About a week ago my boss came into work after just getting done with a training session with his new personal trainer. He was all excited about the session, he said how she showed him how he was doing exercises all wrong. I asked him to elaborate. He said that in regards to incline bench press, his form was all wrong according to this personal trainer(female). He explained that when sitting in in the incline bench you are not supposed to press the weight directly up, or perpendicular to the floor.
Rather you should be using dumbbells, light ones at that, and pressing the weight away from your body at a 45 degree from the ground(as if to be statically supporting the weight away from your body with your shoulders, as opposed to pressing the weight up). I told him I had never heard of that and that I would never do it that way. He question his trainer, and her response was that everyone in the gym does it wrong but she’s not allowed to inform them of it. She also said that this described method is better for isolating the upper pecs(which sounds like a load of b.s. if you ask me). But I write this post to find out if I’m the one in the wrong here.
There are no Upper Pecs.
I saw a guy 2 weeks ago Incline Bench 500 pounds. The bar went in a straight line. His Pecs and Shoulders were the size of Basketballs. I think he’s doing it right.
[quote]FightingScott wrote:
There are no Upper Pecs.
I saw a guy 2 weeks ago Incline Bench 500 pounds. The bar went in a straight line. His Pecs and Shoulders were the size of Basketballs. I think he’s doing it right. [/quote]
[quote]FightingScott wrote:
There are no Upper Pecs.
I saw a guy 2 weeks ago Incline Bench 500 pounds. The bar went in a straight line. His Pecs and Shoulders were the size of Basketballs. I think he’s doing it right. [/quote]
Well I have to say I agree with you for the most part, I disagree with the no upper pec assertion. I refer to that area as the pec delt tie in area. And my upper pec area has always responded well to training, especially to incline bench. My lower pec area has always been the stubborn area for growth.
That idea is just dumb. It’s only going to limit the amount of weight you can use. Some of these local personal trainers have the most ridiculous ideas.
She’s an idiot. She’s probably trying to simulate incline bench machine where you press the weight on a 45 degree angle…HOWEVER the bench is vertical so it just adjusts the angle. The weight is still being pressed vertically with regards to your chest.
I have a female at my job that is a personal trainer. I asked her about it and she said the same thing. She tried to convince me that if you press the weight the “wrong way” it will be working your shoulders more than your pecs…
He needs a new trainer. Her suggestion is totally wrong. Not only is she wrong, but she is setting the guy up for a shoulder injury by performing incline presses that way.
This way of pressing would compromise the lift, and shoulder health, by relying on the shoulder for stabilization. The shoulder would be doing a sort of front delt raise, while the triceps forcefully extend. If it’s too much weight, can you say “OUCH”?
The idea of incline is to work the upper portion of the chest by a variation in angle of the lift. Not to keep the same angle, relative to the body. This would still work the chest evenly, for the most part, as in a flat bench.
[quote]meangenes wrote:
I do this on my inc DB flies, it’s usually one of the last things I do so it’s relatively low weight. And I do notice a tighter squeeze.[/quote]
I second this. Wayyyy back when, while I was still using Fiction Fitness magazines for training advice I’d do incline flyes this way. The dumbbells would be perpendicular to my torso/the bench at peak contraction and it did create a little harder chest squeeze.
But like meangenes said, it was a light weight, so there wasn’t a significant risk of injury (like I even knew or cared about that, though.)
[quote]cxrrico7 wrote:
She tried to convince me that if you press the weight the “wrong way” it will be working your shoulders more than your pecs…[/quote]
The higher incline you use, the more shoulders are going to help. So in that sense, yeah, it could be possible to incline press the “wrong way” and hit shoulders more.
The dumbest damn trainer ever. I’d like to shoot the mofo that gave her the damn certification! Who would you listen to, the skinny ass woman personal trainer(who could also be a little muscular and lean) or the man who’s pecs can balance a glass on his chest while standing upright? She has her head way too far up her ass.
Well… if your boss has made good progress in 5 years then we will all be eating our words. I however predict that this exercise she has him doing is worthless at best except maybe for the shoulders; As you would have to use a static hold type thing to keep the dumbbells steady at 45 degree’s.
Wait a sec,… unless I read that wrong,… You sit an an angle of 45 degrees, but then instead of utilizing the new angle of your body to control the stimulation to your muscles, you press at a 45 degree angle as well, thus negating the whole point of sitting on an incline in the first place?!
If that’s what was described, then that’s just stupidity.
Meh. Yeah it sounds dumb but it’s hard to tell from the story.
Give him 3 months and see how his physique has changed.
Or better still, ask him how she’s helped reorganise his diet.
That will let us know whether she knows what she’s doing or not.
I’ll admit it. None of my clients got great results until I started controlling their eating habits. Then, overnight, everyone lost 5-10kgs and started looking like they actually lifted.
female personal trainers = dumb (and often times fat) bitches who are skilled at running their mouths and nothing else. Even more sad are the legions of confused clients who go nowhere under their “guidance.” [/quote]
Don’t beat about the bush Terc; tell it how it is!
BTW this (odd) way would really hammer your anterior delts & probably screw up the rotator cuff; infraspinatus, supraspinatus especially).
You know out of all of this we actually disregarded that his boss actually listened to this chick. How dumb was that. I guess next he’d believe if she told him that squats are performed laying down.