I do bench press on Friday for 4 sets of 4-6. My shoulders are bad so I wanted to know if I could increase rep range to 8-10 and still gain strength. Is it better to 1 rep shy of faliure so say I can do 10 I will do 9 and never fail? If I always fail I most likely won’t gain anything right?
I do bench press on Friday for 4 sets of 4-6. My shoulders are bad so I wanted to know if I could increase rep range to 8-10 and still gain strength. Is it better to 1 rep shy of faliure so say I can do 10 I will do 9 and never fail? If I always fail I most likely won’t gain anything right?[/quote]
My first concern would be, why are your shoulders bad? This may be caused by a technique problem or could be a stability or balance problem. Are you flaring your elbows or tucking them? I believe a substantial amount of gains can be made by just correcting bad habits and learning the proper technique. What is your age, height, weight and expierience lifting? What are your goals, general strength, want to look good, powerlifting, etc…? What does your weekly workout look like? Let us know everything(sets, reps, exercises), and some of us may be able to help.
I would try 3 whole body workouts a week. Concentrate on basic compound exercises like SQ, DL and Bench, BB rows, clean and presses, chins, etc. At your level your arms, etc. will grow with out a bunch of direct work.
My suggestion is to use neutral grip DB flat presses or DB neutral floor presses. In the mean time, before getting back to benching, work on your shoulder stability problems or go see a PT.
With This, you could use the westside for skinny bastards template, down the road changing the exercises as you make shoulder progress.
Maybe go ME with neutral DB flat press and RE work with floor presses (assuming you can find a partner)
There are articles on shoulder stability on here. Look them up.
I do bench press on Friday for 4 sets of 4-6. My shoulders are bad so I wanted to know if I could increase rep range to 8-10 and still gain strength. Is it better to 1 rep shy of faliure so say I can do 10 I will do 9 and never fail? If I always fail I most likely won’t gain anything right?[/quote]
In what way are your shoulders “bad”? This is important, becuase you could make them worse if you do an exercise that causes you pain.
As for going to failure, some say you should and some say you shouldn’t. Do what works.
NEVER do exercises that cause that sort of pain that goes with injury. If you have to do 8-10 reps to be painfree, do that.
When I was about 12 I could dislocate my shoulders myself and when I went to the doctors for it they told me that it was fine and I was just double jointed so I kept doing it because I thought it was cool and it never hurt. Later on when I started lifting at 15 it causes problems. I got up to 150lb bench press at 135lbs and it started to hurt.
If your shoulders are bad, you need to PULL YOUR SHOULDER BLADES TOGETHER WHEN YOU BENCH! Use a wider grip, and don’t train chest heavy more than once a week. This is advice I’ve gotten from over a dozen guys over the last 20 years, and they all bench well over 500lb and don’t have problems with their shoulders.
Also, try to become more of a tricep bencher, which means as you lower the weight, your elbows are going to be closer to your body, instead of out wide.
It might be that your shoulder girdle (the structure of muscles, ligaments and tendons that make your shoulder joint stable)is weak. You need to do rehab exercises and use natural anti-inflammatories like flax oil.
I have been using anti inflammatorys, ice, etc. My shoulder has no pain right now really I do use a wide grip and it’s not that at all. I am not doing tricep bench which is having your hands closer. I only work chest heavy once a week directly.
[quote]reconyah wrote:
My suggestion is to use neutral grip DB flat presses or DB neutral floor presses. In the mean time, before getting back to benching, work on your shoulder stability problems or go see a PT.
With This, you could use the westside for skinny bastards template, down the road changing the exercises as you make shoulder progress.
Maybe go ME with neutral DB flat press and RE work with floor presses (assuming you can find a partner)
There are articles on shoulder stability on here. Look them up.[/quote]
[quote]XxXxRobxXxX wrote:
I wanna try something else and I have been running out of ideas maybe never training to failure will work[/quote]
Try the Westside for skinny bastards template. I also wouldn’t do my heavy bench day right after my heavy squat day if my shoulder was giving me problems.