BF2S Forums Workout Programs & Diet

I decided to have a go at seeing what my 1RM on the bench press is. I didn't quite prepare as well as I should have and it had een a long day, yet is still managed to get to 77,5kg. It's more than I was expecting and more than my bodyweight, so I'm quite contempt. Considering the not so ideal circumstances, I think I might be able to hit 80kg

youre welcome

Got a new routine at the gym, PT is trying to kill me. Feels good the next day though.

An afternoon of Olympic rapid fire, working on the 6 and 4 second series, followed up with a swim, some beers and christmas pudding.

Feels good.

Weighed 83kg before the xmas/NYE hols.

After drinking every day and eating whatever I felt like, I weighed myself today, two weeks later...

I weighed 83kg

like a boss

I lost strength

But I also lost another kilo

I found 60kg bench hard and then the second set I got pinned under the bar at 55kg. How embarrassment.

I actually looked around for help but no one noticed so I got it off myself. 55kg isn't that heavy.

The consolation there is I was going deeper than I had been when I was doing 70kg bench (bringing the bar to a couple inches above my chest, this workout I was bringing it down to my chest).

Bring the bar down below your nipples. If you're bringing it down to your armpit or higher it's definitely stressing the shoulders.

If it is causing actual pain in the joints then you should stop and reassess your technique. If technique is sound then perhaps you need to use dumbbells instead. I would suggest in my clearly-non-expert-but-decently-read opinion (and personal experience with joint pain the past few months in both my left elbow and right shoulder) than unless you experience pain in your wrists you should still be able to use a barbell, as the plane of motion is similar between dumbbells and barbells but the wrist angle is of course slightly different.

Look up Starting Strength and how they do a bench press. Plant your feet wide and flat on the floor for balance. You should arch your back and keep your head on the bench, but do not let either shoulders or glutes lift from the bench at any point. This adjusts the angle so more stress is taken off the shoulders and onto the pecs. Keep your grip wide enough so your forearms are always vertical during the movement and keep your elbows from flaring out to the sides. By doing this you should be removing any unnecessary stress from the joints and putting more stress onto the muscles.

You may already know all this

If your form is good and you're not smashing your body each week by trying to be the world's strongest powerlifter or working out twice a day, six days a week you'll be fine. It's common sense to be aware of any joint or ligament pains and address them as soon as they occur.

I'm not a crossfit fan but my PT put me onto this as I have shoulder issues from time to time, and I will need to do this long term to correct a rolling forward of the shoulders that I have had for years (bad posture).

Bench pressing always stresses your shoulders, this is common knowledge. If you have issues with this, make sure you tuck your elbows in as you bring the bar down. If you still have problems, keep the bar an inch or two above your chest instead of touching it. While I don't recommend this it may be better for some people because they may just have weak/bad attachment in their shoulder tendons (like my brother) which means they'd get injured if they try touching the chest with too heavy a weight. If all else fails consider dumbbells, if this too fails; machines / pushups (it just means that you're not built to bench).

Stimulating the shoulders directly may also help in preventing pain; do standing military presses. One arm pushups also stress the shoulder muscles (quite heavily so) and will be helpful. Regular pushups do so too though to a much lesser degree. As for where to make the bar touch the chest; nipple line. Not above or below (though slightly can be forgiven).

Watching your form is always important. The important part here is not putting people's ego's down (though that is the effect as that 1 or 2 inches difference can mean a 10-15 kg drop in your max) but that they're not doing themselves any favor by not doing the excersise properly. The point of that nasty 'proper form' (touch your chest, squat parallel or below it (that's parallel on quads, not the hamstring) etc etc.) is that you're stretching the muscles to optimize strength/size gains. It's all about causing tears in the muscle tissue which will heal themselves after training, a full range of motion leads to more tearing of the tissue thus more gains when it heals. It will help in both increasing your lift and/or size depending on what you're after.

Oh and when you touch the chest, don't bounce it.

Last edited by Shocking (2013-01-10 11:33:20)