i imagine long arms may be a disadvantage to how much weight you can lift, as the center if gravity is farther away, but it shouldnt affect the effectiveness of the exercise.. you'll be fine
Don't worry. As Buff_Daddy says, having long arms will definately affect the amount of weight you can use in all exercises. Smaller guys with short levers (e.g. arms and legs) will be able to use more weight - that's basic biomechanics. Not only that but they'll look more muscular than the taller, thinner guys because there's less space for the muscles to fill. But don't use this as an excuse. A bench press is a bench press. Use a grip that feels comfortable - not too wide, not too narrow (make sure that in the bottom position of the movement your upper arms are perpendicular to the floor), and always push to add weight if possible and eventually you'll pack the muscle on just the same as anyone else.
i lvoe being 5 9 i can bench press like an animal and my training partner is 6 4 and stronger than me and i cna still bench press about a hundred pounds more than him. sorry but if yer tall then ya cant bench press heavy weights its the only advantage we have over u
Heres what this guy told me a fortnight or so ago:
If you have longer arms theoretically it might help if you take advantage of the stretch reflex. That plus larger muscles. I don't mean bouncing the bar off the chest but rather slowly lowering the bar (I see a lot of powerlifters using bands to facilitate) and creating a stretch before driving the bar up as fast as you can. You might find your sticking point is higher - maybe about half-way up. With guys like me who have short arms the bar opften has a tendency to fail at the start of the push from the chest.
Hope that makes some sense. Still trying to make sense of it myself -_-
i lvoe being 5 9 i can bench press like an animal and my training partner is 6 4 and stronger than me and i cna still bench press about a hundred pounds more than him. sorry but if yer tall then ya cant bench press heavy weights its the only advantage we have over u
It all comes down to training. Bigtallox is 6'8 and I'm willing to bet that he benches almost double what you do.
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Are long arms a disadvantage when doing bench presses?Can I still have correct form and target the pec muscle with long arms?
At the moment my grip is widder than most,is this going to be building my chest as much as I could?
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Long Arms are at a huge Disadvantage compared to Short arms in Powerlifting, But your in a Bodybuilding forum so it doesn't matter about the weight being moved! You can absolutely build a great chest with longer arms on the bench press, Look at lou ferigno, He was a huge guy with incredibly long arms and have a phenominal chest. You have to put in the Time and Dedication but only person stopping you from doing it is yourself!
Last edited by TheStreetKing; 01-08-2010 at 10:04 PM.
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Location: shropshire, england, United Kingdom (Great Britain)
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i read a quote from schwarzenegger (hallowed by thy name) saying something like
"it took a huge amount of determination and focus to bench 400 pounds for reps with my long arms"
must of been dishearting for him having to watch lil franco pressing the whole gym everytime he trained chest
but it just goes to show that your body has to work so much harder to keep up with what other little guys are benching if your a big fella...but you can still grow like hell from it as Streetking says
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Heres what this guy told me a fortnight or so ago:
If you have longer arms theoretically it might help if you take advantage of the stretch reflex. That plus larger muscles. I don't mean bouncing the bar off the chest but rather slowly lowering the bar (I see a lot of powerlifters using bands to facilitate) and creating a stretch before driving the bar up as fast as you can. You might find your sticking point is higher - maybe about half-way up. With guys like me who have short arms the bar opften has a tendency to fail at the start of the push from the chest.
Hope that makes some sense. Still trying to make sense of it myself -_-
Would make sense if you had to go to full stretch to take advantage of the Myotatic or "Stretch" reflex, but you don't...
All other things being equal, shorter arms are an advantage in terms of weight movement.
All muscular movements are torques, and a shorter lever arm means less force needed to move same weight.
Targeting the pecs is a whole 'nother issue.
Last edited by Defiant1; 01-09-2010 at 07:45 AM.
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Of course like others have said long arms/taller guys have a disadvantage on how much weight can be pushed in relation to strength. Say me, 6'2 with a wingspan of 6'7-fingertips almost to kneeds compared to a guy whose 5'8 winspan of 5'9. That's a large difference in how far weight has to be moved. Also, a shorter guy with a barrel of a chest and proper arch prob barely has to move the bar at all compared to a skinnier taller guy who is more flattened out.
I would just say don't be discouraged and just focus on your lift, not what others with diff body types are doing. Also, if you have very long arms and are going bar to chest I found I was putting tons of pressure on my front delts and working my shoulders too much. I now aim for about an inch off chest-just depends on body type and what feels comfortable
So if longer arms are a disadvantage on bench press are they an advantage when it comes to things like Bicep curls? as you have more leaverage?
No. The torque required to move an object from the pivot point (which is your elbow) is measured by multiplying the distance of the lever arm and the force applied. It is greatest when the forearm is approximately parallel to the ground.
Essentially, the longer the arm, the more torque is needed and the harder it is to lift.
long arms are a huge PITA. My bench is garbage but just stick with proper form and not max weight. Really focus on forearm exercises too and try to even them out.
With me being 5'11" i have OVER a 6'4" wingspan. It runs in my family with my grandfather being a golden glove boxer and myself a national ranked swimmer when i was younger. Its just now a matter of working out my forearms to make up for the lack of!
(photo was years ago before i started getting into health and fitness...but the arm length remains the same)
I have pretty long arms, I've noticed that my (shorter) buddy can do 2x as many reps and slightly more weight. But, strangely enough I have an advantage curling (doing twice his max).
My arms appear to be on the short side and I'm short but I can't bench worth crap and I've been training for almost 9 years. Yesterday I benched 175 lbs for 7 reps. I'm actually very weak in every lift for a guy that's been training for almost 9 years.
I don't think "long arms" should be an excuse for being a poor bencher. As long as your bench press keeps improving that's all that matters and long arms should not prevent you from progressing in the bench press.
Objective: To get stronger
Current Weight: 154 lbs
i'm a short guy with short arms and my bench press is pretty good... in most gym exercises the shorter guy has the leverage advantage plus the short distance, obviously because in most gym exercises you're just working in your own range of motion with all the weight compacted on a bar. in real life both have their advantages though e.g. the tables turn when it comes to having to grasp large awkward objects, the taller guy with longer arms has the leverage advantage with their long reach. that's why in WSM the events range from standard powerlifting movements to loading those awkward atlas stones and sandbags.
that may not seem relevant to bodybuilding, but i'm just assuring/reminding you tall guys that your weak bench press is not some unfair curse
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