Not giving the target muscle a breather during a set is critically important for muscle growth. That blood-flow blockage, or occlusion, has been shown to boost size and strength significantly. The problem is, sometimes you lose tension on the target muscle without realizing it.
Take the bench press. You already know that if you push all the way to lockout, you can lose tension on your pecs. What about dumbbell bench presses? A short stroke on those can help keep tension where you want it as well, but there’s another problem with dumbbells: Because the weights are independent and your hands are free to roam, it’s much easier for you to lapse into a groove that hits your delts and/or triceps instead of your chest—especially if you have weak nerve force in your pecs to begin with. Think about it...
When you push with a bar, your hands have a natural inclination to drive inward toward each other as your pecs contract. Of course, they can’t move in because you’re gripping the bar; however, that static inward pressure is instrumental in keeping tension on your pecs throughout the set, and it becomes even more important when you blast out X Reps at the end of the set when your chest is hammered with fatigue products. Your pecs will stay better engaged for a big mass blast.
With the realization that tension-retention phenomenon when switched from dumbbell bench presses to barbell bench presses. The burn and pump is much more pronounced with the barbell, no doubt because of low neuromuscular efficiency in the pecs (a weak bodypart for some). You can still do partial-range reps, but you should also grip the bar hard to put extra emphasis on that inward pressure for max pec-tension effects—which will produce new soreness and visible results! (Try it—attempt to crush the bar as you press; you’ll feel it working!
I am not saying that dumbbell bench presses are worthless for pec development? Absolutely not! They can be great for those who have good neuromuscular efficiency in their pecs—you’ll know because you’ll feel your chest muscles stay engaged throughout the set, and then you’ll feel a rush of blood to those muscles after. Dumbbells also allow for a deeper stretch, and you know how important stretched- and semistretched-position work is.
Here’s another benefit of dumbbells: The freedom of movement allows for much more stabilizer-muscle work, which can improve your barbell bench press strength. (Bullet-proofing your rotator cuff muscles is very important for staying injury-free and moving bigger poundages!
Because of those benefits, I suggest doing at least one set of dumbbell bench presses after your normal barbell bench presses. Here’s an example: do one superset of wide-grip dips (staged style) and barbell bench presses (with X Reps or in Double-X Overload style) for our lower/middle pecs. Then do one lone set of heavy dumbbell bench presses, usually with X Reps. Do all of those sets through only a partial range so you max out pec tension on each. Talk about pumped pecs in only a few minutes (3 sets)!
Now you may already be doing barbell bench presses and know exactly what I'm talking about. But that’s only one example. You should analyze every exercise from the tension-retention dimension. For example, if you have low neuromuscular efficiency in your pecs, the top of a crossover may be a trouble spot—where your pecs can relax and divert stress to your front delts. Keeping your rib cage high, shoulder blades together can help alleviate that problem—don’t cave in your chest—but even then you can still lose pec tension. It may be best to stop short, before your hands meet. Also, keep the weight moving, no pauses.
haha[b said:Quote[/b] (lievinthenow @ Jan. 11 2006,123)]
