Why Board Press?

Perhaps you should bring up the important point that all of the really strong people who use a lot of boards are tring to max out their SHIRTED bench.

A bench shirt helps a lot at the bottom of the movement, less so at the top. This means that shirted benchers need to be constantly working on lockout power which leads to a steady diet of boards, bands, chains and pin presses.

I’m feeling safe in assuming that your friends are not using bench shirts, and unless they always miss their benches at the top, their training is, at best, inappropriate.

You should never be flaring your elbows. So who ever used that as argument against the boards doesn’t know what they are talking about.

Boards are good for many reasons including:

Working sticking points.

Strengthening your lockout…this is important for both raw and shirted benchers.

Getting used to heavy weight…this is probably the single most beneficial use of boards for raw benchers…in my option anyway.

Training your tris…the can never be too strong when it comes to bench

Shirted benchers almost always do partial movements for obvious reasons, but just because you are raw does not mean they are bad. I bet everyone of you does rack lockouts…same thing.

Raw benchers should obviously incorporate a lot more full range of motion movements, but to say something like “their training is, at best, inappropriate”, just shows that you don’t really know what you are talking about.

Pemdas;

  1. Not flaring your elbows? I have consistently flared my elbows at the top to gain the most lockout advantage. While obviously you should tuck on the way down, flaring at the to has always worked well for me. Why would you not want to?

  2. I agree that if you have a lockout problem, boards are an excellent solution whether you are raw or shirted. I have seen relatively few people struggle at the lockout raw. Most of us fail lower down. Of the 10 at the Anvil right now, all of us fail raw benches either on the chest or at transtion. Do you have a different experience?

  3. I took the OP to be saying that his friends were exclusively training with boards, i.e. no full range at all. This seems inappropriate to training for a raw full range bench…

I don’t think he’s asking why boards are useful, but why they are better than just cheating.

Look at the form of someone that board presses vs someone that is cheating by not going through the motion. There will be a huge difference. You can make board presses look strict and tight, whereas I can’t see anyone doing this while stopping early. If you can stop the weight in the same place everytime, and reverse the motion without elbow flare or having the weight move out of the groove, then there isn’t as much of an advantage.

One other thing is that when you do board presses with a pause, they really help you to practice staying tight, whereas just reversing the motion early won’t.

[quote]W.E.C wrote:
Pemdas;

  1. I agree that if you have a lockout problem, boards are an excellent solution whether you are raw or shirted. I have seen relatively few people struggle at the lockout raw. Most of us fail lower down. Of the 10 at the Anvil right now, all of us fail raw benches either on the chest or at transtion. Do you have a different experience?
    [/quote]

When a group of people train together using similar methods, they will all have somewhat similar weak points, unless they each have a different focus.

I’ve trained with at least one guy who could get almost anything off his chest, but would struggle at lockout even with lighter weight.

[quote]W.E.C wrote:
Pemdas;

  1. Not flaring your elbows? I have consistently flared my elbows at the top to gain the most lockout advantage. While obviously you should tuck on the way down, flaring at the to has always worked well for me. Why would you not want to?

  2. I agree that if you have a lockout problem, boards are an excellent solution whether you are raw or shirted. I have seen relatively few people struggle at the lockout raw. Most of us fail lower down. Of the 10 at the Anvil right now, all of us fail raw benches either on the chest or at transtion. Do you have a different experience?

  3. I took the OP to be saying that his friends were exclusively training with boards, i.e. no full range at all. This seems inappropriate to training for a raw full range bench…[/quote]

Thats not what I meant by flaring. I meant the whole time. I see this a lot so that is what I thought you meant. Apparently we agree. 2-Board hardly address a lock problem and from what you just said it is probable a good choice for you. If you fail off the chest then it was too heavy…no one fails on their chest.

[quote]threewhitelights wrote:
I don’t think he’s asking why boards are useful, but why they are better than just cheating.
[/quote]

That’s right.

It’s pretty obvious to me that Boards are good because you can Handle More weight, work sticking points, and you have an exact point of reference (but the distance your stroke is with a cheated rep can’t be accurately quantified the way using boards can).

But I was hoping to find a safety reason why board presses would be safer in my efforts to convince these guys hellbent of doing partials.

The Board Keeps you from dropping a weight you can’t get off your chest - Yeah But I have a spotter.

You can’t quantify your progress. You keep adding weight to the bar but your cutting your stroke. You’re not getting any stronger. - No I’m not. I’m going the same place every time.

This is the way I Bench and I’m stronger than you. This is the way Ronnie Coleman, Ed Coan, and Ryan Kenneldy Bench. They’re much, much, much stronger than you. - I don’t want to get that big. Blah Blah Blah.

I’ve tried to convince these people by showing them the Chapter in Starting Strength about the Bench Press but that wasn’t even enough. I’ve even made the above point (this is how I bench) before and the response I got back was “Yeah, well you’re using the technique for getting strong and powerful but we’re using the technique that’s safer for our shoulders.”

But I feel like since I’ll never convince these people to use a full ROM, but they still ask me to design a training program for them, I need to give them a safety reason why pressing off a phone book or doing a floor press is safer than doing the bench press.

Or I guess I could refuse to help or even spot them if they keep lifting the way the do. That’s what I’ll do. Usually when I tell them to go all the way down they grunt out “No way” strain through a few more cheated reps before they’re done. Next time if they don’t go all the way down I’ll just grab the bar and rack it.

would doing partials down to set pins in the power cage be the same thing as board pressing?

[quote]FROGGBUSTER wrote:
would doing partials down to set pins in the power cage be the same thing as board pressing?[/quote]

No. With a Board Press the energy and weight of the bar still comes to a pause on you, even though it’s through the board. With Pin Presses, a lot of the momentum goes into the rack.

Wouldn’t doing partials also be encouraging ismetric strength, thus encouraging the body to form a sticky point rather than push through past the point? By taking the pause on the board you are breaking the isometric strain of reversing the velocity, but still engaging the nervous system in a similar way?

When people do this you simply do as follows.

[b]Dumbass: my uncle says you shouldnt go past 90 degree’s on bench[b]

You: your uncle should stab him self in the face

Dumbass: its a proven fast its bad for your shoulders

You: your adopted and no one, not even your parents, could ever love you.

Dumbass: I bench 255

You: Your a fucking liar, stop lieing you adopted liar. Go drown your self in the toilet.

Dumbass: Why are you being so mean

You: I hate your face, no one gives a shit about what your dad, or uncle, anyone thinks. Come at my with some facts and we will talk. No I dont mean you bringing me a note from your dad saying going past 90 degree’s is hard on your shoulders. I mean a legitimate study saying so. Until then I hope you get erectile dysfunction and cry your self to sleep every night.

Its like this man, you will never win with the majority of people on arguments like this. And this will make you angry after a while. So why not just skip the whole thing and insult them and actually get something out of the covnersation.

[quote]FightingScott wrote:
threewhitelights wrote:
I don’t think he’s asking why boards are useful, but why they are better than just cheating.

That’s right.

It’s pretty obvious to me that Boards are good because you can Handle More weight, work sticking points, and you have an exact point of reference (but the distance your stroke is with a cheated rep can’t be accurately quantified the way using boards can).

But I was hoping to find a safety reason why board presses would be safer in my efforts to convince these guys hellbent of doing partials.

The Board Keeps you from dropping a weight you can’t get off your chest - Yeah But I have a spotter.

You can’t quantify your progress. You keep adding weight to the bar but your cutting your stroke. You’re not getting any stronger. - No I’m not. I’m going the same place every time.

This is the way I Bench and I’m stronger than you. This is the way Ronnie Coleman, Ed Coan, and Ryan Kenneldy Bench. They’re much, much, much stronger than you. - I don’t want to get that big. Blah Blah Blah.

I’ve tried to convince these people by showing them the Chapter in Starting Strength about the Bench Press but that wasn’t even enough. I’ve even made the above point (this is how I bench) before and the response I got back was “Yeah, well you’re using the technique for getting strong and powerful but we’re using the technique that’s safer for our shoulders.”

But I feel like since I’ll never convince these people to use a full ROM, but they still ask me to design a training program for them, I need to give them a safety reason why pressing off a phone book or doing a floor press is safer than doing the bench press.

Or I guess I could refuse to help or even spot them if they keep lifting the way the do. That’s what I’ll do. Usually when I tell them to go all the way down they grunt out “No way” strain through a few more cheated reps before they’re done. Next time if they don’t go all the way down I’ll just grab the bar and rack it. [/quote]

Boards are easier on your shoulders for the reasons guys have said before. I have a torn labrum and have no issues if I stay two boards and higher. I have increased both my raw and board strength by working 2-5 boards since the tear.

[quote]Mega Newb wrote:
When people do this you simply do as follows.

[b]Dumbass: my uncle says you shouldnt go past 90 degree’s on bench[b]

You: your uncle should stab him self in the face

Dumbass: its a proven fast its bad for your shoulders

You: your adopted and no one, not even your parents, could ever love you.

Dumbass: I bench 255

You: Your a fucking liar, stop lieing you adopted liar. Go drown your self in the toilet.

Dumbass: Why are you being so mean

You: I hate your face, no one gives a shit about what your dad, or uncle, anyone thinks. Come at my with some facts and we will talk. No I dont mean you bringing me a note from your dad saying going past 90 degree’s is hard on your shoulders. I mean a legitimate study saying so. Until then I hope you get erectile dysfunction and cry your self to sleep every night.
[/quote]

Still LOLing…

[quote]Mega Newb wrote:
When people do this you simply do as follows.

[b]Dumbass: my uncle says you shouldnt go past 90 degree’s on bench[b]

You: your uncle should stab him self in the face

Dumbass: its a proven fast its bad for your shoulders

You: your adopted and no one, not even your parents, could ever love you.

Dumbass: I bench 255

You: Your a fucking liar, stop lieing you adopted liar. Go drown your self in the toilet.

Dumbass: Why are you being so mean

You: I hate your face, no one gives a shit about what your dad, or uncle, anyone thinks. Come at my with some facts and we will talk. No I dont mean you bringing me a note from your dad saying going past 90 degree’s is hard on your shoulders. I mean a legitimate study saying so. Until then I hope you get erectile dysfunction and cry your self to sleep every night.

Its like this man, you will never win with the majority of people on arguments like this. And this will make you angry after a while. So why not just skip the whole thing and insult them and actually get something out of the covnersation.[/quote]

I agree.

[quote]Mega Newb wrote:

Its like this man, you will never win with the majority of people on arguments like this. And this will make you angry after a while. So why not just skip the whole thing and insult them and actually get something out of the covnersation.[/quote]

Ha. Totally agree. I’ve had people tell me “Alright, man. We’re gonna Squat together tomorrow. Tomorrow, man! I promise.” The next day I see them on the leg extension machine.

“What are you doing?”

“Today was Shoulders and Legs.” I ignore the fact that he’s dared to work shoulders on Squat day and that he’s decided to do legs last.

“No, I mean what are you doing on the Leg Extension Machine?”

“My Doctor says my knee problems are from my weak Quads. So I’m only doing this exercise for legs.”

“Dude, you don’t run - ever. The Only Exercise you ever do for your Legs is the Leg Press. You’re 6’4’’ and over 240 pounds but I never see you Deadlift more than 225. I think your knee problems are from weak glutes and hamstrings. Your doctor is full of shit. DID YOU EVER THINK THAT YOUR KNEE PROBLEMS CAME FROM YOU HAVING NO LEG MUSCLES TO SPEAK OF? You need to be Squatting.”

“Maybe I’ll do some Leg Press next week. That’s like Squatting. I’m too tired from doing that Machine Today.” He points to the Machine Lateral Raise.

I wounder. If people choose to ignore things that are so obvious, even when their beaten over the head with the fact that they’re wrong, how can they keep lying to themselves? It makes me worry about how blindly people must continue to make decisions about stuff that really matters (war, environment, education, etc.) You can have all the evidence in the world and people will still trick themselves into believing whatever they want at the end of the day. Make sure you don’t let this happen to yourself.

[quote]FightingScott wrote:
Mega Newb wrote:

Its like this man, you will never win with the majority of people on arguments like this. And this will make you angry after a while. So why not just skip the whole thing and insult them and actually get something out of the covnersation.

Ha. Totally agree. I’ve had people tell me “Alright, man. We’re gonna Squat together tomorrow. Tomorrow, man! I promise.” The next day I see them on the leg extension machine.

“What are you doing?”

“Today was Shoulders and Legs.” I ignore the fact that he’s dared to work shoulders on Squat day and that he’s decided to do legs last.

“No, I mean what are you doing on the Leg Extension Machine?”

“My Doctor says my knee problems are from my weak Quads. So I’m only doing this exercise for legs.”

“Dude, you don’t run - ever. The Only Exercise you ever do for your Legs is the Leg Press. You’re 6’4’’ and over 240 pounds but I never see you Deadlift more than 225. I think your knee problems are from weak glutes and hamstrings. Your doctor is full of shit. DID YOU EVER THINK THAT YOUR KNEE PROBLEMS CAME FROM YOU HAVING NO LEG MUSCLES TO SPEAK OF? You need to be Squatting.”

“Maybe I’ll do some Leg Press next week. That’s like Squatting. I’m too tired from doing that Machine Today.” He points to the Machine Lateral Raise.

I wounder. If people choose to ignore things that are so obvious, even when their beaten over the head with the fact that they’re wrong, how can they keep lying to themselves? It makes me worry about how blindly people must continue to make decisions about stuff that really matters (war, environment, education, etc.) You can have all the evidence in the world and people will still trick themselves into believing whatever they want at the end of the

Because people are lazy and stupid. Because people argue what they want not what is true or what works.

[quote]tom63 wrote:

Because people are lazy and stupid. Because people argue what they want not what is true or what works.

[/quote]

Quoted for truth