[qweasd]

plz clarify ur point of delts limitation in bench press ... i also want to tell u thAT i have developed strong delts from benchpress and i never had injury in delts but i somewhat face limitations in my range of motion due to delts i think..

[qweasd]

also plz clarify more the issue of cns training in powerlifting .

[tim290280]

I'll answer here just because I love having a thread all for me!! But PM's are perfectly acceptable.

I think the post you are refering to was about maximising chest activation? If so;
Benching isn't just about chest, your arms (mostly your triceps), your shoulders (mostly anterior delts), and pecs are all involved. There are also other muscles involved such as lats, but lets not go there.

So if you are naturally weak in one of those areas you will have a sticking point and develop more in the other areas. Strong delts, will see more development there while leaving chest and possibly triceps lagging. Also this means a low or high sticking point where chest and triceps respectively are more involved in the movement of benching.

My suggestion came from the idea of pulling the bar apart to promote tricep activation that Westside barbell practices. If you grasp the bar and try to push the bar together you are activating your chest (just like in flys) and when you bench doing this you are concentrating effort onto the pecs. This isn't isolation, but it does promote the pecs. Another way of hitting the pecs more is through static stretching. Static stretching 'weakens' the stretched muscle so that it won't perform at its best. So if you stretch your delts and triceps before benching you will have to use more chest. I'm currently doing something similar to help with my hammys by deactivating my glutes.

Now CNS, or central nervous system. WHen you lift you are recruiting muscles via the cns activation of higher threshold motor units. If you usually lift in higher rep ranges then the mind will recruit enough fibers to lift the weight and then recruit more as some tire to finish the lift, so less higher motor units. With low rep heavy weight stuff you can't do this. Your cns has to fire from the outset to get all the fibers from the start, hence why you can't do many reps. You get this by training regularly for max efforts (singles doubles and triples) at or near your 1RM.

When you don't lift regularly near your max then you won't be able to recruit enough fibers to perform the work. So your calculated one rep max says you should be able to bench 350lbs so you should be able to do 4-5 with 325-330 but you manage 2 shows that you are not recruiting enough higher threshold motor units.

Hope this helps. If I've missed anything or anyone else wants to jump in feel free.

[tim290280]

I posted above pretty cold. I didn't refer back to the other thread so I missed some stuff.

While what I said above still applies you really have to look at your form and address your shoulders. You mentioned not using a full range of motion, some pain (this was unclear), which means you should stop going for heavy stuff and fix the problems.

You need to work on increasing range of motion so that the bar touches the chest on every rep of every set (no bouncing!!). You need to have controlled motion without pain. Until you have these under control you have no need to be worrying about how much you bench, because your shoulders won't be healthy enough to carry on.

Strong delts don't mean strong healthy shoulders. Start doing prehab/rehab shoulder work like L-Flys, cuban presses, etc.

[qweasd]

1st im sorry but im new to forums and i dont know PM's,,, second concernaing full range of motion i feel (even in light wts ) that lowering the bar to touch my chest is not good for my shoulders nt normal motion for it i have long ARms and the baR travels long way to reach the point im talkin about above my chest .. but i have to say that i control the bar very well through tht range (i even can stop it in the way )but lowering it to touch is nt normal for me also i use wide grip and feel its better for overall chest stimulation ,, i know the importance of full range of motion and i try to do it lowemost in my first sets but in last two of 315 and 330 i cant go all way down just half way but that makes my lighter wts more controllable and give me strenght and every time i train i try to increase my range of motion in that both lifts with perfection of previous lifts ,, what s ur opinion(s) thnx

[tim290280]

What you have to understand is that the partial range of motion you are currently performing is no longer a bench press but a lockout. Lockouts train more triceps than anything.

This partial range of motion is fine when you have trained for a long time and regularly use correct form. Its that exercise that PL use to correct a sticking point. But you are looking for chest stimulation!!!

If you feel that touching the chest is bad for the shoulders then you have flexibility issues and possibly imbalances between the anterior and posterior shoulder strengths. These need to be addressed.

You can ignore what I said and not work to full range of motion. You can keep using long arms as an excuse. But you are pandering to ego to be able to post figures of 315 and 330 as your bench (which they aren't because you don't touch your chest). This is harsh but if you want to train to get a bigger chest and be able to train for many years to come, ego has to take a back seat to proper technique, and good shoulder health.

[qweasd]

i have to tell u that i perfect m form in my lifts in bench press!! but what i want to tell u tha i like to increase my lift in bench press to make my pecs grow more ,8 months ago 245 was for me powerlifting i hardly do 2 reps ,but i slowly progresed in it and now i can do it now for 10 perfect reps,, what im trying no to make 315 and 350 like it and do them all the way down like i do with 245 now .. im progressing slowly ,but every time i get something different,,also imnnt doing lockouts ,,i know well im working my chest but i think my body needs sometime to understand that it have to lift these wts and so grow next time and do it perfect for me u see ? any recommands i welcome thnx

[tim290280]

I'm not trying to be an asshole here, but from the information you have posted I think you need to take a good hard look at your training.

I've strained my shoulder before, and I've also partially dislocated my clavicle. So when I say shoulders need to be healthy and a full range of motion used I'm talking from several set backs in my training from stupidity.

If the bar is not touching the chest while performing a bench press then the stimulation of the chest is decreased, and you are performing something more akin to a lockout. A lockout is great for helping to build benching strength. But if you are experiencing problems in your shoulders when taking the bar full range then my previous advice still stands.

Benching huge alone is not necessarily the way to develop chest. The points I made in the first post in this thread will help greatly (squeezing the bar together, static stretching of other muscles). Though these methods do see I drop off in the strength expressed in the bench, though it is BB not PL.

Another point I'll throw in is; don't forget to be working the opposite motions hard as well. There shouldn't be too much difference between your barbell rowing and your benching weights.

[qweasd]

thnk u man.. when u talk about barbrll rowing so u takin to me!! l ike that exercise so much and i believe thats a great builder to back and helps my bench press go heavier ,, and about my delts i dont think in them absolutely in bench press all i think in that time only CHEST. i concentate alot in bench press and i can tell u dont worry from injuries . i control the bar very well ,,,bur my main problem is nt feeling comfortable to lower it to last inche ,, im a strong believer in increasing the wts in bench press beacuse that makes muscle grow more.. i like to combine bb and pl to get maximum growth in my same routine imean if i finish my higher reps i will pyramid up even to 2 reps then go back to do 2 sets of lighterwts with perfect control .. thnx