using momentum to benchpress

[Santa_Claus]

by that I mean... to accelerate the bar up instead of bringing it up at a constant speed.

My form is ok and I make sure to lock out at arms length but when I begin to lift the barbell, I try to give it a short burst of acceleration to bring the bar up faster. At lockout, I lower the bar in a fast but controlled way and then I proceed to start again.

Will that increase the power/explosiveness of my upper body at the expense of mass?

Thanks

 

[DaPit26]

i switch up my bench every week. Sometimes i'll go for explosive power. i'll start with say 225 and blast it up about 12 times as fast as i can. heavy days i'll start at 275 and do between 8-10, normally with a 3-0-2 tempo (5 sec). 7 secs is tough too (3-0-4) if you go for explosive power some time, bench again that week but go heavy and a slower tempo and you won't sacrifice anything. that's actually a good way to shock your fibers. my bench went 355 to 370 in 3 weeks just switching my bench up like that.

 

[Madcow2]

The 2nd part in this post has a good bit on acceleration and how it relates to the training stimulus: http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showpost.php?p=4624616&postcount=62

You want to use acceleration not momentum per se. Short answer is that if anything acceleration will help you gain muscle. It's not optimal or imperitive to strictly focus on it all the time but to ignore it and not train it is a massive disservice.

 

[bignate73]

f=ma

one goes down, the other goes up.....

 

[Illuminati]

f=ma

one goes down, the other goes up.....

not necessarily...one could go up, the other stay the same, and cause force to go up.

 

[anthrax]

Accelerate at the bottom and slow down at the end of the concentric phase (it's no so good for the shoulders otherwise)

 

[Madcow2]

f=ma

one goes down, the other goes up.....

Keep in mind for force to be constant the relationship would have to be 1:1 and you don't find that much especially at the intensity levels (%1RM) that most BBers are training at. Basically, they can accelerate the same mass thereby increasing the force output and the amount of work being done (power output will also tie in here), they just tend to keep it moving at a constant rate because they've never thought about it and that's a big omission since you can only vary mass so much and acceleration has a multiplicative effect on force output.

 

[bignate73]

not necessarily...one could go up, the other stay the same, and cause force to go up.

right,thats true. keeping something constant like acceleration while increasing the mass will keep force going up. now lets carry that over to an all or none principle with muscle recruitment. if you are holding back in order to maintain a certain acceleration on "light" sets...how effective is the set? when does it become effective? more than likely when you are putting out maximum effort to maintain that acceleration. i'm not referring to all the "squeezers" out there that hold back in order to target muscle groups. in effect they are trying to maximize muscle recruitment by decreasing acceleration. to handle that load they need to decrease mass and thus...decrease force applied. are they recruiting more muscle by this mind muscle connection? maybe, under considerable opposing resistance? no.

the reason why speed work is so effective is that its training the CNS to fire off at max speed, the force the body senses through high acceleration and lower load is close to what it feels under max load (mass) and slow acceleration on a 1RM attempt. both are recruiting the max number of muscle fibers to handle the percieved force needed.

again, it all depends on the goal. if you are looking for hypertrophy only, i still go with DC style training as being one of the best for stimulus for hypertrophy. heavy load, slow eccentric (for fiber damage), explosive concentric for white fiber stimulus.

but sets upon sets of submaximal load, with restricted acceleration is a waste of time IMO. on paper force is going up....but to the muscle and CNS only as much as is needed is being recruited.

 

[Illuminati]

right,thats true. keeping something constant like acceleration while increasing the mass will keep force going up. now lets carry that over to an all or none principle with muscle recruitment. if you are holding back in order to maintain a certain acceleration on "light" sets...how effective is the set? when does it become effective? more than likely when you are putting out maximum effort to maintain that acceleration. i'm not referring to all the "squeezers" out there that hold back in order to target muscle groups. in effect they are trying to maximize muscle recruitment by decreasing acceleration. to handle that load they need to decrease mass and thus...decrease force applied. are they recruiting more muscle by this mind muscle connection? maybe, under considerable opposing resistance? no.

the reason why speed work is so effective is that its training the CNS to fire off at max speed, the force the body senses through high acceleration and lower load is close to what it feels under max load (mass) and slow acceleration on a 1RM attempt. both are recruiting the max number of muscle fibers to handle the percieved force needed.

again, it all depends on the goal. if you are looking for hypertrophy only, i still go with DC style training as being one of the best for stimulus for hypertrophy. heavy load, slow eccentric (for fiber damage), explosive concentric for white fiber stimulus.

but sets upon sets of submaximal load, with restricted acceleration is a waste of time IMO. on paper force is going up....but to the muscle and CNS only as much as is needed is being recruited.

.

 

[bignate73]

rep range notwithstanding, the intensity should be the same. the whole force while holding back acceleration discussion isnt a factor and should have no bearing on the size or strength choice. muscle growth or fast twitch fiber stimulus, tomato, tomahto. maybe there is some love from intermediate fibers, but there is no point in slow twitch unless you like "the burn"

i assume we are talking "work sets" and how to perform them. warmups are exactly that.

i say this because some of the best programs that produce hypertrophy and strength have explosive concentrics. Rep tempos that mirror powerlifting, slower controlled negatives and as fast as you can get that bar up concentrics. Superslow training....hehe....never caught on.

 

[Illuminati]

rep range notwithstanding, the intensity should be the same. the whole force while holding back acceleration discussion isnt a factor and should have no bearing on the size or strength choice. muscle growth or fast twitch fiber stimulus, tomato, tomahto. maybe there is some love from intermediate fibers, but there is no point in slow twitch unless you like "the burn"

i assume we are talking "work sets" and how to perform them. warmups are exactly that.

i say this because some of the best programs that produce hypertrophy and strength have explosive concentrics. Rep tempos that mirror powerlifting, slower controlled negatives and as fast as you can get that bar up concentrics. Superslow training....hehe....never caught on.

i dont under the whole Superslow training crap either. yes, its true, you dont want to drop the weight down to the chest (im gonna go with the bench, because that is what the original question was about.) its more or less about finding a speed at which you can bring the bar down as fast as possible, and keep it in control so that you don't bounce the bar off your chest. then explode to reverse directions. use the bench to build strength in your upper body, and then other exercises to build hypertrophy.