weak point - shoulders

[the koala]

my weak point are my shoulders, at least i guess as much

i recently finished a three week period of floor presses as a max effort exercise, i could up the weight each week,

yet, when i got near my max i lowered the bar until my elbows touched the ground then pushed, i easily got it some inches of the starting point, then the weight gets stuck, moves icrendible slowly until i can feel my tris taking it over and muscling it up

first i thought my triceps where the problem, or my lats and too little drive of the starting point, but the way i see it my shoulders are weak

i train alone and i got to go by feeling, but the way i see it my speed of the chest isn't the best but it's there, then when my shoulders should take over and drive the weight to the tris they fail and my tris do all they can to muscle it up

also when doing close gripped rack lockouts i found myself not lowering the bar to a position where it would be parallel to my chest, but rather a little higher, about the level of my collar bones, which means that my forearms in relation to my upper arms have an angle lower than 90°, my rack lockouts where more of a hybrid between racklockouts and high jm presses

if i'm right in the assumption that my shoulders are weak - what could i do the get them up to par?
are there any good ME exercises for shoulders? any good assistance exercises?

i haven't yet done any ME shoulder exercise, for assistance i do front plate raises, side plate raises, incline db presses, ...
not all in one workout of course,

thanks in advance

 

[BadboyAl]

I dont think you have a shoulder problem. But if you want to strengthen your front delts do incline work for 2s 6-8reps. Also side Lat Raises 8-10reps for a few sets.

I think you have been doing to much JM Presses. You didnt develop any strength off your chest. Anyone can bench more off a 3 or 4 board Concentric only. You need to add in some good old flat bench ME days. Develop strength on the full range of motion.

I dont know how experienced you are but start with building a foundation with flat benchs. JM Presses should be an addition to flats not the major part of your bench work if your fairly new to powerlifting.

 

[the koala]

I dont think you have a shoulder problem. But if you want to strengthen your front delts do incline work for 2s 6-8reps. Also side Lat Raises 8-10reps for a few sets.

I think you have been doing to much JM Presses. You didnt develop any strength off your chest. Anyone can bench more off a 3 or 4 board Concentric only. You need to add in some good old flat bench ME days. Develop strength on the full range of motion.

I dont know how experienced you are but start with building a foundation with flat benchs. JM Presses should be an addition to flats not the major part of your bench work if your fairly new to powerlifting.

that's exactly it, i also thought that my problem is as you put it 'strength of my chest' but i can drive the bar away from my chest and it get's stuck about the height of 2 boards (maybe 1 3/4 boards actually), which could also mean that as you said my chest is weak and my shoulders have to give all they got to muscle it up until the tris overtake

about flat benching as ME work, i always thought that flat benching per se shouldn't be done as an ME exercise, or do you mean a variation like with a close grip or with added bands?

thanks in advance,

 

[BadboyAl]

I think your confusing ME Squat with ME Bench. FOr Squats WSBB style doesnt actually squat they do other exercises that mimic or work the muscles used for the squat.

For Bench they do Flat, Incline dif grips dif boards... Tons of Bench options, they have a list on the elite fitness website. Bands are good but build a base. I wouldnt start using bands righyt away.

Here is an example of something I do (But know that I dont bench for powerlifting competition.)

2 weeks Flat Bench Close Grip 1rm then 4board close grip 1rm
2 weeks Incline Wide Grip 1rm then 4board Incline Wide Grip 1rm
2 weeks Flat Bench Wide Grip 1rm then 4board Wide Grip 1rm
1 week light repition work...70-75% 1rm for lots of reps....
back to the above cycle with some variation.

 

[the koala]

oh my god, i got this wrong all the time...

seemingly i took it for granted that the principle of not squatting on ME squat days is the same for ME bench days,...

thanks a whole lot for clearing this up!

so logically, if i'm weak off the chest it would mean - doing some wide gripped flat/incline ME work, right?

 

[BadboyAl]

oh my god, i got this wrong all the time...

seemingly i took it for granted that the principle of not squatting on ME squat days is the same for ME bench days,...

thanks a whole lot for clearing this up!

so logically, if i'm weak off the chest it would mean - doing some wide gripped flat/incline ME work, right?

LOL...

off the chest doesnt mean your chest is weak.. There could be several reasons why your slow off chest. Off the chest is were pretty much everyone has a problem with.. Doing wide and close grips will help. Also make sure you doing your T Bar Rows or sometime of row. Your Lats assist in the 1st few inches off the chest. And finally Make sure you are doing only 50-60% 1rm on your speed day. You need to develop your reactive speed.

I think you need to review WSBB routines.. Go read.