Bench press dilemma

[chinnei]

Hey guys,
Long time lurker, first time poster here.
First, thanks for all the advises and knowledges as it helped me tremendously in gaining the result.

I've just got into lifting for past five months, been following pullinbig's routine, and needless to say, I gained several pounds of noticeable muscles, and I really like what I am seeing in mirror.

Now the the problem is, couple weeks ago, I tweaked something in the elbow while doing the bench, and it really bothers alot when I am doing any kind of lifting involving triceps. After searching around for the cause, I think it's the tendinitis in the elbow.
So, I am taking easy on all the tricep movements right now, but one thing I can't really afford to lose is the bench press.
What I've noticed on my bench is that, it really hurts the most when I bring the bar down to the chest. However, when I limit the motion to where the upper arm is a little above parallel to the ground, bar being about 4inches off the chest, I feel no pain.

My question is, can I settle on this motion as a bench press? Or should I just hold on and wait for it to heal?
To my surprise, I've noticed that my chest seems to be hitting quite well with that movement but I am just not sure if I should continue with it since it's not the correct form.

Again, I am just learning all these stuff as I am training, so forgive me for any ignorance.

thanks in advance.

 

[pullinbig]

congrats bro on some nice gains.

you can set up in the power rack with pins about 4" off chest. start with bar at that position and press from there. if ths is pain free and you getting a good workout have it.

here's a clip of what i am talking about. these are from higher starting position but you get the general idea.

http://ironaddicts.com/Video/406-6lockout.avi

 

[chinnei]

Wow, the form in video clips exactly what I've been doing for past couple weeks.
I am just curious, what's the difference that and the regular bench press? Is it to hit different muscles specifically?

Like you said, I think I will continue doing that, since it seems to be working for me, until the pain goes away.

Thanks for the tip.

 

[pullinbig]

i do this at varying heights to work different areas of the bench. the higher the bar the more tris it works. usually i'll start at about 4-6" off chest for a couple of sets of 3 adding 20 lbs each set. then i'll move pins up about 2" and repeat adding 20lbs each set. then one more move up another 2" and this leaves me about a 4" lockout which i use a closer grip on to really spank da tris. i add 30lbs each set on these till i cant complete a set. sets of five on these normally.

here's the 4" lockouts. note the grip.

http://ironaddicts.com/Video/515-4lockout.avi

 

[budrau]

Have you tried doing Dumbells??? I had that problem for a long time and it did not hurt as much or at all sometimes if I did Dumbells for chest.

 

[Andru1313]

where is the pain? is it on the inside of outside of the elbow. I injured the inside of my elbow (golfers elbow) I also would not stop lifting. I have a catagory 3 tear in my ligament and need surgery but opted to live with the pain. So just a heads up. Let it heal and make sure you movements are correct. I don't wish this injury on anyone. Good luck......

 

[longhorn11]

I'd let it heal bro the same thing happended to me and its taken a long time to get back to where i was..