine any for now. I'm just going to stick with it and allow the weak areas to catch up. I am getting stronger... I can tell almost everytime I do the exercise.

Thanks!