Specifically I’d like to ask about benching. My routine has me doing 5 sets of 5 reps with the weight increasing on each set. When raising and lowering the weight, what is the most effective tempo to use? Usually I’ll just go as fast as possible, like speed benching, no pause at the bottom. On the other hand I’ve been doing slow descent, pause at the bottom, then push it up as fast as possible. Which one’s better for developing maximum strength?
In my experience, the pause at the bottom does help strength development, since that’s the least mechanically advantageous portion of the lift (sticking point). I’d say pause a couple of seconds, but don’t dwell on it.
If you were to flick thru old PLUSA’s you’d see alot of lifters only train with pauses in the 4-6 weeks before a comp. Gaugler and Pacifico are two that jump to mind. So I’d say don’t worry about pausing all the reps unless you’re getting ready for a comp.
On tempo, control it down and press it up as fast as possible. You’d be surprised how “fast” you can get without training speed benches if you try to make ALL your reps quick.
Ok, thanks for the info.
for bench press tempo i like to lower it first then raise it after it gets to my chest.
[quote]rander wrote:
for bench press tempo i like to lower it first then raise it after it gets to my chest.[/quote]
Oh… RAISE it after it gets to the chest… damn, I usually just lower it and then lay there crying for a spot while I’m pinned to the bench.
RAISE it… gotta mark that down…
There are books out there that explain the correct methods to achieve maximum strength you should take a look at.
The faster you lift the weight, i.e the more power you exert onto the bar then more fibers recruited etc. I think thats the basic idea not sure.
Basically if you lift slow, you wont get as much weight on the bar. I say just lower it as normal and drive it up as fast as you possibly can. Also keep switching between dumbbells and barbells to increase.