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Splitting bench press in to two movements for greater chest workout.
I have always had trouble hitting my chest.. my arms grow, my chest rarely does. I have long gibbon like arms and a narrow frame. I always use a wider grip than normal, but feel leverage is still against me and that it hits my arms more than my chest.. hence my arms circumference is around 151/2 inches, but my chest is only 43 1/2 inches (mostly from back muscle volume).
I find that there is a great difference between what I can press when the barbell is in it's lowest position (just touching the chest) to what I can press further up... to this end does it not make sense to split it into two moves, lower half and upper half?? Lighter weight for lower (my weakest point) but then put the weight up when working the upper (my strongest). Traditional bench may have limits in that the top half of the movement is easier, so does far less than the bottom half, so splitting it could make it more effecient and possibly help hard chest gainers like me?? And especially those with long arms. My friend has short arms and a barrel like chest and he says he doesn't feel much difference throughout his whole pressing movement, which is about two thirds the range of mine.
I have heard about this kind of workout from a friend, but not for this purpose, he used it to cut up and get fit for cage fighting... so he trains:
lower half = 4 reps.. 20 seconds rest..4 reps, etc etc for 4 sets then two mins rest. Then the same for the upper half, two mins rest then the same again but for a full range of movement.
But I'm thinking that instead I would pyramid, 3 sets lower half (12,10,8) then up the weight and 3 sets upper half (12,10,8). Then follow this with two sets of inclined and two sets of dips.
Open to thoughts on this one, which would be the best of the above two workouts? let me know what you think folks even if it's negative about this whole method.
Thanks and merry christmas
Dale
Tags: bench, building, chest, development, muscle, press, technique
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Paul on
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that's one reason people sometimes train with chains or bands- they make the lower part of the movement easier, then heavier/harder as you go up. Might be worth a try.
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Permalink Reply by eric mosley on -
Hey Dale,
Some times one movement does fit all ,because everyone is built different and sometimes the standard exercise like bench press does not always become the end all exercise, you may want to switch to dumbells for chest work, because if you tend have longer arms you a longer way to push the weight,and I have seen in the gym what I call "Delt Benchers" due to their deltiods are bigger than pecs( The Delt do the work instead of the pecs) and lot fo time our egos get in the way of development because wanting to prove that we can press a certian amount of weight and it looks good,but then your back at the problem at hand, I say give dumbells a try it will allow to have deeper strectch than the barbell and you can really squeeze the pecs at the top portion of the movement and allowing a constant tension on you pecs, I always say try something and if works keep it because it works for you and you know what works for and you get results, so give a try and let me know how it worked out for you and Have a Very Merry Christmas.
Eric
P.S.
When you do the movement:
3 seconds up, 3 seconds down.
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Permalink Reply by Dale on -
Cheers Eric and Paul.
I like using dumbells, the issue I have is my dodgy old back again (mountaineering accident many years ago), and I tend to have trouble getting the dumbells up into position from the floor, esp when i get using heavier weights, it's easy getting 15kg into position, but that's far too light... getting 30's up is a real struggle, awesome workout when they're up there though. I always seem to be much stronger with DB than BB too. I've looked at various techniques to do it, but it always causes issues long term. I really wish I could use dumbells! Sadly no training partner either, and live on a farm in the middle of nowhere and that's where I train, all of my friends that train work diff hours to me too.
I know what you mean about delt pushers, have seen it myself, arms clamped firmly to the side and delts doing all the work... hence I make sure I keep mine out at almost 90 degrees to my body line. I tend to see people do it less on incline though. I like incline work i do get a much better stretch on the chest, I see lots written saying it's not worth much in terms of gains... lots of my friends never use it.
I'm going to have to stick with the barbell, I like the idea of chains.. makes sense!
Merry christmas...
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Permalink Reply by Mario Fanzolato on -
Hi Dale. It may be my personal opinion, but I believe you can work wonders with 15 kg (or less) dumbbells. Simply slow down the movement (as Eric suggested, 3 seconds up & 3 seconds down, or even slower than that). Take your time with each exercise - Workouts may be extended by a bit, but it's a surefire way of having a great workout while avoiding the recurrence of an old injury or sustaining any new ones. Above all, listen to your body and do what you feel is best.
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Permalink Reply by Kevin Mattson on -
Hey Dale... You should also try the Pause and Squeeze. Although this video by IFBB Pro Joe Palumbo shows it being enforced on leg training. You can also apply this to all aspects of your training! Concentrate on feeling the burn too.
This is Very Effective!!!Works really well for me, I hope you will find it useful for you too.
Merry Christmas bro.
Respectfully,
Kevin Mattson
PAPA BEAR
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Permalink Reply by Dale on
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Hey thanks for every ones reply and sorry for the delay, storms caused phone line damage, internet only just back on. The curse of living in the back of beyond.
Going to swap to the dumbells then and go real slow... and have been trying pause and squeeze with alot of my exercises and it feels like a fuller workout to every part of the muscle so thanks Kevin and Mario...
Still going to split the movement and weights with incline and see if combined with dumbells i can finally get some bulk on the chest. Also dropping the number if sets I do... since Mario sent around Skip La Cours free workouts I see that I was over training... and quite a bit with the chest.. a once weekly workout of 16 sets on the chest of 4 diff exercises was clearly too much... now just 6 or 7 sets! Time will tell......
Belated Happy new year
Dale
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