The Past Sessions:Summary and Analysis of each lift.
Bench Press-
The bench has really been coming together lately. I attribute this to daily pressing and upper body work. The competition technique is practiced every other day or so depending on how I feel.
Variability is what makes daily pressing possible. Here are a few of the factors involved:
Load, grip, angle, implement, speed.
My competition technique is trained mostly during the speed/volume day. My bench press technique is as described in Pavel’s PTTP Pro. However, on light days, or repetition days, I use the BB technique with my legs up. This is more of a flow exercise that gives the shoulders a ? pump and stretch, done smooth and very steady. I feel this is great for recovery and the stabilizers, which don’t get much work with the push press style bench.
My Competition bench technique-
My competition technique is about speed and power off the chest. This is accomplished by a perfect setup, descent and bar placement on the chest. My arch is beat when moderate on the liftoff but the goal is to increase it on descent. This is done by pulling in the lats on the unrack to properly place the bar, placing the weight on the feet by glute tension, and allowing the larger muscles of the body to carry the load. The legs, hips, back and chest. For speed, the arms are somewhat loose.
Keys ate
-moderate arch, wide grip
-shoulders down, chest up, weight on feet
-squat and throw the weight like a push press
-tension on press is on largest muscle groups
-body is a spring ready to explode up.
I like to treat the bench more like a throw then a grind Press. A push press. Competition training uses mostly long pauses to really entrain the bottom position and develop drive off the chest.
Drive vs Explosive
I talked with an older trainer a while back who was hip to the old school ways. I was blowing through deadlifts, swinging my back around. He started talking about strength and how slow/high tension movements were the key. When I asked him about explosiveness, he corrected me and said I was looking for drive, not explosiveness.
Explosiveness is scattered, chaotic, reckless.
Drive is controlled, channelized, focused.
We are looking for cruise missile accuracy in the movement, which sometimes requires slower training, hence the slower negatives, pauses at sticking points and extra upper body stability work.
Load/frequency/volume
In order for frequent training, fatigue is kept at bay. Accumulating volume without fatigue has been a key for my progress. I never push to psyching or into poor motor mechanics. When I do, it’s okay. I just call it quits and take a few light days doing dips, pushups, or dumbbell work….anything that makes my shoulder feel
better, not tired or overworked.
I want to train heavy, but most of my work is in the 60-85% range. To increase load without inducing fatigue, I will incoorporate lower stress/higher load exercises. This is accomplished by reducing ROM.
My choice of exercises to do this will be:
Board Presses, Bridge or Decline Presses
This will get my heavy needs in. Supra max lifts have great weight in increasing the main lift. The trick is to not go
too heavy. I think using your full ROM training max and doing sets of 3 is plenty fine. This gets you accustomed to holding heavier weights, developing stability, confidence and “reserve strength”.
Light days serve several functions: recovery, hypertrophy, balance.
The shoulder is one of the most mobile/vulnerable joints in the body. Think of all the angles it can accomplish. When you add a moderate resistance, you have many angles to strengthen it from. Doing just bench presses can cause issues…
Inclines, dips, flies, overhead presses, side presses, dumbbell presses, pushups, side planks, not to mention all the corresponding angles to pull from or work the posterior of the shoulder.
I believe these areas can and should be worked daily, using a variety of moderate exercises, each serving a different functions. For example, if the pecs are tight from bench, BTN Presses can be used to open the chest up for squatting and develop all the other intricate muscles around the shoulder that this unique angle uses. Movement quality is number one priority…always.
Training this way has kept my pressing feeling strong. This week, I have done
DE Bench- 185 x 3 x 5 sets (2 second pause)
Feet up Bench - 165 lbs x 10 x 2 sets
Incline Bench 165 x 5 x 3 sets
Bench Press- 205 lbs (3 second pause), 205 lbs x 2 (pause on chest, pause at sticking point, pause at chest, full press)
DE Bench
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205 long pause
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205 (multirep)
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Keys to continue progress.
1) Increase load but decrease ROM/minimize fatigue.
2) Instead of increasing volume/load on comp lift,
own weights in 60-85% by focusing on surface features ie, increasing pause lengths, slowing descent, adding pauses at multiple points on reps.
3) Continue recovery work properly and stay healthy!
