Big Strength Gains Help!

[DarkLord]

Could someone kindly tell me or give some advice please on how to really wop up your strength in for example, bench press? I've been struggling with benching for a while now (incline) and my strength gains are slow. Don't get me wrong I mean I can on occasions bench 80kg with a spotter but my first set is still only 67.5 kg. Maybe because I'm ectomorph the gains will be slow, but if any of you can give advice whatever muscle group, would be greatly appreciated.

[threenorns]

first off, make SURE your form is correct thusly (subject to revision by firehawk, jaster, or equivalent):

• shoulders squeezed together in back to form a solid platform
• upper back and traps pressed into bench
• back arched
• stomach tight
• elbows tucked into sides (not sticking straight out)
• quads stretched so that knees are literally pointing down
• feet drawn back so only toes are touching the ground
• take a deep breath in at the top of the movement and HOLD IT until you get the bar back up - once you exhale, you lose leverage and focus
• bar should travel from just below your nipples to over your chin (it goes in a / not a | path)

here's a video: http://www.ironaddicts.com/video/ben...tt-365-raw.MOV (note that his arch is REALLY high - it doesn't need to be that exaggerated, necessarily)

secondly, make sure you're not doing them too often.

[DaRkAnGel]

Haha i thought that was Matt. He recently hit 515 shirted.

[DarkLord]

Unfortunatley threenorns, I tried to download the video but it wouldn't play.

[Firehawk]

Originally Posted by threenorns

first off, make SURE your form is correct thusly (subject to revision by firehawk, jaster, or equivalent):

• shoulders squeezed together in back to form a solid platform
• upper back and traps pressed into bench
• back arched
• stomach tight
• elbows tucked into sides (not sticking straight out)
• quads stretched so that knees are literally pointing down
• feet drawn back so only toes are touching the ground
• take a deep breath in at the top of the movement and HOLD IT until you get the bar back up - once you exhale, you lose leverage and focus
• bar should travel from just below your nipples to over your chin (it goes in a / not a | path)

here's a video: http://www.ironaddicts.com/video/ben...tt-365-raw.MOV (note that his arch is REALLY high - it doesn't need to be that exaggerated, necessarily)

secondly, make sure you're not doing them too often.

I'm impressed, where did you learn all this from?

[DaRkAnGel]

Originally Posted by threenorns

first off, make SURE your form is correct thusly (subject to revision by firehawk, jaster, or equivalent):

• shoulders squeezed together in back to form a solid platform
• upper back and traps pressed into bench
• back arched
• stomach tight
• elbows tucked into sides (not sticking straight out)
• quads stretched so that knees are literally pointing down
• feet drawn back so only toes are touching the ground
• take a deep breath in at the top of the movement and HOLD IT until you get the bar back up - once you exhale, you lose leverage and focus
• bar should travel from just below your nipples to over your chin (it goes in a / not a | path)

here's a video: http://www.ironaddicts.com/video/ben...tt-365-raw.MOV (note that his arch is REALLY high - it doesn't need to be that exaggerated, necessarily)

secondly, make sure you're not doing them too often.

You don't have to be on your tippy toes, flat footed or wedged works for some. When you squeeze your upper traps the point is to raise your upper body even more on the bench. Your base should be on your traps not your upper back. Both upper back and lower back should be arched then, for clarification.



Also, as you arch your lower back you should pretend(if you're a guy) that you are literarily trying to touch your balls to the bench and through it haha.



That's all for clarification as far as i can think of.

[Firehawk]

it is not good to be flatfooted because when you are on the balls of your feet, and you drive your heels to the ground (without touching the ground), that raises your belly up and thus cuts down the range of motion.

Plus, it's much easier to raise your ass off the bench if your heels are on the floor.

And, also when you squeeze your blades together on the bench, it gives you much more stability. You won't roll around with the weight so long as you don't "reach" for the weight. This will keep you perfectly stable on the bench. It's so easy to reach up for the weight and lose your tightness and then start rolling around.

[threenorns]

Originally Posted by Firehawk

I'm impressed, where did you learn all this from?

oh, damn... <snapping fingers>... i'm trying to remember his name.... soon's i remember, i'll let you know - he could probably teach you a thing or two <giggling>

[Jaster]

Bench Help
I forgot where I first got this from but it is a great post...

Most people don't take the time to really analyze their bench or study the body enough to learn the physiology of the muscles involved.

There are actually many more muscles involved but I will touch on the main ones.

Triceps: Probably the most important part of the bench is the lockout and where most people fail.

Upper Back: There are many muscles involved but I will summarize by saying if you are not using your lats when you explode out of the bottom you are missing something. I have yet to see a big bencher that didn't have a thick set of lats.

Rotator Cuff Muscles: These muscles stabilize the shoulder.

Pec Major/Minor: Important in horizontal adduction of the humerus. Mostly comes into play during early push off of chest just until triceps take over from front delts; important during initial push off the chest.

How To Improve

Your job is to figure out where you are slowing down and what muscle group is primarily responsible for that part of the action. People that have trained "touch and go" or stop short of the chest are going to need to do accessory exercises to help strengthen the push off of the chest.

My suggestion would be flat dumbells ALL the way until touching the chest. Also decline presses help strengthen more pec, shoulder, and 'front' lat.

Of course, nothing works better than lowering the bar slowly to the chest and using a long pause.

You will find you are weak if you have never done this before but add the other exercises and this portion will strengthen quickly. Also, many bodybuilders bench with their elbows back towards their head and the bar high on the chest. This is not condusive to a big bench.
You want to draw as many big muscles into action as possible. Try lowering your elbows and using more tricep. When I bench, the bar touches under my breast line on my xyphoid process so that I can take advantage of the power of my triceps.

Grip width is another subject matter that is very important. This varies from person to person depending on the length of the arm.

In my opinion, you have the most power when your forearm is perpendicular to the floor when the bar is sitting on your chest. You have more leverage if your forearm is directly under the bar and not at an angle.This should be your grip width.

If you are sticking during the transition phase or the middle part of the movement you need to work on explosion off of the chest with as much force as possible.

I used to bench in the rack on occasion and set the pins so that we were locked into the center part of the lift and we would pause on the bottom peg and explode until the bar was jammed against the top peg(a few inches short of lockout) and we would hold it for 5-10 seconds, repeating this for several reps. This always seemed to help pick that phase up for me.
If you are sticking about 4-6 inches short of lockout you have weak triceps. You can add chains for resistance, try power bands or, if you don't have access to these tools, try doing lockouts in the power rack.

We set the pegs at the height of the intitial lockout phase and press from that point to full extension. This does wonders for tri strength. Also floor presses (with dumbell or bb) pressing from the point elbows touch the floor to lockout. Also close grip bench on a thick chest pad works too.

Let's not forget wrist strength. Of course, you can always use wrist wraps but if you want stability you really should have strong enough wrists to securely hold the weight in position. It would sure suck to have the weight roll right out of our hands in mid-air onto your chest as I witnessed before.

Hopefully this gets you on your way to a bigger bench!

[DaRkAnGel]

Originally Posted by Firehawk

it is not good to be flatfooted because when you are on the balls of your feet, and you drive your heels to the ground (without touching the ground), that raises your belly up and thus cuts down the range of motion.

Plus, it's much easier to raise your ass off the bench if your heels are on the floor.

And, also when you squeeze your blades together on the bench, it gives you much more stability. You won't roll around with the weight so long as you don't "reach" for the weight. This will keep you perfectly stable on the bench. It's so easy to reach up for the weight and lose your tightness and then start rolling around.

So metal militia benching has no merits?

[Firehawk]

Originally Posted by DaRkAnGel

So metal militia benching has no merits?

Metal Militia benching is precisely what im talking about. I have a bench seminar video in which SB shows exactly how to drive the heels but not be flat footed.

MM is all technique by the way, they aren't very strong raw...relatively speaking. Awesome shirted benchers though. Actually, i think SB only benches 770 or somethin (cant back that up, i heard it). Clay benches 915 . Then again, Gene benched 1005 .

I just went through Clay's 6 hour seminar. It was bad ass.


Here you go Dark, fresh off MM's site...
Lets start with feet position your feet should be spread wide. A good rule of thumb here is to always spread your feet a little wider than you think they should be. If you keep that in your head over time you will be able to get them pretty wide if you are not flexible enough to do so in the beginning .Now lets look at foot placement. The way we will do this is to look at the foot in relation to the knee. The feet should be tucked behind your knee more towards your head and the angle of your leg from a side view should look like this (<). There is a few reasons for this foot placement the first being the ability to drive hard from your legs without your ass coming up off the bench. The second is stability. The wide stance will provide the base needed to steer heavy weight with a bench shirt on. The actual way you place your feet is also important. We have found that it is best to put the full force of your push onto the balls of your feet but at the same time pressing the heel to the floor. Pushing the heel to the floor can be used as a fine adjustment knob for getting weight to touch your chest with your shirt on. When you push your heel down this will cause your stomach to rise and will allow the bar to touch.

You dont actually want to be flat footed though. You just wnat to drive your heels toward the floor which makes your belly come up so you can bring it to the bar. Burns demonstrated it in his bench seminar video. He's pretty amazing though as big as he is and can get such a great arch. He wasn't letting people get away with ANYTHING!

http://www.metalmilitia.net/articles...onBenching.htm

[DaRkAnGel]

I was referring to that article, but never thought about it the way you interpreted it.

I still have seen quite a few flat footed benchers though.

[Firehawk]

They weren't using MM techniques then . It really helps to see the demonstration in the videos. He has every bencher there set up properly and he goes through it several times, probably over a hundred times in the video.

I mean, you can drive your heels to the floor but if you are touching the floor then it's taking the force off the balls of your feet and MM preaches to put all the force on the balls of your feet.

Yeah not everyone uses MM setup to the tee anyway. Ryan Kenelly has an ugly bench press. He's a slow bencher. Then you got Mendelson who rockets 900 up like i move 135. It's crazy.

[DaRkAnGel]

Originally Posted by Firehawk

They weren't using MM techniques then . It really helps to see the demonstration in the videos. He has every bencher there set up properly and he goes through it several times, probably over a hundred times in the video.

I mean, you can drive your heels to the floor but if you are touching the floor then it's taking the force off the balls of your feet and MM preaches to put all the force on the balls of your feet.

Yeah not everyone uses MM setup to the tee anyway. Ryan Kenelly has an ugly bench press. He's a slow bencher. Then you got Mendelson who rockets 900 up like i move 135. It's crazy.

We'll see how what you told me today effects my workout tomarrow. I have allowed myself one additional day off as i was feeling weak today.

Tomarrow when its time to go, im going 200 mg caffeine, big meal, and hopefully nailing all my sets.

[DaRkAnGel]

As far as Kennely, I think its safe to assume that he has a pretty tight setup regardless of who you compare him to. His numbers show that, I believe.

And Mendelson's 915(?) did look hella easy.