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Short Range Bench Presses
One of the fundamental rules of weight training is to always use a full range of motion. What’s not so simple is figuring out what constitutes a “full range of motion.” It is not necessarily going as far as you can go; it’s as far as you can go in good form, with adequate strength and stability in the joints.
It isn’t unusual to discuss the maximum safe range of motion for some exercises. For example, most would agree you don’t want to squat lower than the range where you can keep a flat back. You don’t hear much talk about the safe range for the bench press. One exception is this article from Paul Chek. In the article, Chek details how it may be better to stop the bar a few inches short of the chest. If you look, you’ll find a lot of evidence to substantiate this.
In this T-nation article powerlifter Jack Reape talks about using the floor press to limit the ROM. I think his reasoning is consistent with Chek’s.
I was first introduced to this idea by a gym owner and football coach that followed the Bigger Faster Stronger strength training program. Bigger Faster Stronger advocated using a rolled up towel resting on the chest to limit the ROM in bench pressing. He got good results with their program for his team.
He had been a very good bencher in his youth but had quit the exercise for over 15 years. He decided to try towel benching and managed to match his best numbers from his younger days in his forties, setting a master’s record in the process. He found that towel benching carried over very well to his regular bench. I have passed this along to several lifters who were just about ready to quit the lift, and all have been pleasantly surprised.
A lot of people will tell you that dumbbell bench presses give them shoulder relief. Part of this may be due to the reason they just don’t use as much weight - as a rule, most people can only use about 80% of their barbell poundages. However, if you watch people closely, although the edge of the dumbbell may get to chest level, very few let their hands sink to chest level. Without the bar, they just go to where they feel a good stretch - well short of the range they cover with a barbell.
Powerlifters have been using board presses quite a bit in recent years, a method similar to the towel. Board benching with one to five stacked 2″x6″ boards is an art all its own, especially for the lifters that use the most supportive bench shirts. Now there can be no doubt, these guys are doing it primarily to lift more weight. However, I have met a couple masters powerlifters who can no longer bench raw (without a special bench shirt) without problems, but are still very strong doing all their bench training shirted. The shirt greatly reduces the tension in the bottom couple inches and allows them to work without pain.
So if you’re going to bench press, rethink what the right range of motion really is - maybe it will save your shoulders.
Byron Chandler
on April 12th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
[…] Originally Posted by mreik It can vary a little depending on height. People with looooong arms are usually advised to leave a small amount of space between the bar and their chest. But for 95% of the population you should bring it to your chest. Could it be because I have extremely long arms? I’m 6′3" tall and I have an 80 inch arm span (around 6′8"). I’m guessing that that’s considered "long". Here’s the article that recommends stopping short a few inches: Short Range Bench Presses » IOL Strength and Conditioning […]
on June 3rd, 2007 at 11:50 am
I like short range on almost all presses. It seems that this can work for a few reasons like “constant tension”, Pec emphasis, no overstretch, taking less out of triceps. There is also less changeover force because it is not at a overly pre stretched position. I decide how deep to go when I feel some stretch but not overly. But ego driven lifters like this style too sometimes, because they don’t even go to 90* bend and say they did 300 or whatever. I think it most applicable to dumbells. Westside does board presses which there is no doubt as to the benefit but for muscle builders boards are not as good as doing it ourselves. I love to pre-exhaust with fly and then go to partial range DB incline. Long live The Bomber!
on June 23rd, 2007 at 2:01 am
for years i did not get any benefit from bench-pressing of any kind. I did, however, get a good pec-workout from dips. I never went below parallel, and never locked out at the top. In other words, not EXACTLY a full range of motion.
I applied the same principle to benching, i.e: stopping short of full extension (not touching the chest) and not locking out at the top. with a lighter weight at first, i immediately got the best pump of my life….. I do confirm and endorse your “partial-motion” principle
roger
on December 29th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
around 4 inches and up from your chest is actually your chest doing the work. any higher is all tri-ceps . So with that in mind you want to go touch chest and push bar up about 6 inches and come back down to chest and repeat that is most efficient. I don’t believe anything this article says. you have to work between that 4 inches above your chest or your going to wonder how come my chest is tiny but my tris are huge.
Food for thought
on September 8th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Chandler’s spot-on with his suggestion to limit the range of the bench press. Thomas is dead wrong. As many sports physicians and physiologists have pointed out, at the very bottom of a so-called “full range of motion” bench press in which you touch the chest, for those first few inches off the chest you primarily stress the shoulder, *not* the pectoral muscles. This is precisely where most of the rotator cuff injuries associated with the bench press occur.
on October 28th, 2008 at 12:01 am
As far as muscle growth is concerned - full stretched position and contraction stimulate more growth, but benching over blocks does help in improving your lift poundages….
the power obtained via this practice then needs to be implemented in full ROM in order to see noticeable muscle growth
cheers
on October 31st, 2008 at 5:06 am
At the risk of being a smartass, there really ought to be little controversy over this if one employs the mind-muscle link. You do what works for you, not someone else. If, at the top of the movement (eccentric), you feel your shoulders being worked, then stop before you get to that point. Seek to maintain constant stress on the pec. Where-ever that stress ends, stop. This is of course from a bodybuilding perspective where the goal is to stimulate muscle growth.
on December 9th, 2008 at 3:42 am
I’ve trained chest for years not going all the way down in the belief that i because i could lift more weight my chest would grow. I dropped the weight and inccresed my ROM and i started to see results. Full stretch and mind muscle connection for me please.
on March 19th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
Oh the pain! I have long queried whether a full ROM bench would hurt my shoulders.
I have mild shoulder pain doing the most oddest of things: wiping my windshields or pulling a pillow off of a bed, but none from a full ROM bench!
on March 19th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
The shoulder joint stress can be avoided by simple molecular manipulation of the barbell. Simply reduce the number of bonds within the object and it should therefore be lighter.
I do not understand why you want it to be heavier.
Simply travel to another planet with different gravity and any object will be heavier (or lighter)
on March 23rd, 2009 at 12:46 pm
For years, I always went all the way with the bar. Then, shoulder problems (read: AGE) forced me to limit my ROM. In doing so, shoulders are better & I’m lifting as much weight as always, works for me! Sane and sensible, ALWAYS.
on April 15th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
My lats and upper back muscles make it nearly impossible to bring the bar to my chest. They form a mechanical stop. With that said, I strongly urge concentration on the weakest part of any muscle’s range. Strengthening the weakest part automatically strengthens the strongest part…. Use much less weight and do squats from just below parallel to just above parallel…. Not lifting heavy these days…. next month I turn 59. Am 5′9″ and a buck eighty…. can do 80 full dips, 55 pullups 80 hanging leg raises with legs going no lower than 5 oclock. Can do full 8 reps with 305 on seated cybex bench press machine…. oh well….
on May 14th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
yea right
on May 31st, 2009 at 10:18 am
I agree with Powerharp about the “Mechanical Stop”.
even when I’m just sitting at my desk like right now, I can only bring my hands back to about 2 inches from my chest.
the only way I can bring them further is to literally dislocate my shoulders and force it.
me and my one friend are about 6-6′3′’ in height. and what really pissed me off the other day ago was a noisy old man trying to lecture us.
The guy was so short he had to stack three 45’s under each foot to bench press and had the nerve to tell my friend he has to do full ROM or it’s not doing anything.
I get in this midgets face and tell him that one of my arms is longer then his whole body. So he says to do lighter weight..
The thing is, even with just the Bar..
I can still comfortably only get to two inches above my chest without hyperextending my shoulders.
Plus, I’m seeing unbelievable results with the way that I do it..
so to quote some other guy..
“DO what works for you, not someone else”
on July 1st, 2009 at 9:01 pm
i too gained about 20lbs in my bench pressing in less than a month with limited range benching. But somehow i felt that a full range of motion gave me a better burn and pump . So i try limited range movements in off season but prefer full range of motion always in my contest prep…
cheers,
biglee
on September 2nd, 2009 at 11:47 pm
This article makes good points anyone should be aware of. I have no pain or discomfort bringing the bar to my chest when going heavy, but I can understand the wear and tear from those last few inches. The shoulder capsule picks up those last inches, and over time this will add up. That’s why I use partials most of the time. They also help to increase strength, which will help to increase size when using other full ROM exercises like DB presses.
on September 24th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
The older I get, the more I like strong range partials. Muscles only respond to one thing, that is intensity. If I lift heavy with partials, I get the same or more intensity as with full range exercises and even with more weight, there is a lot less stress on the joints.
Think of it this way. Why do we do crunches rather than sit ups? A- It’s easy on the back. B- It works just as good as a full range situp.
Show me just one scientific study that has found the need for full range for hyertrophy!
on January 9th, 2010 at 10:49 pm
26 years old with arthritis in my shoulders and osteoarthritis at the clavicle, (I can tell you what stresses the shoulders.) I’ve been forced to cut my weight and range of motion due to these issues. I completely agree with Bill. Bringing the bar all the way down to my chest causes pain in my shoulders. 2-4 inches from the top and bottom to not over-recruit the shoulders or triceps and keeps your chest under constant tension.
on March 26th, 2010 at 12:36 pm
I’m 50 years old been lifting about 23yrs. A few months ago began to have severe shoulder pain from doing straight bar bicep curls.This put a stop to any chest press work for a while. when I began reading about the partial range of motion bench presses it was like a light went off. I immediately went to my personal “dungeon” and tried it. At first I could only do about 185 I now can do 225 for 3 reps. It won’t be long until I can do 250[hopefully].I’m 6′3″ and weigh 250.Benches have never been my strongest type of lift,but I’ve never given up trying to get better.
on April 12th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
It is a silly sport: this powerlifting. SInce I started to train to compete, my bench technique has changed considerably, Still stuggling with mastering the bench shirt, talk about getting stuffed! If you think a fat women putting on a girdle that is three sizes to small is funny…Watch a SHW and two other men put on his bench shirt….Heavy bench beware! Training has to be a science and bench technique has to be spot on. Funny thing is, Competition lifters, limit the amount of bench work and do auxilary excersises to to make the big bench, saves the shoulders and makes power come easer. Since being tutered to be a bench presser, the shirt helps for sure but a proper bench technique sure helps. If your not going to compete, there is no need to do single max rep. It won’t make you strong but it will make you hurt.
Bench boarding I think is an excellent way to limit bench and still get the benifit of this power excersie without rotating shoulder joints to the extream, also keeping your elbows in closer to you sides and a wide grip and an arched back also allows a fuller movement without as much shoulder rotation. To many people have there elbows out to far and lower the bar way to far up the chest.
So should the person that wants to bench but not compete, use the bench board technique…YES!
Shoulder flexibility must be maintained as we age, but not with the bench. Many People also think the bench is a chest excersise, it is not. It is a power excersice and should be trained as one. I do lots of excersises designed to work the rotary cuff musclesI do them three times a week. Rotary cuff muscles have not the best blood supplies and as we age it gets worse. I recomend all persons to do rotary cuff excersices especially if you are silly like me and are chaseing the heavy bench at 50
on August 17th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
I have several observations from the above comments. I believe form and execution dictates the results one may receive training the bench press. shoulder injuries are more common with bodybuilders than powerlifter simply because of postioning of the bar. Tuck your elbows in, and postion the bar to the lower portion of the chest to aleviate tension on the anterior deltoid. frank zane indicated that when he trained with doug young. he was able to add muscle and increase strength as well
over the years i noticed a growing number of trainees use a progressively shorter range which i think doesnt do any good..they perform a quarter movement and tell their girlfriends they bp 300lbs.
if trainees analyse their from and technique, thus lowering the chance if injuries would occur.
on August 23rd, 2010 at 9:22 pm
I hope you all are just lifting for the aesthetics. The reason there are so many shoulder injuries, is because most people don’t have a clue how to bench. I watch it all day, flared elbows and flat back. Flared elbows being the biggest problem. Keep your elbows tucked and it will keep your shoulders safe. The reason so many powerlifters do board presses, ect, is for stronger triceps. Triceps are really key in a huge bench, especially if your going to lift in gear. And there isn’t anyway that your upper back is so big you can’t bring the bar down to your chest. Ronnie Coleman doesn’t have a problem bringing the bar to his chest…I’m sure your upper back isn’t bigger than his. You’re most likely bringing the bar down to far up on your chest. You should be bringing the bar down to around the bottom of your sternum, top of your abs. If you bench correctly, shoulder problems should be the least of your worries.