Posts Tagged ‘bench press’

Resistance Band pushups as good as bench press

On a recent post I mentioned my lifeline power pushup that I intend to use to build up to equal a 400lb bench – which I used to perform at the gym on a machine.

Well now there is some scientific research to backup resistance pushups.
According to sports scientists at the University of Valencia in Spain you can work on your chest muscles without doing bench presses. If you use an elastic band, push-ups are just as effective as bench presses.

Weighted push-ups
The Spanish experimented with students, all of whom had experience with strength training. The researchers got 10 of them to do bench presses twice a week for five weeks, while 10 others did push-ups.

Of course you can train harder by doing bench presses than push-ups. The researchers got round this by making the push-ups heavier for the students by using a resistance band. This meant that the subjects in the push-up group did just as heavy sets, and the same number of reps, as the students in the bench-press group.

Increase in strength
Before and after the training period the researchers measured the amount of weight with which the students could just manage 1 and 6 reps – their 1RM and 6RM. The strength parameters increased in both training groups. The training effect in both groups was also statistically significant.

Conclusion
“The push-up exercise with added elastic resistance provide a feasible and cost-effective option that may be performed anywhere and may be used as an alternative to traditional bench press exercise in order to provide a high intensity stimulus in the prime movers involved in the action and produce maximal strength adaptations”, the researchers write.

“Physical therapists and strength and conditioning specialists may use this information to select or include one of the both exercises performed during a resistance training program.”

Source:
J Strength Cond Res. 2014 Jun 30. [Epub ahead of print].

Grip Training will Blast Your Bench

Finally after many months I am seeing a huge pay off in my Bench Press from grip training. I normally do my Bench work on a machine as I don’t have a training partner.

I like to train alone so thats the way it must be. So the stack on my bench machine has 96 KG max. I stack 20 KG plates onto the machine to add weight.

So several months ago I thought I was doing good benching 300 lbs. Yesterday I did 4 reps with 387 lbs. My goal is 400 lbs by the end of the year which should be easy given its only July. My 387 was after 5 sets ranging up from 300 lbs. The odd thing is I don’t feel any stronger than I did months back and honestly apart from my hands and forearms I don’t think I am.

The other trick I know for bench is to squeeze the traps all through the range of motion both up and down. Also you want to do serious stretching with a stick and with swinging arms between each set.

Bench Press Secrets Manual Coming Soon

Hey folks I’m putting together a new manual specifically on bench press.

It will be pretty factual and straight to the point covering the following so far:

Bench Press Anatomy

Bench Press Bio Mechanics

Bench Press Form

Bench Press Routines

FAQ

Its fully illustrated and so far I am up to about 20 pages. I hope to get it to between 30 and 50 pages.

This WILL NOT be a freebie but will be super cheap like about $7 – $27 maybe. I have all the bench press manuals and books so am extracting the best information and putting it all into my manual.

Join my optin list and download the anatomy manual to be informed when the bench manual is available. www.FreeFitnessGuru.com/FreePassword.html

World Bench Press Record

The bench press is an exercise in which the lifter lies on his/her back on a weight bench, lowering the bar directly above the chest. It is intended for the development of the chest, or pectoral muscles , frontal shoulders, serratus, but a variation exists for the triceps.

The bench press is an exercise in which the lifter lies on his/her back on a weight bench, lowering the bar directly above the chest. It is intended for the development of the chest, or pectoral muscles , frontal shoulders, serratus, but a variation exists for the triceps. In weight lifting , however, where the focus is to achieve a single very heavy repetition, the force for a bench exercise is exerted by both the pectoral and tricep muscles.

The world Bench Press Record for the heaviest benchraising at 1005 lb (456.8 kg) was set by Gene Rychlak under International Powerlifting Association rules in November 2004. It must be noted that the different lifts federations and gyms have subtly different rules on technique, the equipment that is allowed and whether performance enhancing drugs are tested for.

The heaviest “raw” Bench Press Record (without equipment such as denim shirts) is 713 lbs (324kg) by Scott Mendelson. Many people regard this as a greater achievement than Rychlak?s 1005 lb press. Classic bench presses may not be suitable for every athlete, if you experience a lack of development, switch to other exercises, i.e. dips, butterfly or other exercises involving dumbells.

Perform your bench presses carefully and slowly. Do not use the momentum of the downward movement of the barbell to let it bounce off your chest and push it explosively back upwards. At least, you bereave yourself of the negative and power building phase of the exercise. This exercise should always be performed with a spotter to catch the bar in case it is dropped on the chest.

Varying width grips can be used to shift stress between pectorals and triceps, and between the inner and outer pectorals. It can also be performed with dumbbells to incorporate greater use of the stabilizer muscles. Each variation is intended to work different subgroups of muscles, or work the same muscles in slightly different ways.

World Record Bench Press Video

Scott Mendelson 1015lb Bench Press

Is that Freaking or what !!!

The dude is 314 lbs and has abs. Not bad since most powerlifters tend to have a belly.

His are Tips as follows:

1) Put your back into it:

Big chests do not make big bench presses. Proper technique makes the primary movers the back (latissimus dorsi), triceps, and rear deltoids. On a standard 15-17″ bench, pull your shoulder blades together so the shoulders rest on, and not off, the bench’s surface. This shortens the distance from the chest to full extension and eliminates your arms’ weakest range

2) Lift with your legs:

Put your body into a near-full arch when performing a maximal-lift bench press: support your body on the toes or balls of your feet by putting your feet underneath your body and arching your back. Squeeze the bench between your thighs to stabilize your body and use leg drive to initiate the lift from the bottom.

3) Train for triples:

Dedicate one work-out per week to the bench press, performing 5-8 sets of 3 reps with 5-7 minutes between sets. Use 60% of your 1-repetition maximum (1RM), adding 5-10% per workout.

4) Emphasize tricep, rear deltoid, and brachialis development:

Following the above 5-8 sets of bench press, perform one exercise for rear deltoids, one exercise for triceps, and one exercise for the brachialis. Perform 3 sets of 10 repetitions with 2-4 minutes between sets.

Rear deltoids-
Using a seated pec deck machine (used for crossing the arms in front of the body), reverse the motion by facing the opposite direction and moving your arms backwards.

Triceps-
Choose either A) tricep extensions or B) board presses (place a 4×4 board on the chest and perform bench presses within this partial range of movement).

Brachialis-
The brachialis is a muscle on the outside of the bicep that supports arm movement at the elbow. Perform hammer curls (bicep curls where the thumb is kept pointing to the ceiling and the palm is not turned upward) to address this bodypart.

5) For safety, do not use a “false-grip”, where the thumb is placed under, rather than around, the bar:

“Once I was bench pressing with a false-grip and I got 584 lbs. to lock-out. The spotters thought I had it, so they took their hands away. The bar slipped, and 584 lbs. bounced off of my chest twice. I couldn’t breathe properly for 2 months, but I had no broken bones-not even a bruise.” Moral of the story: Hold the bar at shoulder-width with your thumb wrapped around the bar-safety is a precursor to efficacy?and results.

Train systematically, train intelligently, and follow the guidelines of the world’s #1 bench presser to actualize your true genetic strength potential.

Welcome to FreeFitnessGuru.com

Hey welcome to my new website and this is the blog of course.

I guess Ill keep a training diary of sorts here, give news updates, post video’s and contests and also communicate with you folks through comments.

If you pump iron and love working out then you will find plenty of value in the coming months.

For now i have a benchpress video i just stuck up on youtube.

 

Hope you find it usefull. Most folks would be lifting alot more if they isolate properly. Next post I’ll share my Bench Press warmup technique.

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