Incline Tilt Dead-Squat Bar

Bigger Stronger Leaner Christian Thibaudeau Coaching
1

@CT:

So tried Incline Tilt with the DeadSquat Bar for the first time today.

I used the same exact pin setting that I have used with a barbell, 4" from chest start position.

Quite the humbling experience…

My last BB Incline Tilt was ramp to 1RM - 335, clusters at 300 and 270 max/15 sec/max

Today:

1RM - 285lbs
Clusters - 255 x 3, 4, 6 (interesting how last cluster increased that much; guessing my body is learning the movement)
Last layer I did 8 sets of 3 with 30 secs in between with 240lbs.

There was no drop off in performance - if anything, performance increased into the 5th - 7th sets.

Triceps highly stimulated.

The movement almost feels awkward at first.

Is this what you experienced as well?

What does that tell you that my 1RM ramp was so much below my barbell max? Just a learned movement?

2

[quote]Mutsanah wrote:
@CT:

So tried Incline Tilt with the DeadSquat Bar for the first time today.

I used the same exact pin setting that I have used with a barbell, 4" from chest start position.

Quite the humbling experience…

My last BB Incline Tilt was ramp to 1RM - 335, clusters at 300 and 270 max/15 sec/max

Today:

1RM - 285lbs
Clusters - 255 x 3, 4, 6 (interesting how last cluster increased that much; guessing my body is learning the movement)
Last layer I did 8 sets of 3 with 30 secs in between with 240lbs.

There was no drop off in performance - if anything, performance increased into the 5th - 7th sets.

Triceps highly stimulated.

The movement almost feels awkward at first.

Is this what you experienced as well?

What does that tell you that my 1RM ramp was so much below my barbell max? Just a learned movement?

[/quote]

I do not do the slight incline with the Dead-Squat bar, only slight decline (and sometimes overhead when I do pin presses). It never felt good on slight incline presses, but felt great on the slight decline.

The Dead-Squat bar is one of the best tools you can use, but it is not optimal for every exercise. In the slight incline my theory is that it takes the delts out of the movement too much and the delts are more important in the slight incline than slight decline

3

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:

[quote]Mutsanah wrote:
@CT:

So tried Incline Tilt with the DeadSquat Bar for the first time today.

I used the same exact pin setting that I have used with a barbell, 4" from chest start position.

Quite the humbling experience…

My last BB Incline Tilt was ramp to 1RM - 335, clusters at 300 and 270 max/15 sec/max

Today:

1RM - 285lbs
Clusters - 255 x 3, 4, 6 (interesting how last cluster increased that much; guessing my body is learning the movement)
Last layer I did 8 sets of 3 with 30 secs in between with 240lbs.

There was no drop off in performance - if anything, performance increased into the 5th - 7th sets.

Triceps highly stimulated.

The movement almost feels awkward at first.

Is this what you experienced as well?

What does that tell you that my 1RM ramp was so much below my barbell max? Just a learned movement?

[/quote]

I do not do the slight incline with the Dead-Squat bar, only slight decline (and sometimes overhead when I do pin presses). It never felt good on slight incline presses, but felt great on the slight decline.

The Dead-Squat bar is one of the best tools you can use, but it is not optimal for every exercise. In the slight incline my theory is that it takes the delts out of the movement too much and the delts are more important in the slight incline than slight decline[/quote]

Roger that, CT

I also felt the same regarding your theory.

Tri’s feel really stimulated but I just couldn’t get the right leverage.

Thanks for the explanation.

4

@CT:

Today was my 3rd session with decline tilt DS bar.

It still feels awkward.

What am I doing wrong?

Top ramp is 20% below straight bar 1RM training max ramp.

I have experimented with different body position relative to bar; arms closer in, farther out.

What kind of a learning curve did you have compared to straight bar pressing?

Thanks!
M

5

[quote]Mutsanah wrote:
@CT:

Today was my 3rd session with decline tilt DS bar.

It still feels awkward.

What am I doing wrong?

Top ramp is 20% below straight bar 1RM training max ramp.

I have experimented with different body position relative to bar; arms closer in, farther out.

What kind of a learning curve did you have compared to straight bar pressing?

Thanks!
M[/quote]

Who is to say that you are supposed to hit the same numbers with both bars? They are totally different exercises, with the Dead-Squat bench using a lot less delts and more triceps.

As far as technique goes, without seeing a video I cannot tell you if you need to change some things.

6

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:

[quote]Mutsanah wrote:
@CT:

Today was my 3rd session with decline tilt DS bar.

It still feels awkward.

What am I doing wrong?

Top ramp is 20% below straight bar 1RM training max ramp.

I have experimented with different body position relative to bar; arms closer in, farther out.

What kind of a learning curve did you have compared to straight bar pressing?

Thanks!
M[/quote]

Who is to say that you are supposed to hit the same numbers with both bars? They are totally different exercises, with the Dead-Squat bench using a lot less delts and more triceps.

As far as technique goes, without seeing a video I cannot tell you if you need to change some things.[/quote]

Interesting thought - maybe I’ve discovered something I can turn into a strong(er) point for me.

Thanks for the answer.

7

@CT:

Interesting Incline tilt bench barbell press from pins WO today - I bettered my 1RM from 335 to 360, which is a pretty big jump for me. I was really surprised, in fact. (I used a 45 plate and a 10, so about 3" tilt)

Do you think it is due to including DS Bar presses and that is improving my triceps?

Such a big jump seems abnormal. Welcomed, of course.

It looked like this:

Ramp to max: 135x3, 175x3, 205x2, 225x2, 250x1, 275x1, 300x1, 320x1, 340x1, 350x1, 360x1

Clusters: 330x3, x3, x3 - I actually don’t rest, just reset and go. 60 sec rest between sets.

5’s at 300 - just 1 set (was happy with gains so took my ball and went home)

Took just 30 mins - upper chest incredibly stimulated.

8

Great progress for sure.

Is it due to improved triceps? My initial reaction would be yes… I had the same thing happen when I only did slight decline with the Dead-Squat bar for about a month (my only pressing exercise) then found that my strength had improved a lot on the straight bar after those 4 weeks.

Now, did you increase the triceps size, strength or did you simply learn to better integrate them in your press is up to debate, but in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t matter much as long as we know that it’s a tool that works well.