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Pressing for Powerful Chest Gains
By Machine
Pressing for powerful gains consists of much more than just piling
plates onto a barbell and moving it from your chest to full lock-out,
over and over again. In fact, there are so many glossed over elements
to the barbell press that they all bare mention in this intellectual
exercise. Firstly, and for the purposes of clarity, I will confirm that
we are discussing the proper methodology of barbell pressing for total
chest development, and not for the purpose of bench pressing
competitions. The machinations of the competition bench press, while
being optimal for the sport it is utilized within, are less than
optimal for the development of the total chest. To open this exercise,
there are three prime areas with which we must concern ourselves:
proper lifting posture, grip placement, and bar placement.
Proper Lifting Posture
The
barbell bench press is a complete and total disaster for people who do
not understand the practical application of neuromuscular pathways in
relation to chest training or proper lifting posture. More athletes
totally abandon this time tested weapon for pure lack of understanding
than I can even imagine. The back is the pressing platform; the manner
in which you align or stack these muscles will determine whether or not
you reap the maximum benefit from them or piss it all away.
The Flat Barbell Bench Press:
1. Lie down on the bench and plant your feet in the position in which they will remain throughout the set.
2. Squeeze your shoulders in toward your spine. Draw your elbows in and
squeeze all that muscle together while simultaneously drawing your ass
in toward your head to form a slight arch in your back. Press off the
heels. This accomplishes two things. Firstly, it sets the muscles of
the back in the proper position to support the press and direct the
stress away from the rotator cuff and onto the shoulder to chest
tie-ins and the chest muscles. Secondly, it ensures that the chest is
in both the highest and best position to accept the muscular stress of
the set, and that the chest muscles will be worked ahead of the
shoulders throughout the set.
3. This is the correct anatomical position for barbell pressing. It
must be maintained throughout the entire set, regardless of your grip
position or the weight on the barbell. The minute you allow this
structural platform to breakdown, your fucking set is over! This will
not be easy and it won't come overnight. Then again, what is easy? Now
you are ready to place your hands on the barbell and adjust your grip
accordingly.
Grip Placement
The
next colossal fuck up for most people is the super wide barbell bench
press grip. Most athletes believe that the wider they grip the bar, the
more weight they can handle. WRONG! The extremely wide grips employed
by most inexperienced athletes have the opposite effect of what the
athlete desires. The wide grip places all of the stress and strain of
the press toward the outside of the shoulder or the rotator cuffs. The
reason for this, as you can plainly see in the previous section, is the
back lies too flat on the bench, the chest sinks in and therefore is
not the prime mover, and the entire process is fucked. The athlete
winds up with no chest, inflamed biceps tendons, and impinged or
damaged rotator cuffs.
1. In all barbell chest
pressing, the grip placement should always favor close proximity to the
shoulder joint itself for at least two reasons:
a. The integrity of the shoulder joint can best be maintained by
aligning the grip placement so that the thumbs, when grasping the
barbell, should not be farther than one or two inches from actually
touching the outside of the chest muscles as the barbell lays across
the chest. Think of two 10-foot planks that are joined long ways. The
joint that couples them is one of your shoulders. The wider the anchor
points, the weaker the joint will be, especially as the load is
increased.
b. The muscles of the chest are taxed as you press the weight upward.
The shorter the path or duration of the press from start to finish, the
less finite stress is absorbed by the chest muscles. Short range
presses set the scene for less than optimal muscular contractions,
which will not lead to the desired athletic effect.
Bar Placement
Bar
placement leads to scenarios which tempt the ever ambitious athlete to
place the barbell lower and lower on the chest or rib cage, until
finally the athlete is pressing the fucking barbell off his belly
button in search of that ubiquitous three and four plate performance to
feed his ego. The plain truth of the matter is that the athlete
concerned with pure chest development must place the barbell
anatomically closer to the throat than the chest if he or she hopes to
increase the roundness and depth of the chest muscles.
1. As you lower the barbell to its home position on the chest, take
care that you make that position somewhere above your nipples, and
below your clavicle. This will compliment the grip placement and
enhance your muscular growth by developing your chest from side to side
and top to bottom.
2. Once you decide where that sweet spot is, you must touch the same
spot on each and every repetition throughout each and every set in
order to reap maximum muscular stimulation. This will come over time
and you will notice that once you apply all three of the prescribed
changes in methodology, the weight you once used may need to be
decreased. The spot to which you lower the barbell must be the same or
similar irrespective of whether you are pressing at a declined, flat,
or inclined angle of exercise.
In the final analysis, one cannot hope to develop the muscles of the
chest while chained to the barbell pressing numbers game. If you are
the type who likes to see what the weight on the bar looks like then
you should stop reading my articles from this point forward. You are
wasting your time and you have done something infinitely worse than
that-you have wasted my time. As I part, I leave you with this age old
little gem,
“In bodybuilding, you don't have to bench 600 pounds. You just have to look like you can.”
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