Archive: Around Town

"The average man can advance not a single reason for thinking that the Earth is round. He merely swallows this theory because there is something about it that appeals to the twentieth century mentality" - George Bernard Shaw.

Not that the Earth isn't round, of course, what Shaw speaks of is the blatant acceptance of ideas in the classroom which is similar to how people accept the bench press as a worthwhile exercise. Most of the fitness world perceives the idea of not bench pressing as blasphemy. However, when you consider the overuse and abuse that the bench press does to the shoulder capsule, you may reconsider whether or not you do it as religiously. In addition, the bench press is not only injurious to the shoulder but is also terribly non-functional.

 

When a guy walks into the gym to lift, 9 out of 10 times he will plop down and start benching. The reasons for this are more psychological than physiological, and therefore illogical: 1) Benching is what people think they have to do, thanks to bodybuilding magazine protocols and "gym science." 2) The bench press is easy, no matter how uncoordinated you are. Plus, no one can escape the question, "how much do you bench," as if it is a statistic you should always know. 3) It pumps up the "mirror" muscles so people feel good about themselves. The chest is hardly used in real life so your pectorals are impacted quickly by weightlifting. 4) People mistakenly think the bench press is a good measure of strength thanks to bodybuilding and football.

The bottom line is that too much bench press causes muscular imbalance around the shoulder joint. Compare it to lying in the sun; do you only tan the front side of your body? Tight pectorals and shoulders from benching also promote poor forward-head, rounded shoulder posture. In addition, the bench press promotes scapular dyskinesis, an abnormal relationship of the shoulder and shoulder blade, by pinning the shoulder blades down into the bench under the weight of the barbell thus forcing the shoulder capsule to bear the entire load.

On top of this, many people exceed a natural range of motion when they touch the barbell to the chest, over-stretching the shoulder capsule which can lead to rotator cuff tendonitis and bursitis. Most baseball players and other overhead throwing athletes know to not overstretch the shoulder during this exercise but if the movement pattern is a concern in the first place, why do any benching at all?

If you could only choose one person to help you push your broken-down car, would you decide using their bench press maximum? Recent research compared the biomechanics of the bench press and the similar standing cable chest press. Participants pushed 95 percent of their bodyweight during bench press maximum testing as compared to only 40.8 percent of their bodyweight during the standing cable press.

This finding seems to indicate that chest strength may not be the most important factor when pressing from a standing position due to the full-body core-challenging nature of the standing cable press. True to life's normal activities, you are more likely to push from a standing position than lying on your back. Muhammad Ali remarked once that he only needed an inch [of space] to knock you out. This power didn't come from bench pressing, of course.

Matt Furey, strength coach and ex-world champion, wrote once, "when a person gets the urge to bench press, the best thing for him to do is take a nap and get back up when the urge passes." Mike Boyle, strength coach of BU men's hockey 2009 national champions, writes, "The reality is that with a balanced [lifting] program, very few athletes should experience anterior shoulder pain." There is a time and place for benching (as an isolated front shoulder exercise) but I recommend you question, in general, why you do certain exercises in your weight training. Stay strong.

---

----
v5i23