the importance of bench pressing

is the bench press that important of an exercise? i know its one of the main compound exercises and is one of the best upper body lifts. but ive heard from a few cases that it can cause shoulder injuries and all sort of other problems. ive read that many strongmen and olympic weightlifters dont include any benching in their routines and that lifting while on a bench doesnt have as much carryover to sport as standing ie overhead pressing. whats your thoughts?

 

If you do only bench and dont work the corresponding back muscles, i.e., your posterior deltoids and lats it can cause an imbalance in your shoulders and make them hunch forward. It can also hinder the flexibility of your shoudler joint as well. However, I think it translates fairly well into punching power and grappling ability.

 

Beware of the bench if you dont get the technique right.

I see noobs lifting wrong all the time, lying flat on the bench, elbows flared out in 90 angle from the body, with the weight to far up the chest, bouncing the weight off the chest. Sooner ore later with this style, your rotatorcuffs are fucked. And with rotarcuffs fucked, you cant do shoulderpress dips or any other goodstuff...

If you got the technique right, and can leave your ego at home while benching, then go right ahead. I love benching...

dont now anything about the ahtletic carryover though.

 

I stopped benching when other respected posters here flamed.
At that time I could bench 315 for 5.
I've been doing Oly's and OHP for over 9 months now and I guarantee you that I can still bench that much, maybe more.

 

In what framework would you like a definition for importance?

Will it increase one

 

importance being, pushing a weight off your chest while on a bench, with the weight is focused on the chest, is less important than pushing the weight overhead where your shoulders are brought into action and your body's forced to stabilize the lift. because its forcing you to stabilize and use your shoulder more than chest, this would have more carryover to sports in general, not including powerlifting.

ive already suffered a rotator cuff injury before

basically, im asking if overhead pressing is better than benching, given what ive said. the only thing which id go in favour of benching is due to possible greater work on the triceps.

 

I read your original question differently.

For a functional carry over to sports, the standing press provides more bang for your buck given multiple factors.

* More applicable neural adaptation given that most sports occur on the feet.

* Employment of multiple stabilizer muscles not inherent in the bench.

* Involves the use of the entire core musculature.

* Requires static abdominal contraction.

* Promotes greater balance.

 

Btw. What did you guys do to rehab your rotators. The same like you do to strengthen them?

 

i didnt rehab mine. i did it messing about with weights as a kid. it just gradually healed over the years but isnt 100%. i'd imagine it would be the same as the exercises used to strengthen them, possibly with a bit of mobility work too.

 

its about as important as having your legs waxed before a fight, it really has few benefits, the risks outweight the gains, ever since Mel Siff published Supertraining training for MMA has been changing, you need to weigh risks to gains, for example olympic lifts give you excellent power but the disadvantage is they are hard to learn and olympic lifters are plagued by injuries and an MMA fighter cqant afford injuries getting in the way of fight training. The bench press while a good strength builder is inferior to mat exercises with a partner, its all about specificy, the more specific the training the better.

 

If you are concerned with shoulder injury use a close grip or dumbells. Shoulders injuries while BP ing seem to happen most with the wide grip.

 

I doubt it, bench is one of the hardest things to keep numbers at if you dont BENCH :icon_surp

 

true, very true... more than any other excercise, i've found. i've benched heavy w/ a very wide grip for a long ass time and have never injured an r.c. doing so. i didn't know it was so prevalent.

 

i heard dumbell press is just as good as bench press and reduces shoulder injuries. i dumbell press after a rotator cuff injury seems to do work just as good. i do miss bench tho just dont wana risk the injury again.

 

Dunno if they are safer, but I have a personal preference for them just due to the fact that it isolates each arm from the other, requiring more stabilization from each arm. The concentration profile is also different, I feel the mental effort is more complex when pressing each arm independantly and while maintaining good form.

You can also vary the exercise by alternating the presses with each arm which seems to make me engage a slightly different set of muscles, including some that I feel in my back.

 

It is important, but squats, deadlifts, military presses, chins and rows are equally important

 

To me, it is funny that the pectorals are supposed to be the major muscles in a bench but they are relatively weak. I have found that building up my triceps helps more with my bench than anything.

Close-grip seems to be the way to go for specificity too. The plane of motion seems to be more like a punch than the wide-grip version. Just my thoughts.

 

I haven't benched all that much in the last year or so. Although I still do a tonne of heavy OH pressing it seems like my shoulders have pussified.

 

Get some dumbells work in your routine, they are great for working the shoulders, and at any angle you like.

 

Pussified shoulders are unacceptable. Have your best friend punch you in the shoulders so they swell up. Atleast they will have the apperance of being big. OK Sonny boy.