Not Locking Out on Incline DB Press and Dips?

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

Would it be better for me not to fully lockout on my incline db press and weighted dips for chest growth? I find my triceps give out before I can fully stimulate the chest

2

if it helps you to work the target muscle better, then yes.

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3

You may be using too much weight if you’re trying to focus on chest and your triceps are giving out. My guess is you are putting too much focus on just getting as much weight as you can up instead of focusing on getting that mind/muscle connection.

4

Stopping just short of lockout is fine and can put less stress on the joints while maintaining tension in the muscle. But it shouldn’t be frying your triceps to go that last little bit. Not to mention, the top part of the DB press is important for chest growth
touch those DBs together and squeeze your chest for all it’s worth.

5

Locking out deloads your chest muscles. If your tris give out first try pre-exhausting your pecs with an isolation movement first.

S

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6

I’m pretty sure I remember an X-men tooth doctor telling me the opposite of this.

It does for me. Particularly in higher rep sets.

I personally like avoiding a full lockout on most of my bench sets 5 reps and over, because of how hard lockout is on my joints.

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7

This has bugged me too for a while.

Traditionally, bodybuilders pre fatigue the target muscle to “feel it better,” but common sense would have you pre fatigue the assistance muscle so you have to rely more on your target one.

So who’s right?

8

Oh god what have you done

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Common sense? -lol seriously? you’re intentionally creating a weaker link in the already weak link in a compound movement. Such an approach wouldn’t let you even reach the point of fatiguing your intended target before you dropped the Db on your head.

S

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[quote=“flipcollar, post:6, topic:243757”]
I’m pretty sure I remember an X-men tooth doctor telling me the opposite of this [/quote]

And some people just like to watch the world burn :wink:

S

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11

NoJustNo
I am so triggered right now.

Common sense would say that when you create a weak link in an exercise(a pre-fatigued muscle), that weak link fails first, making additional reps inefficient and next-to-impossible. I wouldn’t pre-exhaust my forearms to make pull-ups a better back exercise.

The guys with the bigger muscles.

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I’m afraid I’d win this one with you then


EDIT: (until stu comes in lol)

13

ELOHEL

You’re leaner, for sure, and almost 40 pounds lighter. So, not bigger by any stretch of the imagination.

In the meantime, definitely keep asking all the bigger guys how you should eat, sleep, and train. Even fake-big guys like me might be able to help you out. Oh wait, I have. Repeatedly.

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14

Chris, why are you always taking every debate so seriously, as if you spoke with so much rancor? Are you like that irl too?

I wasn’t going to reply but hey, let’s do this

You might be heavier with me (at a higher bf% no less) but aren’t you taller as well? I have looked at some of your pics and I’m not going to say anything bad because I’m not like that but if we asked ten different people to say which one of us looks like he lifts, what would they say?

And if I were to ask you how long you’ve been training for? But let’s drop it here, never mind. Really.

You know what, don’t take this as a critique but I believe you might benefit too from doing the same. Just saying.

Well, thank you for helping :slight_smile:

15

There was a recent study that showed doing flys before training chest activated the triceps not the chest. I was going to post it under prof. X vindicated.

16

I guess all those successful trainers and bodybuilders who were suddenly able to bring up weak points utilizing pre-exhaust” since it was First popularized 50 years ago must have gotten it wrong.

I’d love to see this study though, since it sounds to magically fly against all the magnetic imaging reports that show fiber recruitment patterns following different approaches and methods of performance.

S

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love you guys :smiley:

yea, stu disagrees with your common sense. And my comment was actually a joke, referring to an older, infamous thread on this site. I actually wouldn’t have an opinion one way or the other, as it’s not a subject I really think about. But Stu knows his shit.

That being said, Stu’s response above says what I was thinking was ACTUAL common sense. If you have a movement that involves 2 muscle groups, in this case chest and triceps, and one of those is failing earlier than the other, causing the other to not get sufficient work, wouldn’t you want to pre-exhaust the muscle that ISN’T reaching failure? So that both groups fail at the same time?

18

A hallmark of kids today. “Why so serious? We’re just online.” Dude, I speak 100% the way online as I do offline. When someone plants their foot firmly on an incorrect point, I don’t mind explaining why they’re wrong. Just like I did here and just like I did in the recent keto thread where you were happy to stand on the sidelines “liking” the other guy’s (incorrect) comments without actually engaging in the discussion.

There’s zero rancor here. We’re just not close enough pals for you to bust my balls with your random potshot. Yep, I’m a few inches taller than you, and yep, currently carrying more bodyfat. Is there a point there, other than confirming the definition of the word ‘bigger’? As for people comparing our pics, it’d be tough considering I don’t remember ever seeing a shot where you’re not flexing, hard. Not particularly interested in an online E-cred posedown though, thanks. That’s literally kid stuff.

No prob. You’re welcome.

19

So yeah, about those dips and stuff. For sure lockout isn’t necessary when we’re talking about muscle size. Focus more on a good stretch and strong contraction for TUT. Right? Right. Ok, good.

20

I am aware of that, I remember reading a thread from an user called professor x, perhaps even arguing directly with stu.

I don’t know man, it sounds right in theory. But if you fatigue your chest that’ll severely limit the weight you can use for your compound movements, and to me this means that even if the ratio between work being done by the chest and the Triceps makes it look like the chest is doing more, ultimately you’re probably doing less work, although it feels like more because you’re fatigued.

Whereas if you fatigue a muscle like the Triceps, which contribute less to the movement unlike the main motor which is chest, you can be damn sure that you are moving the weight using your chest (and probably shoulders).
Maybe you’ll feel weaker, but the Triceps really help with the lockout portion, where the chest is less active to begin with. So you might look like you’re moving less weight, but your chest is fresh and primed to be fatigued without other muscles getting in the way.

That being said, I won’t argue with results but I remember once reading that, “some bodybuilders aren’t big because of what they do but in spite of it.”