In the past I have mostly used barbells for my pressing exercises. I have been using dumbbells more lately for chest. I have been getting stronger, going north of the 100 pounders for flat bench and close to that for incline. Nothing super impressive, but not bad for me.
Anyway, I have found as I have gone heavier, apparently I have bad technique for getting the 'bells into position, especially for inclines. What seems to be normal is to kick the weights up with your legs, but for whatever reason, that feels unnatural to me. Basically instead I have been doing what amounts to a seated power clean using upper body drive, mostly back, to get the weights up.
That seems to be taking a toll on my joints and think I need to re-examine what I am doing. I more or less do the same thing with flat bench, although there is a little more leg drive. Not sure why am like this, other than that is how I started with lighter weights and now it is more noticeable as not feeling right.
I guess to me it just feels less secure to kick from the top of your thighs up to your shoulders. Using that method it seems like your rotators are taking the brunt of the strain whereas your whole upper body is engaged more with what I have been doing, or so I thought. Anyway, I know I cannot use as much weight for getting the 'bells into position properly that I can press with, so should I just practice the kicking up motion and use barbells until I get better at it?
I have never mastered the ‘kick-up’ myself. I ‘powerclean’ the d.bells for incline & O.H. pressing. For flat, I place the bells on my knees/thighs and fall back into position.
[quote]BlueCollarTr8n wrote:
For flat, I place the bells on my knees/thighs and fall back into position. [/quote]
Agreed. This is definitely one of the easier, or at least less-stressful, ways to get into position. It also allows you to start the rep from the top, rather than beginning in the stretch position.
For incline, depending on how steep the incline is, you may be able to do something similar. DBs on thighs while standing, then sit with an upright torso (without putting your back on the bench), then bring your back down while bringing the legs/DBs up.
The other alternative for incline would be to have the DBs on your thighs while standing, then sit upright without putting your back down, and then kick the DBs to shoulder-level one at a time (so you briefly have one DB on your thigh and one almost in a finished hammer curl-position), and then lay down into position.
Forget where I heard it but the saying was if you aren’t strong enough to get them in position yourself you probably aren’t strong enough to be pressing them in the first place
[quote]chobbs wrote:
Forget where I heard it but the saying was if you aren’t strong enough to get them in position yourself you probably aren’t strong enough to be pressing them in the first place[/quote]
[quote]chobbs wrote:
Forget where I heard it but the saying was if you aren’t strong enough to get them in position yourself you probably aren’t strong enough to be pressing them in the first place[/quote]
Elliot hulse
[/quote]
Maybe this Elliot Hulse fellow is saying this in a different context like improving sports performance, but for simply working your upper chest it’s quite ridiculous.
My thoughts on this assuming you go to a standard gym where dumbells are 120-150 max. If your goal is to get much stronger than you currently are, what dumbells will you use when you finally reach that goal if your already trying to use them now? Why do you need to use the same dumbells as the biggest guy at your gym?
[quote]chobbs wrote:
Forget where I heard it but the saying was if you aren’t strong enough to get them in position yourself you probably aren’t strong enough to be pressing them in the first place[/quote]
Elliot hulse
[/quote]
Does Mrs. Hodge know there was a third one that night at the hospital?
You could switch to bb for awhile for a new stimulus, or if your deadset on db, i bought a pair of powerhooks from another bodybuilding website for $40. You place the hooks on a bb and place the dbs on the hooks as they are suspended above you. It saved my shoulders and i had more effort for the lift. And you get to start from the top position
[quote]sufiandy wrote:
My thoughts on this assuming you go to a standard gym where dumbells are 120-150 max. If your goal is to get much stronger than you currently are, what dumbells will you use when you finally reach that goal if your already trying to use them now? Why do you need to use the same dumbells as the biggest guy at your gym?[/quote]
I kick my legs up as I’m sitting down on the bench to kind of use the backwards momentum of sitting back to help shoot the dumbbells into place. When I’m done I basically just do the same thing in reverse to dismount.
[quote]csulli wrote:
Alright OP I did inclines with DB’s just for you.
I kick my legs up as I’m sitting down on the bench to kind of use the backwards momentum of sitting back to help shoot the dumbbells into place. When I’m done I basically just do the same thing in reverse to dismount.[/quote]
[quote]infinite_shore wrote:
Listen to this guy. Just look at his great ROM.[/quote]
That’s some bodybuilding ROM bro! If you go down too far you won’t build any muscle. Everyone knows that.
[quote]infinite_shore wrote:
Listen to this guy. Just look at his great ROM.[/quote]
That’s some bodybuilding ROM bro! If you go down too far you won’t build any muscle. Everyone knows that.[/quote]
Yeah, but you had your shirt on and that kills all gainz. Everyone knows THAT.
[quote]csulli wrote:
Alright OP I did inclines with DB’s just for you.
I kick my legs up as I’m sitting down on the bench to kind of use the backwards momentum of sitting back to help shoot the dumbbells into place. When I’m done I basically just do the same thing in reverse to dismount.[/quote]
That must be what a Chia is! You should get him to post funny shit allover the interwebs/ could make supplemental income from youtubes. Like 30 cents a week, shit adds up
[quote]chobbs wrote:
Forget where I heard it but the saying was if you aren’t strong enough to get them in position yourself you probably aren’t strong enough to be pressing them in the first place[/quote]
I agree with this. I just always use the kickup method for incline and just slowly lay back for flat bench dumbbells.
I never understood why some people feel the need to use shitty ROM and 1-3 reps when pressing dumbbells because they are far too fucking heavy.
This misses me getting them up, but at the end I put them down the exact way I take them up in reverse.
