when you bench press for max...

[youbebosley]

are you suppose to let the bar bounce off your chest? my coach told me to do it but isnt that just using momentum off my chest and possibly break my sternum?

[rainbowgirl28]

possibly break my sternum?

Yes. You need a new coach

[ashcraftpv]

that's how dummies add 5 or 10 pounds to their bench.

The bar should touch your chest, but not bounce. You should keep control of the bar on the way down.

If it was a powerlifting competition, you'd have to pause with the bar and your chest and wait for a judge to say "press" before pressing the bar back up.

[PaulVaulter]

I wouldnt suggest bouncing the bar when going for a maximal lift, but a slight bounce can be useful when doing speed reps for power, it helps speed up the amortization phase(?), the turn around between lowering and raising the weight, although you do then lose the advantage of training the plyometric type response by reversing the bars direction purely through muscular effort. I have seen Rodion Gataullin using this slight bouncing method to power out reps on a 100kg bar.

What i would not suggest is using this method all of the time, as the whole point of weight lifting is to gain strength throughout the whole range of motion, and what the 'bouncing' does is allows you to bypass the most difficult part of the motion so you will end up with a weakness at the end of your range.

[VaultMarq26]

make sure you do a warm up set.......i always do 10 reps at 50% of my max, then 5 reps aroud 75% of my max.

[Skyin' Brian]

also, i think it should be added, that arching is right up there with bouncing as one of the worst and most unsafe techniques when maxing or repping at bench. keep your butt on the bench. not that anyone here would do that, but when i was in high school, all the football players would arch like crazy. bad idea.

and remember as well that the bar should take an slightly arched path from the sternum to above your eyes at the top.

oh, and have a spotter--always

and if you are benching by yourself, never use collars. a friend of mine has a very funny and scary story about doing this with a lot of weight

[PaulVaulter]

and if you are benching by yourself, never use collars.

Iv never heard this one before, care to elaborate?

[VaultMarq26]

if you don't have collers on and you get it stuck on your chest, you can tip the weight off....that is what i guess he is talking about

[Vault Old School]

What motion in the pole vault would require bench pressing anyway?

[PaulVaulter]

In any sport (bar powerlifting) is any one ever in a supine position pressing forcibly upwards off the chest?

No, and yet the bench press is a foundation exercise in almost all sporting strength and conditioning programmes. This is because it is an excellent exercise for strengthening the upper body involving a large number of muscles.

The bench press movement is not performed during a vault, but I don't think anyone is going to say that Bubka didn't use his pectorals, triceps or lats when he cleared 6m?

[Vault Old School]

I would agree to a point. There are much better lifts to do that actually utilze the same motions performed in the vault. Ex:Military Press/Incline Bench. The bench press is for offensive lineman.

[Vault Old School]

You've seen Gataullin personally?