So recently I heard about a different type of bench press form. Instead of the conventional idea that you pull your shoulders blades back and down, you pull them back and up in a shrugging manner.
Has anyone used this/heard about it? It’s also in one of the videos on T-Nation. There was a thread about this before but not much information on it.
More curious about it than anything else.
I prefer to listen to the advice of the world record benchers and others who have benched 700-800+ pounds. They seem to all say the normal way you first talked about.
I do not know of a single lifter in the world of powerlifting that uses this method…IMO, the people perpetuating this style are swindlers and charlatans trying to make a name for themselves in the fitness industry, where all the good ideas are cornered or boring, so they have to come up with bullshit to sell their product.
Agreed with VTBalla. lol at people trying to make new methods .
When you see people regularly hitting 500+ lbs benches using the latter method, start thinking about using it. Unless, of course, you don’t give a crap about powerlifting, in which case I don’t know why you’re in this forum. For bodybuilding purposes, if you felt shrugging your traps upwards helping you stimulate your chest more, by all means, go for it.
The point is to have something stable to bench off of and decrese the distance the bar has to travel. Elevating your scaps away from the bar path is not going be efficient. Either retract in a neutral position or slightly depress your scaps.
Personally I think that the difference is raw vs geared lifters. People always say tuck your elbows, bring the bar down lower on your chest, and push up and out. When thats great for geared lifters, but for raw lifters the most strength comes from having the elbows flared out (but not too much), and with the shoulders shrugged up. Just try it out for yourself, I am no world record bencher, but I know it helped me tremendously. It really helps you use your chest rather than your triceps. The one downside is it creates more pressure on your shoulders, which is something you have to monitior.
I would compare this scenario to throwing a shot put. When throwing a shot put you are taught to keep your elbow up as high as possible, rather than throwing it with your elbow tucked. This is because you get more power with the elbows up, but as with bench, it can be a bit harsher on the joints
[quote]HatersGunaHate wrote:
Crickey! That was sooo easy!
This is the only place i’ve seen what you’re talking about though i’ve never tried it myself
[quote]Remu_87 wrote:
This is the only place i’ve seen what you’re talking about though i’ve never tried it myself
Bench Press - YouTube [/quote]
He sounds like someone that has never worn a bench shirt.
Not everyone bench with gears
[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:
I do not know of a single lifter in the world of powerlifting that uses this method…IMO, the people perpetuating this style are swindlers and charlatans trying to make a name for themselves in the fitness industry, where all the good ideas are cornered or boring, so they have to come up with bullshit to sell their product.[/quote]
i definitely lol’d.
im pretty sure it was Thibaudeau that brought the shrugging “method” to T-Nation.
[quote]@JC_Tree_Trunks wrote:
Personally I think that the difference is raw vs geared lifters.[/quote]
It is really more about exposure and risk. For powerlifters the ‘Bench Press’ is a meet event regardless of raw or gear. You may train variations of the bar press, but some type of bar press is in your rotation every week (plenty of exposure). If you screw-up your shoulder it can set you back years. The ‘power’ style set-up provides the greatest advantage to PUSH the bar and generally places the least stress on the shoulder, resulting in fewer injuries over years of work. Just ask some of those high volume ‘guillotine’ style guys that are in their 40s or 50s now what they would do different if they could.
I attempted to read the indigo livespills before and CT clarified that he only shrugs the traps a little, and retracts the scaps. He still forces the traps into the bench. He wrote it within the last two weeks, but good luck finding it. I’m not bothering to look for it.