No Difference in Board Press and Regular Bench

As the title states, there is no difference in my regular bench and 2-board press. Last night I worked up to a thumbs length away from smooth fatbar bench for 3, added a 2-board and 10lbs and barely got a duece. I’m assuming this is a sign of weak tris and shoulders. I’m definitely a chest bencher, and structuraly my chest is my strongest part. I know that weak tris and shoulders are holding my bench back. I guess I’m asking what ya’ll hink I should do or what that means. Thanks.

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
As the title states, there is no difference in my regular bench and 2-board press. Last night I worked up to a thumbs length away from smooth fatbar bench for 3, added a 2-board and 10lbs and barely got a duece. I’m assuming this is a sign of weak tris and shoulders. I’m definitely a chest bencher, and structuraly my chest is my strongest part. I know that weak tris and shoulders are holding my bench back. I guess I’m asking what ya’ll hink I should do or what that means. Thanks.[/quote]

sounds to me like your form on one or the other isn’t optimal. i would have to see a vid of both to draw any conclusions.

To build on what Meat said, form will certainly help but will carry you only so far. Are you much stronger in a 3 or 4 board press? The 2 board for me is in that “transitional area” where the chest backs off and the tri’s take over.

Regardless of all that I believe you can never have too strong of a tri so since you said your a “chest bencher” try some reverse band benches. Set them up so that when you unrack the weight the weight is “all you” then off the chest the bands will take “X” number of pounds off depending on what band you have. You’ll have to out run the weight increase to complete the reps. This is similar to benching with chains (which would work well for you too) without having to drag a shit ton of chains around. but unlike chains the bands will help to slightly slingshot the weight past a sticking point.

This has served me well anyways. I bench mostly raw if it matters.( because I hate my bench shirt)

It’s weak triceps and/or a failure to stay tight. Benching off mid-range boards requires you to stay tight since you don’t have as much to push off with.

[quote]StrengthDawg wrote:
To build on what Meat said, form will certainly help but will carry you only so far. Are you much stronger in a 3 or 4 board press? The 2 board for me is in that “transitional area” where the chest backs off and the tri’s take over.

Regardless of all that I believe you can never have too strong of a tri so since you said your a “chest bencher” try some reverse band benches. Set them up so that when you unrack the weight the weight is “all you” then off the chest the bands will take “X” number of pounds off depending on what band you have. You’ll have to out run the weight increase to complete the reps. This is similar to benching with chains (which would work well for you too) without having to drag a shit ton of chains around. but unlike chains the bands will help to slightly slingshot the weight past a sticking point.

This has served me well anyways. I bench mostly raw if it matters.( because I hate my bench shirt)[/quote]

Couldn’t tell you what my 3+ board press is, never done 'em. This is only my second attempt at any kind of board press. You, Meat and Pinto are all probably right. The 2 board sits at the exact spot my sticking point is if that helps. I haven’t gone wider than thumbs length from smooth in awhile due to any wider hurting my shoulder also. Thanks.

You’d probably benefit from floor pressing. It’s great at building your shoulders and triceps. Put your grip so your pinkies are on the rings.

Key presses and board presses. Maybe work on 3 and 2 board presses on a bench access day or dynamic day, and do a bench to chest on the max effort day, with lots of key presses on both days, 4 sets of ten.

start with form. if it’s solid then you can get fancy. get some vids up.

Thanks fellas. Can’t go wider than thumbs length away from smooth due to shoulder issues. I’ll see if I can sucker someone into recording my bench. Ya’ll be good.

EDIT: Doing RE upper manana. Gonna use football bar floor presses as shoulder width with elbows tucked as the move. Figure that’ll get that whole weak shoulder/tri problem figured out.