How Do You Bench Press with Your Chest?

[quote]akmcsnarfy wrote:

[quote]HeavyTriple wrote:
Course you could be like professor x and decide that the best way to work the chest is to pre-fatigue the tris and then bench…[/quote]

Heard some guy say this at my gym. Please tell me this instance is some inside joke from a thread. Can’t be serious…[/quote]

lol, yeah, X didn’t know what pre-exhausting was and started like a 30 page argument about it…

[quote]Yogi wrote:

[quote]akmcsnarfy wrote:

[quote]HeavyTriple wrote:
Course you could be like professor x and decide that the best way to work the chest is to pre-fatigue the tris and then bench…[/quote]

Heard some guy say this at my gym. Please tell me this instance is some inside joke from a thread. Can’t be serious…[/quote]

lol, yeah, X didn’t know what pre-exhausting was and started like a 30 page argument about it…[/quote]
Haha, loved that thread. One of the all time bests.

Definitely sarcasm. X and people like the guy at your gym somehow don’t understand that beating down a weak part of the movement doesn’t force the other muscles to work harder, it simply causes failure to happen sooner.

An interesting thing with bench is that in myriad studies you get better pec activation with a narrower grip, and it’s due to the increased range of motion vertically and the greater movement of the humerus throughout the lift. So my advice would be to narrow grip to inside the rings somewhere (but not in the smooth or anything crazy) and not overtuck the elbows.

If you bench in a slight arc, you’ll get contribution from all the muscle fibers in the pecs. If you look at a picture of the pecs, you’ll notice that the fibers running along outer part will be at the best mechanical advantage in a decline, so they’re important to the bottom of the lift. As you arc back (slightly) you can see where the fibers running across the middle of the chest are at a greater advantage to contribute to lockout. This is one reason why it’s crazy to consider the lockout as the triceps phase…really you will hurt your lockout by not involving the pecs more.

In short, bench correctly and you’ll hit the pecs just fine. Always good to do inclines as well.

[quote]HeavyTriple wrote:

Haha, loved that thread. One of the all time bests.

[/quote]

Yep. That was THE definitive shit-storm thread.

EDIT: Thought Yogi was saying i should listen to X about pre-exhausting. Just realized he was referring OP to CC. Derrrrpppppp

[quote]HeavyTriple wrote:

An interesting thing with bench is that in myriad studies you get better pec activation with a narrower grip, and it’s due to the increased range of motion vertically and the greater movement of the humerus throughout the lift. So my advice would be to narrow grip to inside the rings somewhere (but not in the smooth or anything crazy) and not overtuck the elbows.[/quote]

On topic, I agree using a narrower grip works well. I think it’s easier on your shoulders too.

I’ve found that using a thumbless grip seems to naturally put your arms at a better angle to get the extra ROM and for some reason feels more natural/comfortable.

[quote]HeavyTriple wrote:
Haha, loved that thread. One of the all time bests.[/quote]

Don’t waste any time looking for it but off the top of your head do you remember that thread name? Would love to read that

[quote]akmcsnarfy wrote:

[quote]HeavyTriple wrote:
Haha, loved that thread. One of the all time bests.[/quote]

Don’t waste any time looking for it but off the top of your head do you remember that thread name? Would love to read that[/quote]

Found this in that thread:

[quote]johnman18 wrote:
I have a dream…that one day we can have a T-Nation without Prof.X. That lifters small and roided out(lol) can converse maturely on subjects pertaining to weight lifting. I have a dream gentleman!!![/quote]

[quote]akmcsnarfy wrote:
EDIT: Thought Yogi was saying i should listen to X about pre-exhausting. Just realized he was referring OP to CC. Derrrrpppppp[/quote]
Pretty sure he was referring to me, partially because I bench 450 and partially because he posted a “^” after my post, haha.

[quote]cueball wrote:

[quote]HeavyTriple wrote:

An interesting thing with bench is that in myriad studies you get better pec activation with a narrower grip, and it’s due to the increased range of motion vertically and the greater movement of the humerus throughout the lift. So my advice would be to narrow grip to inside the rings somewhere (but not in the smooth or anything crazy) and not overtuck the elbows.[/quote]

On topic, I agree using a narrower grip works well. I think it’s easier on your shoulders too.

I’ve found that using a thumbless grip seems to naturally put your arms at a better angle to get the extra ROM and for some reason feels more natural/comfortable.[/quote]
True on all counts, pretty much.

Thumbless grip takes some of the effort out of setting the upper back for you. The tradeoff is slightly worse wrist positioning (assuming your full grip is correct), so lockout is more of a struggle. I have issues with thumbless grip, though.

[quote]HeavyTriple wrote:

[quote]akmcsnarfy wrote:
EDIT: Thought Yogi was saying i should listen to X about pre-exhausting. Just realized he was referring OP to CC. Derrrrpppppp[/quote]
Pretty sure he was referring to me, partially because I bench 450 and partially because he posted a “^” after my post, haha.[/quote]

ya, I was. I’m mad jealous of your bench

[quote]Yogi wrote:

[quote]HeavyTriple wrote:

[quote]akmcsnarfy wrote:
EDIT: Thought Yogi was saying i should listen to X about pre-exhausting. Just realized he was referring OP to CC. Derrrrpppppp[/quote]
Pretty sure he was referring to me, partially because I bench 450 and partially because he posted a “^” after my post, haha.[/quote]

ya, I was. I’m mad jealous of your bench[/quote]

If you want his Bench just practice TONS of benching with your feet in the air, Arnold presses, and crunches. Those are the only lifts he does.

[quote]HeavyTriple wrote:

[quote]akmcsnarfy wrote:
EDIT: Thought Yogi was saying i should listen to X about pre-exhausting. Just realized he was referring OP to CC. Derrrrpppppp[/quote]
Pretty sure he was referring to me, partially because I bench 450 and partially because he posted a “^” after my post, haha.[/quote]

No you don’t. Its ok pal. Everyone knows that quarter rep maxes don’t get you anywhere and when you say 450 you really mean 225.

[quote]GetSwoleToday wrote:

[quote]HeavyTriple wrote:

[quote]akmcsnarfy wrote:
EDIT: Thought Yogi was saying i should listen to X about pre-exhausting. Just realized he was referring OP to CC. Derrrrpppppp[/quote]
Pretty sure he was referring to me, partially because I bench 450 and partially because he posted a “^” after my post, haha.[/quote]

No you don’t. Its ok pal. Everyone knows that quarter rep maxes don’t get you anywhere and when you say 450 you really mean 225.[/quote]

It’s ok pal

I used to basically have the flatest chest you could. Ok strength for my size and training exp could hit DB press 110 for 10-12 reps for a couple sets bench 1.5x bw for 6-8 nothing crazy amazing but not the worst either but my chest looked like a childs. 2 years down the road lost my ego stopped bar bell flat benching and starting learning how to use my chest. Which honestly takes practice. Perfect practice make perfect.

So only use exercises that make your chest pumped and form that makes your chest pumped. If your chest sucks and youre doing chest exercises and cant get a pump in it well problem found you arent activating it. Muscle wont grow if it never gets any tension placed across it. Using bands on machine with a big long flex at the top of each rep is a great way to learn to feel your chest. Hex or squeeze press where you not only squeeze your chest but press are great. Learning to not bench or do a pressing move wiht your chest caved in in have it presse dup and try and squeeze your chest together each rep. Have one on put a finger on your sternum and try and crush it with you man pec.

Those are just a few things but experiment really. And once you have learned to use your chest and activate you can move back to benching but again paying attention to making your chest do the work. This is obv not for power lifters this is more making your chest grow. The weight doesnt matter if you dont get the muscle you want to move it. PLers just want to move the weight and some get lucky where their chest looks great. Many many dont and have over powering delts and tris relative to their chest.

[quote]Iron_Made wrote:

[quote]GetSwoleToday wrote:

[quote]HeavyTriple wrote:

[quote]akmcsnarfy wrote:
EDIT: Thought Yogi was saying i should listen to X about pre-exhausting. Just realized he was referring OP to CC. Derrrrpppppp[/quote]
Pretty sure he was referring to me, partially because I bench 450 and partially because he posted a “^” after my post, haha.[/quote]

No you don’t. Its ok pal. Everyone knows that quarter rep maxes don’t get you anywhere and when you say 450 you really mean 225.[/quote]

It’s ok pal[/quote]

Well my apologies. So many guys bs and you definitely are not one of them. You are the Man.

[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:
I used to basically have the flatest chest you could. Ok strength for my size and training exp could hit DB press 110 for 10-12 reps for a couple sets bench 1.5x bw for 6-8 nothing crazy amazing but not the worst either but my chest looked like a childs. 2 years down the road lost my ego stopped bar bell flat benching and starting learning how to use my chest. Which honestly takes practice. Perfect practice make perfect.

So only use exercises that make your chest pumped and form that makes your chest pumped. If your chest sucks and youre doing chest exercises and cant get a pump in it well problem found you arent activating it. Muscle wont grow if it never gets any tension placed across it. Using bands on machine with a big long flex at the top of each rep is a great way to learn to feel your chest. Hex or squeeze press where you not only squeeze your chest but press are great. Learning to not bench or do a pressing move wiht your chest caved in in have it presse dup and try and squeeze your chest together each rep. Have one on put a finger on your sternum and try and crush it with you man pec.

Those are just a few things but experiment really. And once you have learned to use your chest and activate you can move back to benching but again paying attention to making your chest do the work. This is obv not for power lifters this is more making your chest grow. The weight doesnt matter if you dont get the muscle you want to move it. PLers just want to move the weight and some get lucky where their chest looks great. Many many dont and have over powering delts and tris relative to their chest.[/quote] great post!

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:

[quote]Yogi wrote:

[quote]HeavyTriple wrote:

[quote]akmcsnarfy wrote:
EDIT: Thought Yogi was saying i should listen to X about pre-exhausting. Just realized he was referring OP to CC. Derrrrpppppp[/quote]
Pretty sure he was referring to me, partially because I bench 450 and partially because he posted a “^” after my post, haha.[/quote]

ya, I was. I’m mad jealous of your bench[/quote]

If you want his Bench just practice TONS of benching with your feet in the air, Arnold presses, and crunches. Those are the only lifts he does. [/quote]
Loled so hard

[quote]GetSwoleToday wrote:

[quote]Iron_Made wrote:

[quote]GetSwoleToday wrote:

[quote]HeavyTriple wrote:

[quote]akmcsnarfy wrote:
EDIT: Thought Yogi was saying i should listen to X about pre-exhausting. Just realized he was referring OP to CC. Derrrrpppppp[/quote]
Pretty sure he was referring to me, partially because I bench 450 and partially because he posted a “^” after my post, haha.[/quote]

No you don’t. Its ok pal. Everyone knows that quarter rep maxes don’t get you anywhere and when you say 450 you really mean 225.[/quote]

It’s ok pal[/quote]

Well my apologies. So many guys bs and you definitely are not one of them. You are the Man.[/quote]
Haha, no worries. I honestly thought were just messing with me anyway. Appreciate the assist from ironmade, though.

[quote]cueball wrote:

[quote]akmcsnarfy wrote:

[quote]HeavyTriple wrote:
Haha, loved that thread. One of the all time bests.[/quote]

Don’t waste any time looking for it but off the top of your head do you remember that thread name? Would love to read that[/quote]

http://tnation.T-Nation.com/free_online_forum/sports_body_training_performance_bodybuilding/question_about_prefatiguing[/quote]

THANK YOU! This is pure gold