Double post here for a question (this might be proving your point but here goes): I was reading Matt Reynold's article about increasing your raw bench, and it said your elbows should be 45 degrees from your chest. I'm paranoid about injuries and for a long time I've benched with my elbows pretty much flush with my sides, not even 45 degrees at all. Am I losing anything on the lift this way? I've seen gains in strength and size in all the right places, but if 45 degrees is superior to basically flush then I want to fix that.

edit - haha, reading your post makes me wonder... instead of automatically saying "read the stickies and do rippetoe's SS" to every beginner, maybe the default answer should be "learn perfect form and THEN do rippetoe's SS!" i wonder how many people would skip the first part and do the second?