Hammer Strength (HS) Bench Form...Advice?

[bluecountry]

Hey all, I'd like to phase in more and more HS Benches (Flat/Incline/Decline) to my chest routine.
I've read so many good things on them, and how well they help football players, they really are good machines. Unfortunately, I have almost never seen any guidelines on how to position yourself for good form.

Everybody at the gym does it differently, some people I see have their feet in the air, others have their feet on the floor.

So I'd like to ask:
When you do HS Flat Bench, how should you position and align yourself for good form?

1) How high should you sit, should your feet be on the floor or in the air, for Flat/Inc/Dec?


2) Should you grip close/wide and where should the handle line up with?

Many have said, just line the handle up with the chest....

...well if doing HS Bench...should the handle line up with middle of chest
...and if HS Incline Bench....top of chest...
...and if HS Decline Bench...bottom of chest...?


3) As well...just what part of the handle? The HS at my gym, the handles are slanted up and down, not flat, so should it be the top of the handle (which is higher) or bottom, or wherever you grip the handle that lines up to the corresponding part of chest

EX. If doing HS Incline...have the part of the handle where you grip line up with the top of your chest?


4) Likewise, where exactly SHOULD you grip the handles?
You can go really narrow/close (which is up high), or medium, or wide (which is low)...generally when doing bench you want a grip that has it so when you start to press your arms are perpendicular to your body (90 degrees)?


Sorry to make it complicated.....

[Mini Forklift Ⓥ]

Kind of common sense here Blue, you want to position yourself in the machine with your back flat against the pad and your feet flat on the floor (I like to press with my feet a fraction further back so my knees are at about 75 degrees). 90 degrees is probably what I see most people doing, either way is fine. On the flat Hammer Strength machine, when pressing your upper arms should be coming out parallel to the floor.
As for grip, just have a play around with the different options and mix it up. Obviously you don't want to be using the same hand positioning every time you use the machine. Horizontal positioning of your hands is obviously closer to replicating a bench press, peronally using the vertical handles I am able to get a slightly better contraction through my inner pecs.

lowerchest.jpg

That's more or less the basics Blue, now you just need to adjust these to suit you! Hope this helps J.

[TheKillerOfSaints]

WHAT ARE INNER PECS? SOME COOL CHEST MUSCLE GROUP THAT DOESNT EXIST?

[Mini Forklift Ⓥ]

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/pecs.htm#inner

Type "inner pectorals" into Google and you will get around 826,000 results for this region of the chest KOS.

[stackndeca]

Where exactly is the pectorals innerious?

[TheKillerOfSaints]

HOW COME I CANT FIND THE INNER PECS ON THAT ANATOMY CHART? IS IT CAUSE I BELEIVE EVERYTHING I READ?

[bluecountry]

Thanks Jim, HS is tricky because at my gym they never have any "guide" instructions and I see people doing all sorts of variations (many with their feet in dead air).

My HS machines are only have a horizontal bar, not a vertical one, and it slants down...so I never know exactly where and which part of the handle bar should line up with what part of my chest and where to grip.

Ex....HS Decline...should the top/inner part of bar or lower/bottom part of bar align with center of chest or low chest.

[stackndeca]

Start with no weight and adjust the seat to where you think it would feel good. Try it for a couple reps and squeeze hard to see if your hitting a comfortable position. Adjust if it feels weird. Then add weight.

[Mini Forklift Ⓥ]

HOW COME I CANT FIND THE INNER PECS ON THAT ANATOMY CHART? IS IT CAUSE I BELEIVE EVERYTHING I READ?

Okay, I'll keep this very b-a-s-i-c for you as you're determined to try and catch me out (despite me flying through my anatomy and physiology paper)...

The pectoral muscles are the muscle group that covers your thoracic cage. They connect to your clavicles, sternum and to the cartilage for many of your ribs. Technically there's really just the pectoralis major and pectoralis minor, but I was referring to the 'inner chest' as this is an area that can be focused on through weight training and is recognised in the sports coaching field.

There isn't really an upper or lower chest either, but we still focus on them by doing incline and decline exercises. So is that wrong too?

[TheKillerOfSaints]

yeah

[TheKillerOfSaints]

just fuking with ya jim

[bigrgc]

Bluecountry are you asking because you have an injury or you feel hammer strength bench more effective? Or are you just too lazy to bench with dumbells or a barbell?

[Mini Forklift Ⓥ]

just fuking with ya jim

I know

[stackndeca]

Okay, I'll keep this very b-a-s-i-c for you as you're determined to try and catch me out (despite me flying through my anatomy and physiology paper)...

The pectoral muscles are the muscle group that covers your thoracic cage. They connect to your clavicles, sternum and to the cartilage for many of your ribs. Technically there's really just the pectoralis major and pectoralis minor, but I was referring to the 'inner chest' as this is an area that can be focused on through weight training and is recognised in the sports coaching field.

There isn't really an upper or lower chest either, but we still focus on them by doing incline and decline exercises. So is that wrong too?

To each their own. I focus mainly on incline movements but my upper chest doesn't overpower middle/lower. They grow the same.
Obviously this is an issue that will never be agreed upon based on the fact i have been in 50+ threads on hear arguing the point. I have been tempted to do a 3month decline dominant chest workout to prove the point but it is hard to break from my normal habits.

[ionicrod]

Where exactly is the pectorals innerious?

Thats hot.