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Replacing lifts
- Thread starter danbo
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cwc73
New member
Hey musketeer, I always see you giving tons of advice on here. Some of it I don't agree with, but you do give a lot of good stuff in my opinion. You always seem to give a different perspective to things. So, do you have any body pictures that you could post in a thread or email me? Thanks man. Oh, and I'm not bashing you at all bro. K to you
musketeer
New member
Thank you buddy, I consider you to be one of the hardcore!
I'm 6'0, 215 (right now) and lean enough to see the outline of my abs.
I've been fighting injuries for a year, and so I'm about 10lb lighter than I have been at my best. My best pictures were on a laptop computer that was stolen (bad excuse, I know) but I've got some of me (off cycle - I've only ever juiced twice for 8 light weeks each) that I'll post up for you, where I'm about 225lb:
I'm 6'0, 215 (right now) and lean enough to see the outline of my abs.
I've been fighting injuries for a year, and so I'm about 10lb lighter than I have been at my best. My best pictures were on a laptop computer that was stolen (bad excuse, I know) but I've got some of me (off cycle - I've only ever juiced twice for 8 light weeks each) that I'll post up for you, where I'm about 225lb:
cwc73
New member
Sorry for hijaking this thread bro.
But, Nice back dude. Thanks for the complements. I try to think like the hardcore people in here although I don't really have the build for it. You can however tell what I do concentrate on dude to my wider than normal back and pretty cut up legs. My arms are like big, but not the most defined. I'm going to run a HST cycle for 8 weeks to try to bring up some points and heal up a little from the extremely high intensity 5X5 and 3X3. So thanks again! Nice pics!
But, Nice back dude. Thanks for the complements. I try to think like the hardcore people in here although I don't really have the build for it. You can however tell what I do concentrate on dude to my wider than normal back and pretty cut up legs. My arms are like big, but not the most defined. I'm going to run a HST cycle for 8 weeks to try to bring up some points and heal up a little from the extremely high intensity 5X5 and 3X3. So thanks again! Nice pics!
musketeer
New member
It tends to be that the exercises that you are least good at will give you the most gains (benefits) if you get good at them.
I like the low incline press (25-30 degrees) because it stresses my chest and takes stress out of the shoulder joints (that are most often injured when flat benching) and hits the upper pecs (clavicluar) as well as the bulk. By doing dips as my other chest exercse, the entire chest complex is blasted from all angles. I do pullovers as well, to hit the pecs from a completly different angle without using my tricpes as the other muscle group and to hit the rib cage and serratus (as well as lats). I do al three on different days so tha t my chest gets 3 different workouts a week.
If you dont like the incline press because you feel the fatigue in your delts, then if you have a high incline bench like a 45 or 55 degree bench, lower it by putting plates under the foot end to tip it back (make sure it's safe). The fukwits at my gym only bought ONE incline bench and it is fixed at 55 degrees so I will always put 2-4 24lb plates under it!
Failing that, perhaps the dumbel movement will suit you better. I would keep inclines in if I were you!
I like the low incline press (25-30 degrees) because it stresses my chest and takes stress out of the shoulder joints (that are most often injured when flat benching) and hits the upper pecs (clavicluar) as well as the bulk. By doing dips as my other chest exercse, the entire chest complex is blasted from all angles. I do pullovers as well, to hit the pecs from a completly different angle without using my tricpes as the other muscle group and to hit the rib cage and serratus (as well as lats). I do al three on different days so tha t my chest gets 3 different workouts a week.
If you dont like the incline press because you feel the fatigue in your delts, then if you have a high incline bench like a 45 or 55 degree bench, lower it by putting plates under the foot end to tip it back (make sure it's safe). The fukwits at my gym only bought ONE incline bench and it is fixed at 55 degrees so I will always put 2-4 24lb plates under it!
Failing that, perhaps the dumbel movement will suit you better. I would keep inclines in if I were you!
danbo
New member
I've have tried dumbells, it just makes it worse, i can't keep balance with them (maybe because i'm quite new), if i'm going to be honest i don't like bench press all together, it seems to be putting strain on my shoulders and not my chest. In the 3 months that i have been training my chest doesn't appear to have grown, whereas my shoulders have.musketeer said:
Any tips to take the strain off my shoulders and onto my chest when do normal and inclined bench press?
p.s. I use the Smith machine as i go to the gym alone.
blut wump
New member
Where do you position yourself to lower the bar to?
I used to lower it to quite high on my chest and then switched over to lowering it to just below my nipples. It felt strange for a while but it also helped to lift a shade more and never bothered by delts.
Dump the Smith if you can, even if you work out alone. It will cause your stabilizer muscles to atrophy which is why you have such trouble keeping balance. Provided you don't have the bar over your neck, it's not pleasant but neither a problem to have the bar come down and have to crawl out from under it. If you have a power rack, you should be able to set the bars up to keep you safe and be able to do free-weight benching.
I used to lower it to quite high on my chest and then switched over to lowering it to just below my nipples. It felt strange for a while but it also helped to lift a shade more and never bothered by delts.
Dump the Smith if you can, even if you work out alone. It will cause your stabilizer muscles to atrophy which is why you have such trouble keeping balance. Provided you don't have the bar over your neck, it's not pleasant but neither a problem to have the bar come down and have to crawl out from under it. If you have a power rack, you should be able to set the bars up to keep you safe and be able to do free-weight benching.
musketeer
New member
OH!
Well screw the smith! It keeps the bar locked into a straight line, whereas the BP is supposed to move in a slght 'S' shaped grove as it goes up and down. Use a weight that you can do for about 10-12 good reps and stop when you are on the last rep you can confidently do. Get a spotter (just ask someone whp looks strong enough - most people are happy if asked nicely) for maybe the last few sets.
ALSO
For about the first year, my bench press was terrible, and I couldn't feel it anywhere other than my shoulders or my triceps. We need/ed to build the shoulders up before we will get the benefit of the exercise. Imagine that you are expanding your chest UP to meet the bar as it lowers. Your shoulders should be fully retracted and squaeezed into the bench - accomplished by spreading your lats. Your back must be arched so that there is a gap between your lower back and upper back, where you are not in contact with the bench. It's like you are using your entire body to power the weight up. Your legs should not move at all, your feet flat on the floor with knees at about 90 degrees, with tension running through them.
If you can get the hang of al this, then the bench will be completely different.
One cool thing to do may be to do pushups, but do them very slowly and deep and perfectly like you are making an instructional DVD or something! Becasue the pushup requires you to support your whole body, you will be used to doing this when pushing from a bench.
There are lots of bench threads here, check em out and good luck...
Well screw the smith! It keeps the bar locked into a straight line, whereas the BP is supposed to move in a slght 'S' shaped grove as it goes up and down. Use a weight that you can do for about 10-12 good reps and stop when you are on the last rep you can confidently do. Get a spotter (just ask someone whp looks strong enough - most people are happy if asked nicely) for maybe the last few sets.
ALSO
For about the first year, my bench press was terrible, and I couldn't feel it anywhere other than my shoulders or my triceps. We need/ed to build the shoulders up before we will get the benefit of the exercise. Imagine that you are expanding your chest UP to meet the bar as it lowers. Your shoulders should be fully retracted and squaeezed into the bench - accomplished by spreading your lats. Your back must be arched so that there is a gap between your lower back and upper back, where you are not in contact with the bench. It's like you are using your entire body to power the weight up. Your legs should not move at all, your feet flat on the floor with knees at about 90 degrees, with tension running through them.
If you can get the hang of al this, then the bench will be completely different.
One cool thing to do may be to do pushups, but do them very slowly and deep and perfectly like you are making an instructional DVD or something! Becasue the pushup requires you to support your whole body, you will be used to doing this when pushing from a bench.
There are lots of bench threads here, check em out and good luck...
cwc73
New member
Definately drop the smith. I work at my gym, and I have never once put one person on that thing. Ok, well I just thought of one person I put on it because she couldn't do the bar on squats. I just put her on it to build up a lil strength to be able to switch over to the bar.
Smith MAchine = Big Pile of Garbage
Smith MAchine = Big Pile of Garbage
psychedout
New member
Did you take this workout from the arnold encyclopedia?
psychedout
New member
danbo said:
Looked liked something I remember reading in it. Just curiousity really.
rbtrout
New member
Don't get rid of the incline benching......just get good at it. I have shoulder problems, as well, and have found that about a 30 degree angle doesn't bother my shoulder. I also prefer dumbbells, as the barbell bench really bothers my shoulder. I used to struggle with doing 40-50 pound dbs on incline, but decided to get good at it instead of giving up. I did my first set of 95 pounders (with a spot) last week. You just gotta hang in there. Don't use the Smith machine, as all of the stabilizer muscles will go away.
musketeer
New member
criffer said:
Thanks man. I'm 225 in those shots but a little fat for me. My best has been me at around that same weight but much leaner. MY legs used to be my best bodypart, but my knee injuries have sidelined that for a while. They are healing nicely now due to my intense physio schedule, and I'm looking forward to being able to post some pictures of me all massed up for winter by the end of the year!
Id reccomend training incline presses hard and excluding military barbell presses. Thats worked best for me. Training the incline press hard with a good amount of sets and maximum intensity. I like to hit inclines on a seperate day from flat bench so I can give equal treatment to both. Then since the front delts get so much work, Ill hit alot of lateral raises for my shoulder day. Inclines and shoulders Id usually hit the same day. Id also throw in some heavy cybex or hammer strength presses for the front delts. Training them this way forced them to adapt and grow I believe. Rear delt work you can do on any day really. Even multiple times a week. They seem to recover pretty fast. Ive always done a minimum of 12 sets for small bodyparts like shoulders and 15 for larger body parts like back and legs. When I was at my best though I was hitting 40+ sets of chest per week, split into an incline day and flat day with extras added to both days. Extras like cable flies heavy and push-ups, or hammer strength and cybex machines to failure. Most all my sets are to failure. Id do an additional 12 sets for delts. Any reason you want to exclude inclines? I had it split up something like this:
Thursday: Flat bench,speed bench, and extras for chest
Sunday: Incline Bench,Extras for chest and then shoulders
The rest of my split isnt too important. Its all based on my individual recovery, and thats something that takes alot of feeling out. KEEP KILLING THAT SHIT!!
Thursday: Flat bench,speed bench, and extras for chest
Sunday: Incline Bench,Extras for chest and then shoulders
The rest of my split isnt too important. Its all based on my individual recovery, and thats something that takes alot of feeling out. KEEP KILLING THAT SHIT!!
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