Thread: My Benchpress, as promised

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Thanks Straad,

I'll try to post another clip that is stored on my daughter's phone.

I repeated the rep later that night and she filmed it from a different angle.

You are right about my triceps....they seem to be one of my better bodyparts. Whereas my chest isn't that good.

To be honest, I dunno if I'm gonna try to improve my one rep max. At my age, it places a lot of stress on the joints, supporting muscles, etc.

I'd love to bench 400Lb for the sake of ego but I think the preparation would break my body down.

Lately, I've been using lower weights but doing a really slow cadence. 5 seconds down, 5 seconds up per rep. This realy tires the target muscles. Also I'm sure it causes less joint and tendon damage.

Thanks for taking a look and giving me some food for thought. I'll let you know if I try it again

Thats a good bent over row your sons got

jokin mate. good lift.

That's a very heavy lift by anyones standards...so props to you mate.

Nice job mate.

Stradd some great comments my bench has always been a bit pants will give some of your suggestions a try.

Assistance work for chest

In a previous article I discussed benching and a couple of different techniques depending on your goals. In this article I will discuss several assistance movmenmts and how to incorporate them into your routine.

As discussed before your “weak link” is the area you stall on benching. For example if you are getting pinned to the bench then obviously you’re weak off the chest. How do you fix this? For your main movement I suggest paused flat bench in the low to moderate rep range. As far as assistance for this I like paused dumb bell work or paused floor press and these anywhere from low to high rep range. I also found that heavy db flies can add a nice boost to your off the chest power. These can be done either flat or with a sight incline in the moderate to high rep range.

Now if you’re getting stuck half way up then a different approach is needed. Once again paused work works nice here but just move the starting position up to about 2” below your sticking point. This can be done either in a power rack or with boards. Bands can also help this as well. I like behind the band back db bench. YouTube - ‪Band Db Press (www.trainatp.com)‬‏ paused floor press with db’s works for this one as well.

If you are stalling out near lockout on bench then loading up the top end will make a difference. Once again the paused pin presses will do the trick. Set up the pins about 2” below the sticking point. Banded benching or benching with chains will make a difference too. Typically these main movements work best in the low to moderate rep range. If the top end is the sticking point hitting a lot of tri work 2xw will be a great addition. I love tri ext against band tension. Decline benching with pinkies on the rings and even push press will help.

As you may have noticed a lot of the guys I train bench 2xw. I’ll typically have them do a lower session and an upper session each week.

It may be set up something like this:

Day 1
Paused flat bench, 1-3 sets of 1-10 reps
Paused db flat bench, 1-3 sets 5-10 reps
Either db or machine flies, 2-3 sets of 5-25 reps
Some type of side laterals, 2-3 sets of 10-20 reps
Either face pulls or pull a parts w/bands, 2-3 sets of 10-25 reps

Day 2
Paused pin press, 1-3 sets of 1-10 reps (normally about 4-6” off the chest)
Banded db bench, 1-3 sets of 5-10reps
Decline bench, 2-3 sets of 3-15 reps (pinkies on the rings)
Push press, 1-3 sets of 5-10 reps
Upright row, 1-3 sets of 5-20 reps
Jm press, 2-3 sets of 5-15 reps

Once again these are not set in stone but just a basic outline on how to set up a bench routine. You’ll notice I added in pull a parts or face pulls on one of the days. It’s important that you work the rear delt/upper back as that plays a large part in healthy shoulders and stabilizing your bench.

Here is a list of movements that will help your bench. Some of these can be used as the main movement and others are better suited as assistance work.

Bb flat bench, w/dbs too
Bb incline bench, w/dbs too
Bb decline bench, w/dbs too
Guillotine press
Floor press
Pin press
Push press
Dips
Jm press
Skull crushers
Tri ext
Db bench
Banded benching
Chained benching
Chain w/band benching
Suspended band benching http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...1235546631945#
Push ups
Face pulls
Pull a part
Incline or flat db flies
Machine flies
Machine side laterals
Db side laterals

Leg drive plays an important part in benching you’re looking for bigger numbers over sheer size. If you want to incorporate leg drive spend 4-6 weeks benching with your butt off the bench. Keep your feet planted and traps dug into the bench. Hold that position the entire set. This will teach leg drive.

Squeezing your shoulder blades together will shorten the stroke as well. Keep them together the entire time until after you rack the weight. This can knock 3-4” off the total stroke of the bench.

Learning to arch your lower back can knock a few inches off the stroke as well. Place a 4” piece of PVC under your lower back while benching to teach a good arch.

Benching is the opposite of dead lifting in these terms. On deads you want your arms as long as possible. On bench you want them as short as possible. Shortening the range of motion o bench lessens the amount of work required to move the same amount of weight.

Another factor overlooked in benching is that if your dead lift and squat are moving your bench will typically follow. Most guys bench will be somewhere around 55-60% of their dead lift. This is a rule of thumb I use that is normally close. There are some exceptions depending on body type and injuries.

You guys remember to do your rotator work and shoulder stretched before every upper session. Benching is a terrible movement when it comes to shoulder health. Be safe and be smart with your benching.

-EXMGQ