power benching technique

[Slapshotz]

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(scientific muscle @ Jul. 16 2007,18:31)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Sorry, slapzshot I misunderstood you...I haven't used the shirt in awhile,  The 220 for 3x5 was 'raw'.

  Once I reach 225 for 3x6 raw I am going to go for a shirted 275 lift.</div>
awesome, bro...great work!

My guess is, 255-260 is in the bag for you, at least, with the shirt.

 

[Aaron_F]

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(RUSS @ Jul. 17 2007,05:34)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"><div>
(Aaron_F @ Jul. 15 2007,18:29)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">While the lats are important for controlling the bar, they are somewhat over-rated in the big picture.</div>
Aaron F, no disrespect to you personally -but I respectfully disagree...

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Nice appeals to authoritys

but they do not provide evidence, only opinions.

Keith Wassung -

the intial drive off the chest has some small amount of lat involvement, depending on predominantly physical structure, and the amount of arch you can achieve. Depending on the lifter, the natural flaring will occur later in the movement, even in the likes of James Henderson.

Scott Mendelson -

no one has ever accidentally accused scott of being a genius. How does the back be a prime mover in transverse flexion. Never mind the actual lever arm/moment involvement.

Dietrich Buchenholz -

you understand that Dietrich aka DB Hammer is in fact a made up character?

Thomas Phillips -

hes talking about maintaining the position of the shoulder, scapula etc. Maintaining the position, especially at hte bottom of the movement is advantageous for maintaining shoulder integrity. He does not say that the back is a prime mover(sic)

Brian Schwab -

Once again, maintaining the shoulder position, arch. He does not mention a direct role for lats in pushing the weights other than 'providing a &quot;cushion&quot; to lower against and push from at the bottom&quot;

Anthony Church -

How done one push with the lats... explain it biomechanical terms.


From a research front, the best way to get greater lat activity on bench is to bench on an unstable surface.

Focussing on lats is great for maintenance of shoulder position.

The prime movers of the bench will be the transverse flexors of the shoulder joint. Pec major and minor, delts, and the extensors of the elbow joint, the triceps brachii.

There is also some involvement from the bicep brachii (typically apparent during the drive off the chest), as well as some of the other smaller mucles aroudn the shoulder capsule like the Anconeus, coracobrachialis, tons of supporting musculature etc.

The concept of the lats being a prime mover is as odd as the concept that lockouts are only triceps.

 

[scientific muscle]

I have to agree with Aaron F here. The lats are involved especially if you have an extreme arch, the arch makes the flat bench resemble a decline bench and the lats can help by pulling the arms towards the hips, but that is only with extreme arch and even then the pecs and other pressing muscles are the primary movers.

The weird thing for me is that using the 'power' technique is hitting my upper pecs tremendously, even more than incline bench does. I think it is because of the bar being low on the chest and elbows tucked, causing the front delts and upper pecs to pick up alot of the load.

 

[lcars]

ey sci! just thought id chip in.

as ive said before barbell bench press is out of the equation for a while(sore shoulders).but i decided to give power benching a go,well im impressed, what supprised me the most was dropping my elbows abit towards my side(similar to cgb)seemed to ease up all the pressure ive felt in my shoulders lately.

im gonna add this to a cycle later this year and see what happens

 

[scientific muscle]

excellent Lcars, hope it works for you.

 

[mikeynov]

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(scientific muscle @ Jul. 14 2007,14:21)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">2)I squeeze my shoulder blades 'up' and 'back' like I am doing a shrug, this stabilizes my shoulders and also minimizes range of motion.</div>
I'm surprised nobody commented on this. Hiking your shoulders up while retracting you shoulder blades probably isn't a great idea for shoulder health afaik. The retracting is good, the shrugging the shoulders up is not. It's one of the compensation patterns that happens with weak lower traps, I believe.

 

[Joe.Muscle]

Damn Sci...good to see you posting...I was wondering were you had been lately?

 

[Lol]

This is a great thread. Now that I have a bit more muscle on my back from rowing movements I can actually see the sense in using the back to help with benching. Keeping my scapulae retracted/adducted (but not raised, as Mikey pointed out) and my lats tight really helps stability and allows for better focus on the pressing movement and especially for the initial drive off the chest.

It has taken me a while to ensure that I don't let my scapulae drift out as fatigue starts to increase during a set. Allowing them do 'drop off' the bench is, I'm pretty sure, what gives me AC-joint problems on my right side; I evidently have a weakness there. Using this technique has enabled me to get back into benching again after a year off. I'm now back up to benching 250lb after just one cycle and now have 300lb+ as my goal.

 

[quadancer]

As I said in your thread: you'll make it, I did; with the same problem (even the same shoulder) as you.
Lats are an odd duck in this equation, and I tend to agree with Aaron for the most part.
a.) A muscle doesn't push; it pulls.
b.) If the torso is arched, the lats can come into play very slightly in the aspect of pulling the humerus down toward the hips, but how MUCH do we need this? It's not the angle of attack.
c.) Flexing the lats and the triceps will put them together &quot;pushing&quot; apart (assuming you have lats and tri's) causing the bar to begin movement. This may be beneficial to those who fail at the bottom; I fail at 75% of ROM like most people. But in an inch or so, the lats are out of the equation IMO.
d.) Keeping elbows in, shoulders down, back arched and shoulderblades back all puts the prime movers in a position to move the weight up. Think about it: in a lat flare, you SPREAD the shoulderblades. How much &quot;flare&quot; can the lats be actually doing here? I think they're more simply tightening up in the rearward position, creating even less of an effect than if they were actually flared. But the true flare would put the prime movers at a disadvantage.