Bench Press....

[Mr Khan]

hey guys,

When i do my bench workout for my pectoral muscles...i tend to arch my back when i'm doing it...is this normal? or is it the wrong way of doing it? Will i be working my back muscles?

Thanks!

[Steve]

Try putting your feet on the bench too. It might help with avoiding your back to arch.

Steve

[Fudomyo]

All the power lifters do this on purpose. I believe it helps take chest out of the lift, and moves it more to triceps.

It's up to you if you want to continue this. For chest, DB pressing works better anyway.

$0.02

[DaLinkWent]

I've always been told that arching your back is a sign of poor from but when the weight piles up I tend to catch myself doing it as well.

Yes, arching your back will allow you to lift a bit more and yes, keeping your feet on the bench will help prevent you from arching. Another trick I've seen is to lift your head up, almost as if your doing an ab crunch. I've done it and it work to ge that last little ummh out of your bench.

Good luck & have fun!

[TheBigness]

Cheating has its place. When you get more adavanced a few cheat reps will help tax your muscles enough to grow. when i go heavy i tend to arch my back a bit on the last 1 or 2 reps

[Streax]

I believe arching your back brings your lats into the bench more, which you don't want to do...

-keep your feet flat on the floor and push out with them
-concentrate to pull your shoulder blades together and keep them like that, it feels weird at first, but you will get used to it

[Julius]

guys, its not poor form, i've never read arching your back asa sign of poor form, your supposed to do it in my opinion, it generates more power in your torso, and you can explode off your chest by arching you back on heavy weights

my 0.0002 cents
(cents are in canadian)

[Jaster]

They allow us to arch the back at Bench meets as long as the shoulders and butt stay on the bench and feet on the floor. You can move from Flat foot to your heels or toes or any combo of that but you can't lift your feet or shuffle them. That is the call at the meets I have done.
So arching is part of my form.

[Mr Khan]

Originally posted by DaLinkWent
Another trick I've seen is to lift your head up, almost as if your doing an ab crunch. I've done it and it work to ge that last little ummh out of your bench.

Good luck & have fun!

I dont agree with this...cause i believe that if u lift your head, you will be working yr shoulder muscles too....right?

[Mr Khan]

hey guys...i was reading a book on Right Techniques In Weight-Lifting....and i found out that if u arch yr back when u're doing the bench press..then u're doing it wrong...cause u wont be fully working on your chest muscles...and that if you still feel you're arching your back...then the weights are too heavy for you...and should be reduced.

yeah so..thats all i read....just wanted to share it with you guys..

[Jaster]

I only arch my back at meets and one rep max.
When I lift on saturdays I don't arch unless I am maxing.

[TheBigness]

arching is good if you are a power athelte working on stregth, or if you bodybuild and need to tax the muscles that extra rep.