Maple Syrup Strength (littlesleeper)

Strong as always Sleepy, that looked strong, fast and almost easy.

Ok not doing the movement for 7 months = 25 lbs PR :thinking:. Damn you!
Haha, I’m kidding. Excellent work man!

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Strong as always my friend. I tested last night and even with good gains over the last 7 months I still have to work harder to catch you. Quality

It did seem to pop off my shoulders pretty quick but battled it a bit to finish the rep. Thought about putting 3 plates on the bar, but decided to just take the PR and walk away happy.

Thanks Mr!

Thanks Mort, one of those days that just feel strong, so I decided to push it a bit.

:wink: Thanks Ko.

Thank you Simo, slow and steady!

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Nice grind on this bench, dude. Your power off your chest is insane. You definitely have a sticking point from about halfway-3/4, but the lockout after is strong. Good discipline on not going up too - big numbers are there soon. Big meaning big for you, since 305 is probably 20 lbs over my max right now, haha.

Thanks Flap! Oh man, that sticking point has haunted me. I have no idea how to fix it. My current program does seem to have a fair bit of triceps work in comparison to other programs I’ve run, and my bench does seem to be progressing…so…there is hope.

This is something I’m working on. I am often tempted to go off script and do something high risk, but I’ve been better recently and playing the long game.

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5th Set Bench M3/M3
Over Warmup Bench
135 x 10
225 x 1
315 x 1 ← this weight popped right up. I debated on throwing 25’s on and ripping a quick single at 365, but decided to wait for it (375lbs is lifetime TnG bench PR).

WG Bench
185 x 20+5
185 x 18+2+2+2+1

Rolling Tris
35 x 15, 15

Cable Tris
60 x 25, 25, 25, 25

Band Pullaparts
34, 33, 33

Dips
10, 10, 10

A good quick workout (~40mins). Bench is feeling good. I guess after push pressing 300lbs, 315 on the bench doesn’t seem so bad! Looking forward to PRing this lift after a plateau since January 2017…

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Hard to tell from the angle but it seems like that sticking point might be loss of position. It looks like your sticking point happens when your elbows flare.

Your setup is very similar to mine, and I have a problem if my elbows flare too early. I don’t mean you have to tuck like crazy, because you don’t, but you should keep your elbows from flaring until you’re much closer to lockout.

So, if that’s what is actually happening the fix won’t be triceps work but drilling position and making your lats and upper back stronger. Chesting up to the bar will also help.

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Do these really make a difference for you guys?

Board Press fixed mine. Talk to your coach or make an executive decision and do board presses instead of WG Bench. WG Bench hits more pecs which should help off the chest (as that is mostly pecs and lats). That explains why your are strong off the chest but have a weak lockout.

Training Board Presses will also train you keeping position in that ROM so if it is a form issue like Markko mentioned win win.

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I think this is likely the case for me. I’ve never really felt like I have nailed the bench technique. For awhile I really focused on tucking my elbows and touching a little lower on my chest and that did not help me at all (after benching like that for a year or more). More recently I started touching a little higher, with a little more elbow flare and a closer grip, and it seems to be moving well again. I still have that nasty sticking point though.

Thanks for the comment Mark, I’ll have to try and apply some of these suggestions.

No, very tongue-in-cheek comment lol. They don’t do anything other than add some comfort and warmth to my sometimes cranky elbows.

I may do this for a cycle or two. I’m my own coach right now, so the choice is mine!

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tenor (2)

MWAHAHAHAHA!!!

I was thinking a bit more and there are a lot of options. Chains, Bands, slingshot even a bench shirt. Anything that makes lockout harder than off the chest. That list is actually in order of how much carryover I assume (no real idea) they would have. With Board Press hypothetically having the most. They are also in reverse order of hypothetical fun LOL.

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Shirt and Singshot have very little carryover, if any. They change the movement too much (especially a shirt).

Board press is good, chains and bands ok if used in moderation.

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My bachelor thesis would like to differ. :open_mouth: Although I admit that the findings are not apply-able since they weren’t done on competitive athletes and with not in any way enough athletes but as far as I know more research is conducted to add to my findings. So I can hopefully come back to you on this one.

An Australian study done on competitive powerlifters measured muscle activity per EMG and compared traditional bench press to slingshot bench press (I am telling from memory but I am sure I could find it again if anyone is interested). It surprisingly found that the triceps activity is actually decresed in the slingshot bench press compared to the raw bench.
So if it aids the lockout portion specifically is debatable. Although it might help to be aware of elbow flare.

I don’t have any stake in this btw. I don’t know shit about benching for the sake of benching more. I just wanted to mention publicly that I have a useless university degree. This was my chance

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Not surprising, the slingshot rockets it off your chest so your triceps don’t need to work as much.

I don’t know of many good raw benchers who use a slingshot much.

The surprising part from the author’s perspective was that they thought the slingshot would aid off the chest and then the triceps would take over.

I don’t know any either. I would really like to do the study as I did it again with only competitive powerlifters. Which isn’t going to happen and will probably not happen in that way anytime soon because of the logistics required and the commitment of the participants to devote 10 weeks of their training to the study.

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It’s a flawed tool for raw bench development I think.

It changes the movement enough to have little carryover, and also makes the whole movement much, much easier; or lets you handle weights you are far from able to without it.

I think the lightest one can have some benefits if you have an injury aggravated by pressing off your chest, but it will still be somewhat different to benching without any slingshot. You could most probably get the same protective effect from a one-board or a shoulder saver without benching any differently to normal.

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I’m not sure on the whole topic yet.

@littlesleeper might be too advanced to benefit from the slingshot but that generally no one’s raw bench press benefits from the application of it would definitely be wrong. Like empiracelly proven wrong, haha.

Like any other other tool there is it probably depends on why your are using it and if it is a good fit for you specifically.

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You be careful with that voodoo and logic.

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This is super funny. So the gym owner uses one periodically and I asked how much he thought he got out of the Slingshot and he was like eh not much. I asked what his best bench was vs his best slingshot bench. It was 455 vs 585…yea not much.

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