|
Post by Hardcore on Aug 19, 2004 23:24:43 GMT -5
1) Lie on a flat bench, your feet on the floor for balance. 2) Use a medium-wide grip so that your forearms are perpendicular to the floor when the barbell touches your pecs. 3) Raise the bar off the rack and hold it with your arms fully extended above you. 4) Bring it down slowly, ensure that the bar does not bounce on your chest , and bring it up slowly with arms straightened
This can be performed on incline to hit the upper pecs, or decline to hit the lowers. You may also use dumbells.
|
|
KaiZoKu
Ready for a new Body
Posts: 11
|
Post by KaiZoKu on Aug 20, 2004 0:35:01 GMT -5
Good info. I've been waiting for this! Update us more...
|
|
|
Post by Hardcore on Aug 20, 2004 0:39:34 GMT -5
thanks a lot
I will update on the major workouts first
|
|
|
Post by captnJ on Aug 20, 2004 3:30:44 GMT -5
Ill start with the setup. Foot to head. Along with the mistakes i commonly see
1. Feet ON THE FLOOR and DUG IN its really rubbish to have the feet in the air like i see alot in gyms. Hospital food is not very nice...
2. Arch in the back yes ARCH as tight as u can
3. Shoulder blades retracted and BOTH on the bench, no support how to push?
4. hands grip bar TIGHT try to crush the bar. Thumbs AROUND the bar if the bar slips and the thumbs are not around, then oops... punctured lung, hospital food again.
5. Bar decends and accends vertically, elbows tuck in not flared out, this reduces the angel of shoulder rotation and is safer for the shoulders.
6. Push yourslef away from the bar. It should go straight up. Check yourself (and all the people you see benching) the bar always goes up then toward their head. THIS IS BECAUSE OF WEAK TRICEPS. The bar will always follow the stronger muscle. in this case the frontal Delts, thats why the bar is drifting toward the head. IF the triceps are sufficiently strong the bar will go straight up.
By no means am i a master bencher, i believe it is my weekenst lift. And Admittedly when im going for a record or near that, my bar path is not perfect. This is why we ALWAYS work on PERFECT technique. If even with lighter wieght you do not have perfect technique, heavy weight no need to say right:)
regds Jonathan Wong
|
|
ThirDday
Ready for a new Body
HULK SMASH!!
Posts: 7
|
Post by ThirDday on Aug 20, 2004 6:14:11 GMT -5
hey capnJ, got a question for you, when i was doing my bench 2 weeks back i felt a HUGE cramp in my right trap and I had to stop. consequently I had a muscle ache / sprain that lasted 7 days ... with the pain travelling from my neck to my lower back and back over the course of that week.
my question is - how in the HECK do you think i got that cramp and since im suffering the effects of it agn - but not as bad as before -after some military press i did on tuesday, and how can i prevent it?
|
|
|
Post by captnJ on Aug 20, 2004 21:57:23 GMT -5
hey capnJ, got a question for you, when i was doing my bench 2 weeks back i felt a HUGE cramp in my right trap and I had to stop. consequently I had a muscle ache / sprain that lasted 7 days ... with the pain travelling from my neck to my lower back and back over the course of that week. my question is - how in the HECK do you think i got that cramp and since im suffering the effects of it agn - but not as bad as before -after some military press i did on tuesday, and how can i prevent it? Hmm im no doctor or therapist. But radiating pain from the neck down to the back is common because the nerves are connected. (duh) I think u have a minor nerve impingement where the nerve sheeth (dunno the medical term la) is compressed. Again this is not medica. But i think perhaps you did not warm up sufficiently and did not do enogh dynamic stretching. I would also suspect that you possibly have a formerinjury in that area and need some deep massage to get the scar tissue broken up. Or you are not flexible in the upper back, shoulder girdle. Get these things sorted out and the next nerve problems would not happen.
|
|
|
Post by Laurent on Aug 20, 2004 22:14:51 GMT -5
Another question that has been bothering me all the time, even after so much info/debates on it.
Is there really a need to do declines for bench press?
I've read that flat benching can target the lower chests juz as well. I have been benching with DBs and smith machines, and i'm pretty sure my form is pretty close to what both hardcore and captnJ has describe but my chest is less than spectecular.
|
|
|
Post by captnJ on Aug 21, 2004 0:48:57 GMT -5
declines are a good variation. They target the triceps more (like a dip) and are a good day off for the shoulders which are not stressed much. Agian i say that chest shape is genetic, not much u can do about it. No matter how much we all train its gonna be tough to become Mr olympia without the genetics.
|
|
|
Post by Hardcore on Aug 21, 2004 4:35:30 GMT -5
good reply, captnJ
|
|
|
Post by Univarse9 on Aug 22, 2004 9:02:33 GMT -5
declines are a good variation. They target the triceps more (like a dip) and are a good day off for the shoulders which are not stressed much. Would an equivalent be doing close-grip bench presses on a flat bench, for triceps development?
|
|
|
Post by captnJ on Aug 22, 2004 17:32:45 GMT -5
close grip still got the same angle of shoulder rotation, declines got less. Why not do all kinds of presses?
|
|
|
Post by Oracle on Aug 23, 2004 3:36:07 GMT -5
good advice, CaptnJ. I tried the incline smith benchpress with a tight grip and found that i can exert abit more strength as compared to the thumbless grip.
|
|
|
Post by captnJ on Aug 23, 2004 19:43:06 GMT -5
yup. if you want to lift something heavy, you need to grip tight... how rediculus to see a person loosely grip the bar and hope to move it. Try this jsut to see why, if i want to do a bicep curl (not cos its a good exercise, just as an eg.) try to crush the dumbell, you will be able to lift more. Why? try this... extend your arm and just clench your fist tight... notice the bicep contracts too. NO the forearm cannot curl the dumbell but it CAN assist the firing of the biceps. This is why we grip tight, you will notice the pectorals and delts contract too:) Its called irradiation in scientific literature if im not wrong.
|
|
|
Post by Oracle on Aug 23, 2004 21:08:04 GMT -5
cool. i will try that. any good tips as to improve the barbell row poundage? currently, i'm using straps with a thumbless grip, so there aren't much gripping power exerted; just mearly hanging the weights...
|
|
|
Post by Hardcore on Aug 23, 2004 23:35:30 GMT -5
ditch the straps, there are useless
improve on your grip, by doing farmer's walk
|
|