# Should women bench press?



## Crono1000 (Jul 4, 2007)

Tanya and I have been having a difference in opinion as far as weightlifting goes.  She believes that bench pressing is primarily for men because it gives you a forward, masculine posture- arms inward and chest forward.  She suggests that women should do more back exercises to bring your arms back and chest out and up, a generally more feminine frame.  I have always worked out with guys so wut do I know, but I kinda figured it was the same for everyone and that working out your chest and arms through benchpressing would give you a feminine frame simply cuz she has da b00bies.  So who's right?


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## P-funk (Jul 4, 2007)

i think women can bench press.  definetly. they should do like the boys do.

about the masculine posture though.....if that is what you look like, then you need to seriously lower the amount of benching you are doing and start rowing.  start balancing out your shoulder movements.


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## min0 lee (Jul 4, 2007)

Why not?


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## Crono1000 (Jul 4, 2007)

min0 lee said:


> Why not?



cuz unlike you, some people want to look the same gender they were born as


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## CowPimp (Jul 4, 2007)

That doesn't sound like manly posture.  It sounds like poor posture.  I think your chest looks more "proud" if you have better resting muscle tone in your posterior muscle and you don't exhibit kyphosis, scapular winging, or internal rotation of the humeri.

The moral of the story is pressing is good for both sexes, but so is pulling.  In general, most trainees of both sexes should do more pulling.


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## soxmuscle (Jul 5, 2007)

Chicks dig the bench press.


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## juggernaut2005 (Jul 5, 2007)

Crono1000 said:


> Tanya and I have been having a difference in opinion as far as weightlifting goes.  She believes that bench pressing is primarily for men because it gives you a forward, masculine posture- arms inward and chest forward.  She suggests that women should do more back exercises to bring your arms back and chest out and up, a generally more feminine frame.  I have always worked out with guys so wut do I know, but I kinda figured it was the same for everyone and that working out your chest and arms through benchpressing would give you a feminine frame simply cuz she has da b00bies.  So who's right?



Nope, just cook and do laundry


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## AKIRA (Jul 5, 2007)

I cant think of a logical reason why to not bench.

First thing I thought was what Cow already said, poor posture.

Shit my ex never worked out but she had great posture.  A girl's posture can make or break her in a lot of cases.


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## crazy_enough (Jul 5, 2007)

Id be one unhappy lifter if I couldnt bench!!!


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## min0 lee (Jul 5, 2007)

Crono1000 said:


> cuz unlike you, some people want to look the same gender they were born as


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## Hoglander (Jul 5, 2007)

I agree that woman should bench press but they should also row. I like to bury my face in a woman's breasts and a woman that bench presses will have a better squeeze. I really like that and I like to see how long I can hold my breath in there. If the squeeze lets up before I run out of air I feel disappointed.  For this reason alone women should be bench pressing.


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## katt (Jul 5, 2007)

juggernaut2005 said:


> Nope, just cook and do laundry



That comment will get you on all the girls shit list!


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## Witchblade (Jul 5, 2007)

katt said:


> That comment will get you on all the girls shit list!


But on my Hall of Fame.


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## Crono1000 (Jul 5, 2007)

Q: What do you say to a woman with two black eyes?

A: Nothing.  You already told her twice.


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## Hoglander (Jul 5, 2007)

A: I'm here for you to make you feel safe. What do you want me to do?


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## AKIRA (Jul 5, 2007)

Crono1000 said:


> Q: What do you say to a woman with two black eyes?
> 
> A: Nothing.  You already told her twice.


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## britlifter (Jul 6, 2007)

CowPimp said:


> That doesn't sound like manly posture.  It sounds like poor posture.  I think your chest looks more "proud" if you have better resting muscle tone in your posterior muscle and you don't exhibit kyphosis, scapular winging, or internal rotation of the humeri.
> 
> The moral of the story is pressing is good for both sexes, but so is pulling.  In general, most trainees of both sexes should do more pulling.



cowpimp, when you say most should do more pulling than pushing, does that include both horizontal pulling and vertical pulling eg pullups?


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## CowPimp (Jul 6, 2007)

britlifter said:


> cowpimp, when you say most should do more pulling than pushing, does that include both horizontal pulling and vertical pulling eg pullups?



Depends on the person.  Sometimes too much vertical pulling is not the best idea if they have internally rotated humeri from hypertonicity in the lats.  I would say most people need to row more though.


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## Plateau_Max (Jul 6, 2007)

The thing about internally rotated humeri is you just need to train the antagonists of the anterior muscles like the posterior delts, scapular retractors/depressors, etc.  Rows, lat pulls, pull-ups, reverse flies, etc are not really bad for you but if your posture is messed up from over training your pecs, anterior delts, and traps you'll attract rotator cuff problems.

With anything training wise, balance is key.  Train the pull with as much attention and intensity as the push and make sure you're training muscles that oppose and support each other.  Want to train your chest?  Great, train your upper back.  Want to train your traps?  Great, train the entire range of your trap muscles with push and pull exercises.


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