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Unracking the Bench Press

S

Stiffy

Guest
Heard a P.T. teaching a noob the three big lifts. I heard him say never unrack the bar yourself when Benching as its bad for your shoulders. He told him to always get a spotter to lift the bar off/up to the start point.

Is unracking the bar yourself when Benching bad for your shoulders?
 
Yeah, funny thing was, this P.T. was also teaching the guy to ATG Squat. Concerned about bad shoulders Benching, but not bad knees when (ATG) Squatting.
 
If you have the bench height set correctly then it wouldn't be a problem. It's when the gym bros use those bench presses with fixed pins that are too far apart to make any sort of adjustment that is suitable to your arm's length that is the problem.

Add to the fact that most people in commercial gyms bench like crap anyway, what with shoulders hunched forward not retracted and legs splaying out everywhere like they're being pounded missionary style by some sort of invisible muscle worshiper.
 
It gives me bad shoulders.
Not so much the shoulders but knotting in the biceps which causes referred shoulder pain especially with the trap knotting I have
Regular massaging of it and it's not a problem until I get complacent
 
El Stiffy said:
Heard a P.T. teaching a noob the three big lifts. I heard him say never unrack the bar yourself when Benching as its bad for your shoulders. He told him to always get a spotter to lift the bar off/up to the start point.

Is unracking the bar yourself when Benching bad for your shoulders?
Click to expand...

I don't think so but the effort used when I unrack and ready 100 and above equals another rep at least.
 
0ni said:
It gives me bad shoulders.
Not so much the shoulders but knotting in the biceps which causes referred shoulder pain especially with the trap knotting I have
Regular massaging of it and it's not a problem until I get complacent
Click to expand...

I'd like to hear some science on this 'knotting' phenomenon. How this localised tension in muscle fibres is stored. Not calling bullshit, I could definitely benefit from regular massage, just wanna understand the mechanism.
 
El Stiffy said:
Heard a P.T. teaching a noob the three big lifts. I heard him say never unrack the bar yourself when Benching as its bad for your shoulders. He told him to always get a spotter to lift the bar off/up to the start point.

Is unracking the bar yourself when Benching bad for your shoulders?
Click to expand...

Myth. Well, I'm pretty sure the shoulders will be stuffed anyway after years of heavy benching spotter or no spotter. Backs will be stuffed after years of heavy deadlifts and knees will be wrecked after years of full range of motion squats.

I routinely unrack 160+ by myself (used to unrack 180+ by myself) and have been benching for 30 years. One of my shoulders is really crook the other is a bit sore. The trick is to set the bench so you can unrack it without having to hyper extend the shoulder to shift it off the hooks.

It means the unracking process is basically a 1/4 rep which does rob a bit of strength. But it's better than looking up at someone's nuts, or having an annoying training partner, or someone who can't even lift the damn weight out of the rack to start with.
 
El Stiffy said:
care to back that up pls.



I've been lifting now for over 20 years and my Shoulders aren't a problem, but knees are.
Click to expand...

If your bench set up is correct, bench height is set up correctly etc then you shouldn't have any issue - if your set up is wrong, bench height is wrong and is set randomly (to high/to low), your lifting more than you can etc - then yes of course you could encounter an injury (Not just in your shoulders) - but this is more so from poor form, being stupid than directly unracking the bar....
 
Rugby88 said:
If your bench set up is correct, bench height is set up correctly etc then you shouldn't have any issue - if your set up is wrong, bench height is wrong and is set randomly (to high/to low), your lifting more than you can etc - then yes of course you could encounter an injury (Not just in your shoulders) - but this is more so from poor form, being stupid than directly unracking the bar....
Click to expand...

Most gyms I've used have Bench Presses with fixed heights, so the height isn't usually adjustable.
 
Ah. The good ol' half truth thrown out as a full truth by an "expert".

Unracking will not wreck your shoulders. Unracking with a soft/loose back might, but shoulder issues come from the bench press movement itself, not the unrack. Flared elbows with a soft back will fuq up yer shoulders.

Having pins too low can cause issues with heavier weights. Normal gym bench presses are shit. Use the squat rack if you have to to get your bar height right. Have a look at the "so you think you can bench" videos. Unrack should be about a 2-4cm movement, not a quarter rep. Its mostly a pull out, not a lift up.

A spotter is there to take part of the weight on unrack so that your back and traps stay tight, not because it might hurt yer delicate shoulders. If it's not tight to start with, then the hand off is pointless.

And ferfuqsake. Deep squatting will not wreck your knees. Not deep squatting will wreck your knees. The patella (kneecap) is surrounded by fibres attached to your quad. Your hammies attach to the upper shin. If you only do half or 3/4 squats or even "just above parallel", otherwise known as capo squats (cough), then your quads are pulling away at your kneecap. After a few years of that, you gonna have issues. When you squat to proper depth (hip crease below the top of the knee) then the quads stop pulling and the glutes/hammies take over, with the hammies pulling your shin into place below the patella.

If you have knee pain, stretch your quads. Pretty much instant relief. I'm not talking about a knee injury or tendon tear, just that annoying kneecap pain.

This first vid looks at the unrack and pin height issue.

 
Last edited:
WoodyAllen said:
Ah. The good ol' half truth thrown out as a full truth by an "expert".

Unracking will not wreck your shoulders. Unracking with a soft/loose back might, but shoulder issues come from the bench press movement itself, not the unrack. Flared elbows with a soft back will fuq up yer shoulders.

Having pins too low can cause issues with heavier weights. Normal gym bench presses are shit. Use the squat rack if you have to to get your bar height right. Have a look at the "so you think you can bench" videos. Unrack should be about a 2-4cm movement, not a quarter rep. Its mostly a pull out, not a lift up.

A spotter is there to take part of the weight on unrack so that your back and traps stay tight, not because it might hurt yer delicate shoulders. If it's not tight to start with, then the hand off is pointless.

And ferfuqsake. Deep squatting will not wreck your knees. Not deep squatting will wreck your knees. The patella (kneecap) is surrounded by fibres attached to your quad. Your hammies attach to the upper shin. If you only do half or 3/4 squats or even "just above parallel", otherwise known as capo squats (cough), then your quads are pulling away at your kneecap. After a few years of that, you gonna have issues. When you squat to proper depth (hip crease below the top of the knee) then the quads stop pulling and the glutes/hammies take over, with the hammies pulling your shin into place below the patella.

If you have knee pain, stretch your quads. Pretty much instant relief. I'm not talking about a knee injury or tendon tear, just that annoying kneecap pain.

This first vid looks at the unrack and pin height issue.

Click to expand...

Cheers Woody, good reply ........ unlike [MENTION=9251]Darkoz[/MENTION]; :p

Yep, I can still remember the days when people were advised not to Squat past parallel. Then an article in Muscle n Fitness magazine around late 80s came out with a study showing that stopping the Squat before parallel uses the knee as a brake, therefore Squats should go past parallel. That just sounded like harder work.

I've found ATG Squatting good for the knees for short periods, as you said, it gets a good stretch going. But I have read about ATG Squats being bad for knees long term.
 
WoodyAllen said:
Ah. The good ol' half truth thrown out as a full truth by an "expert".

Unracking will not wreck your shoulders. Unracking with a soft/loose back might, but shoulder issues come from the bench press movement itself, not the unrack. Flared elbows with a soft back will fuq up yer shoulders.

Having pins too low can cause issues with heavier weights. Normal gym bench presses are shit. Use the squat rack if you have to to get your bar height right. Have a look at the "so you think you can bench" videos. Unrack should be about a 2-4cm movement, not a quarter rep. Its mostly a pull out, not a lift up.

A spotter is there to take part of the weight on unrack so that your back and traps stay tight, not because it might hurt yer delicate shoulders. If it's not tight to start with, then the hand off is pointless.

And ferfuqsake. Deep squatting will not wreck your knees. Not deep squatting will wreck your knees. The patella (kneecap) is surrounded by fibres attached to your quad. Your hammies attach to the upper shin. If you only do half or 3/4 squats or even "just above parallel", otherwise known as capo squats (cough), then your quads are pulling away at your kneecap. After a few years of that, you gonna have issues. When you squat to proper depth (hip crease below the top of the knee) then the quads stop pulling and the glutes/hammies take over, with the hammies pulling your shin into place below the patella.

If you have knee pain, stretch your quads. Pretty much instant relief. I'm not talking about a knee injury or tendon tear, just that annoying kneecap pain.

This first vid looks at the unrack and pin height issue.

Click to expand...


Great reply!


Its just unbelievable that you would hear such things from PT's - like come on its like a 8 week course to become qualified....they should be experts...right?

I remember when I did my PT course - some people had only just started training themselves and within 8-10 weeks they were working in gyms training other people....lol
 
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