[quote]RebornTN wrote:
LiarPantsOnFire wrote:
think about stretching the muscle before oyu begin a rep. begin each rep from the most stretched position that you can. in other words, for example on the decline dumbbell bench (this will be harder to do on barbell benches), instead of feeling like the hard portion of the rep is the pushing portion, feel instead like the goal of the rep is to get as LOW as you can at the bottom of the rep… get into as stretched a position as you can.
i suspect it will make a difference…
dan
Don’t you run the risk of injury if you go past where you “line up” with your back (Thought I heard somewhere that going back to far would injure some body part…)[/quote]
no, i have never heard that, and the pre-stretch technique is something that i try to use with all my exercises (in particular, Romanian Deadlifts, pullovers, dips, calf raises). the ONLY risk that i can imagine is if you are not lowering under control… maybe you’d tear something or something like that, but that would be if you were being really stupid. lower the weight under control and just bring it down until you feel a stretch in your pecs. i mean, if you aren’t going to use the full ROM, you ought to be using a barbell instead of DBs. the only reason to use DBs is to get a larger ROM. in most other ways, using a bar is the more effective way to do the exercise.
can anyone else chime in here on using a full ROM (and thus beginning each rep from a stretched position)? has anyone else heard this is “dangerous”?
dan
[quote]LiarPantsOnFire wrote:
RebornTN wrote:
LiarPantsOnFire wrote:
think about stretching the muscle before oyu begin a rep. begin each rep from the most stretched position that you can. in other words, for example on the decline dumbbell bench (this will be harder to do on barbell benches), instead of feeling like the hard portion of the rep is the pushing portion, feel instead like the goal of the rep is to get as LOW as you can at the bottom of the rep… get into as stretched a position as you can.
i suspect it will make a difference…
dan
Don’t you run the risk of injury if you go past where you “line up” with your back (Thought I heard somewhere that going back to far would injure some body part…)
no, i have never heard that, and the pre-stretch technique is something that i try to use with all my exercises (in particular, Romanian Deadlifts, pullovers, dips, calf raises). the ONLY risk that i can imagine is if you are not lowering under control… maybe you’d tear something or something like that, but that would be if you were being really stupid. lower the weight under control and just bring it down until you feel a stretch in your pecs. i mean, if you aren’t going to use the full ROM, you ought to be using a barbell instead of DBs. the only reason to use DBs is to get a larger ROM. in most other ways, using a bar is the more effective way to do the exercise.
can anyone else chime in here on using a full ROM (and thus beginning each rep from a stretched position)? has anyone else heard this is “dangerous”?
dan[/quote]
afull rom is required…the bottom of the movement should be a couple of centimeters off the chest,this requires that the elbows are lower than the back. if you bench only the top part of the lift that is why the tris burn…the chest is activated the most from the bottom part of the movement until the middle.then the tris take up the most part of the movement
peace
g
Alright, so I’ll aim to get my grip in a more of a “in between” so as to work my pecs more.
I was told that you should be benching it down so that there should be a space around the size of your fist between your chest and the bar at the bottom of the motion. Is this a good general rule for barbell bench press (flat)
no, I meant when you grab the bar where are your elbows at the start of the bench. Are they spread way out as if you were trying to do files or are they no more than a 45 deg angle from your body. And look at th knurling on the bar there is a smooth line on the bar which should measure 32" apart. These are the rings I’m talking about.
When I start my elbows are in a 90degree angle 9 (basically looks like I’m in pushup form)
I don’t have a standard olympic bar, so there is no 32" smooth line on the bar. I am also using an old hand-me-down bar, so this may be the problem also.
I don’t touch the bar down to my chest, I thought it was better to leave a hands width of space between the bar and your chest?
i got told from a few big blokes in the gym i work out in to drop the barbell. according to them dumbells provide a better stretch at the bottom and a better squeeze at the top so increases the range of motion used and also increases muscle fibre use by something like 20% they think.
[quote]sid132 wrote:
i got told from a few big blokes in the gym i work out in to drop the barbell. according to them dumbells provide a better stretch at the bottom and a better squeeze at the top so increases the range of motion used and also increases muscle fibre use by something like 20% they think.[/quote]
Ah, well that’s as good reasoning as I’ve ever heard. Thanks for sharing the info.
[quote]RebornTN wrote:
When I start my elbows are in a 90degree angle 9 (basically looks like I’m in pushup form)
I don’t have a standard olympic bar, so there is no 32" smooth line on the bar. I am also using an old hand-me-down bar, so this may be the problem also.
I don’t touch the bar down to my chest, I thought it was better to leave a hands width of space between the bar and your chest?[/quote]
I would first like to say that I’ve been training for Powerlifting for the last 2 years so I’m a bit biased in my training techniques as of late BUT I did start off by bodybuilding. I’m certainly not a published author but I do know how to get weights moving with proper form. I would also like to state that a barbell benchpress is not a great pec builder. If all you care about is getting a swole chest do dumbells. The benchpress is a compound movement right? Compound meaning many muscles used. The pecs are not the primary movers in a barbell bench press.Their actuall the fourth!
90 deg angle, as in straight out? If so your not even using your pecs when your bench. Your using your front delt and upper lats. No wonder you can’t feel shit in your pecs. YOU ARE DESTROYING YOUR SHOULDERS WITH YOUR ELBOWS OUT LIKE THAT!!! STOP NOW OR YOU’LL REGRET IT LATER. Arms MUST be close to your sides in a barbell bench press.
2)YOU MUST TOUCH YOUR CHEST and pause. If you were to complete in a benchpress contest and not touch you get redlighted. What you are doing is a great example of “how not to bench”. You may have to drop a few pounds to get your form down but you don’t press much now anyways( no offense meant bro)Seriously work on your form, fuck the weight for now.
get your bar and find the exact midle of it. Mark it with a aSharpie or some tape. Then measure 16" out from the center on both sides. Mark the bar again with something. Your 1st finger on these rings will hit the front delt / pecs more. Pinky on these rings will hit your tri’s more.
[quote]StrengthDawg wrote:
RebornTN wrote:
When I start my elbows are in a 90degree angle 9 (basically looks like I’m in pushup form)
I don’t have a standard olympic bar, so there is no 32" smooth line on the bar. I am also using an old hand-me-down bar, so this may be the problem also.
I don’t touch the bar down to my chest, I thought it was better to leave a hands width of space between the bar and your chest?
I would first like to say that I’ve been training for Powerlifting for the last 2 years so I’m a bit biased in my training techniques as of late BUT I did start off by bodybuilding. I’m certainly not a published author but I do know how to get weights moving with proper form. I would also like to state that a barbell benchpress is not a great pec builder. If all you care about is getting a swole chest do dumbells. The benchpress is a compound movement right? Compound meaning many muscles used. The pecs are not the primary movers in a barbell bench press.Their actuall the fourth!
90 deg angle, as in straight out? If so your not even using your pecs when your bench. Your using your front delt and upper lats. No wonder you can’t feel shit in your pecs. YOU ARE DESTROYING YOUR SHOULDERS WITH YOUR ELBOWS OUT LIKE THAT!!! STOP NOW OR YOU’LL REGRET IT LATER. Arms MUST be close to your sides in a barbell bench press.
2)YOU MUST TOUCH YOUR CHEST and pause. If you were to complete in a benchpress contest and not touch you get redlighted. What you are doing is a great example of “how not to bench”. You may have to drop a few pounds to get your form down but you don’t press much now anyways( no offense meant bro)Seriously work on your form, fuck the weight for now.
get your bar and find the exact midle of it. Mark it with a aSharpie or some tape. Then measure 16" out from the center on both sides. Mark the bar again with something. Your 1st finger on these rings will hit the front delt / pecs more. Pinky on these rings will hit your tri’s more. [/quote]
You are telling someone to use PL form on bench in a thread titled “Improving pec growth”?
True enough but the kid asked for help. I’m throwing in another facet to the iron game. There isn’t as much difference in “powerlifting” type training vs “bodybuilding” other than rep scemes and special excercises. The technique may differ but a benchpress is a benchpress for the most part.
[quote]StrengthDawg wrote:
True enough but the kid asked for help. I’m throwing in another facet to the iron game. There isn’t as much difference in “powerlifting” type training vs “bodybuilding” other than rep scemes and special excercises. The technique may differ but a benchpress is a benchpress for the most part. [/quote]
except for where you put your elbows. You suggested he keep his elbows close to his sides. You also said that the flat bench isn’t a good mass-builder for the chest, and that the chest comes in 4th place when listing the main movers in the exercise. Do you see the connection? And you still don’t see a problem?
[quote]Aleksandr wrote:
StrengthDawg wrote:
True enough but the kid asked for help. I’m throwing in another facet to the iron game. There isn’t as much difference in “powerlifting” type training vs “bodybuilding” other than rep scemes and special excercises. The technique may differ but a benchpress is a benchpress for the most part.
except for where you put your elbows. You suggested he keep his elbows close to his sides. You also said that the flat bench isn’t a good mass-builder for the chest, and that the chest comes in 4th place when listing the main movers in the exercise. Do you see the connection? And you still don’t see a problem?
[/quote]
Who’s making it a problem? I simply have added my 2 cents. You / everyone else has the option of taking it or leaving it you obviously have left it so why are you still typing rebutals of my post. I stated I have a Powerlifting lean on my opinion because It’s worked out well for me.
Yes the barbell benchpress isn’t the BEST PEC developerbut it has its place. The guy says he didn’t “feel it” so to me that was a form issue. Would you not agree?
How have you been progressing? How much of a beginner are you? If you’ve been working out a while and primarily focused on upper body your chest is not going to get as sore anymore, doesn’t mean it’s not growing. Legs tend to get the most sore, I don’t know why but thats just how it is.
Any time you are trying to make your chest grow, I think some sort of flye should be in your routine. Whether you use it for a pre-fatigue, or alone. You should definitely do a heavy barbell bench, the bodybuilding way is a little more stress on the shoulder so when going real heavy you may want to get closer to the pl method to be on the safe side.
Add more sets of bench/ whether it is dumbell or barbell and go up in weight and reps every week.
When you hit the bottom of your sets pause think about the chest muscle and concentrate on squeezing them to move the weight up. Try to do it explosively, if it goes up too fast, next workout go up in weight.
legs always hurt because the quads are largest muscle on the body. just think of it cos u walk on ur legs after u train them, just like if u walked on ur hands after training arms u would fail miserably.
and ive done barbell benches for a while like you have said but i find it seems to devlop outer pecs an the inner pecs are left thin, so i switched to db presses an the inner pecs seem to be thickening up nicely, not to mention on incline presses my shoulders feel alot more comfatble