This post is for those of you who press some pretty good weight on the bench press. I’ve finally worked up to some respectable bench press numbers. Over the last couple of months I’ve been lifting and eating like a mad man and my strength has shot up pretty dramatically across all of my major lifts.
I am now working up to 315 lbs on the bench press and repping it out 4 to 6 times. Let me tell you though, I have to stretch the heck out of my chest constantly while I’m working up to this weight because as I approach my max I feel like my upper right pec is going to rip if I don’t.
Have any of you experienced this? Is my muscle/joints still trying to adjust to this new weight? I’m paranoid as all get out because I want to avoid any pec tears at all costs. I’ve read TC going through one and it doesn’t sound pleasant.
I guess I just keep stretching the heck out of my chest. And maybe I just need to drop the weight for a few weeks and include more reps and then go back up to this weight after awhile. By the way, I know there is a lot of dogma written in T-Nation articles such as “don’t stretch the muscle before working that muscle because you’ll lose strength”. I don’t seem to notice any decrease in strength even when I stretch the pecs between sets.
Any thoughts?