Bench Press Technique and Military Press Technique for Better Leverage and Strength, and Chest Muscle Control

I noticed for Bench Press that in some reps I had better control, and the weight went up with less effort. This is how you can find the groove, but sometimes it can take a while to comprehend what's happening and how to use it to your advantage as a skill (technique). The trick is to press much lower on the body than you would think. Press the weight closer to your hips than your neck, and you can basically push yourself under the weight. I use the same technique for Cable Cross Overs, pressing low, which is close to the hip.

For Military Press, I've been struggling for a while with advancing much further than 135lb. I ran into similar issues in the Squat before progressing it. The problem is that I don't have enough tightness to support weights heavier than 135lb. I normally adapted this tightness at the start of the lift, but lose it very quickly in the transition to overhead. I've solved that problem now. The key is full lat tension. A Military Press involves having your heels together with your toes pointed out. This allows for your to incorporate the abs and labs more tautly than an overhead press with a wider stance, but with less strength from having a more narrow base.

Starting with the weight over your chest at your shoulders with your triceps tight, keep your lats tight, and keep them tight throughout the lift. Raise the weight by sliding it up your lats until it's the weight's overhead. Generally people have trouble with lat activation and pull-ups. I practice muscle control regularly, which involves many lat poses. Just as with practicing anything, it becomes more accessible, and easier to perform. The lats are very large muscles that tie the shoulders to the hips, and so you can imagine how powerful the control can be to have a tight connection between those areas, which lead to great strength and power.

To apply Muscle Control to the chest, you can work two main functions. The chest can be squeezed together, or pushed apart. If you clasp your hands together in front of your chest, and squeeze your chest together, then while keeping that inner tension, raise your arms overhead whilst inhaling, then bring them down still clasped together, exhaling while keeping inner chest tension. After a few reps, apply outer chest tension, and raise your arms overhead and back down while breathing and keeping tension. Then lower your clasped hands to your hips and perform the inner chest circuit then the outer chest circuit. I find this gives the chest a good blood pump and enables control of them.

   

Chest Growth, and Muscle Control for the Chest and Lats

I've known for some time that my Bench Press style is a close grip (inside rings) and that makes it more Triceps dominant. It also helps with tucking your elbows, and takes stress off the shoulder, and therein roto cuff. I feel my body is in a tighter position, but it doesn't allow for as much chest work, though there is still chest in the lift. I've been dumbbell bench pressing in addition to barbell bench pressing for a while now. Dumbbells allow for a more free-range, natural movement, and will require your muscles to stabilize the weight as well as be able to target your chest more easily since your arm can move transversely, which is horizontally.

Wide grip barbell bench press is something I added specifically to hit my chest with light weight and high reps. The grip causes elbow flare, which leaves the shoulder more vulnerable to injury, but it's necessary to target the chest better than a more narrow grip. Both hit the chest. A narrow grip will hit the inner chest whereas a wide grip will hit the outer chest more. I don't bother locking out, and try to a keep a faster rhythm in the reps, staying in a shorter range of motion, and trying to feel the mass of that muscle, and spread out that contraction to it's extent, and dig the muscle (pull down) into the insertions.

I added Face Pulls to my routine, which are a rear delt exercise with a cable machine, and a rope attachment. You pull the rope with a wide grip towards your face - you can vary the heights of the pull. It's great for a scapula blood pump that lubricates the shoulders and is a nice warm down for any bench pressing, or other push moves as well as being good for shoulder health, and increasing the strength and power of the upper back. When I first started doing them, I did 100 reps on each bench press day, but since then have cut down to two sets of 12 with 30lb usually. You can go heavier if you want. I find that as you increase the weight, you have less control over the muscle and it becomes more of a movement rather than you guiding the muscles to contract freely and fully. It's good to switch between heavy, medium, and light on everything, and often I'll just climb the stack, doing every single stopgap often without rest between sets.

The last exercise I want to mention are Cable Cross Overs, but specifically with one-arm. Here's the reason: the way the chest (Pecs) contract is that the humerus (upper arm bone) must cross inward towards the mid-line of the body (e.g. clap hands). You can cross your arm further than the mid-line and keep going, but since you have two arms they're in each other's way of seeking the best contraction. It's also easier to contract only one side of your body rather than the entire body. I keep the arm not involved in the lift close to my chest and the mid-line of my body so that the pec that's not doing the main work is still activated for support as well as a hard lat and delt contraction.

Strength Training and Bodybuilding

Since last posting I've discovered the Holy Grail of strength training - 5/3/1. A program developed by Jim Wendler with intelligence built in that assesses your 1 rep max, and has you crushing your PRs (personal record). I recommend his latest book that describes the routine in detail called Beyond 531.

3x3          3x5          5/3/1        3x5, deload
Week 1   Week 2    Week 3    Week 4
70% x 3   65% x 5   75% x  5  40% x 5
80% x 3   75% x 5   85% x  3  50% x 5
90% x 3+ 85% x 5+ 95% x 1+ 60% x 5

The system's quite flexible, leading to a more individualized tuned program. For instance, there are Joker Sets, which are sets of triples, doubles, and singles done after the main working sets that lead up to your 1 rep max. The amount of Joker Sets and whether you do them at all is up to you. Drop sets an an option after the Joker Sets. The auxiliary work is highly customizable. Any lift can be 5/3/1 programmed, and you can run it for as many cycles as you like.

My first time on it I ran it about 1.75-2.75 months. I had gained 20lb through upping calories and a lack of cardio. I started bodybuilding and lose the 20lb in about a week. Therein I've found how I want to train from now on - cycle between strength training and bodybuilding.

The reason to switch back to strength training, is that I found bodybuilding wrecks your body. The volume and frequency are higher, and the weight is lower. I've found that lifting heavier weights strengthens the body. I ran into some minor injuries while trying to train as hard and consistently as possible. In the arm, between the Biceps and Triceps is the Coracobrachialis, which is responsible for shoulder adduction. Somehow that muscle's been sore on one of my arms for over a month. The injury seems to tie into the Lat and Triceps as well. It mostly limits me from doing pull-ups. I think it'll heal itself in time. I haven't had many injuries thus far in my lifting career. I solved my outer elbow tendinitis. I really took a toll on my sternum from deep chest dips. Some of my ribs don't feel that great at times.

Two exercises I've added to my routine are wide grip barbell bench press and one-arm cable crossovers. They both hit the chest well.

5/3/1 Routine With Joker Sets and Drop Sets

 The 5/3/1 routine consists of devoting one of the four days scheduled in the program to one of the major compound lifts : the Military Press, the Deadlift, the Bench Press, and the Squat. One cycle takes a month. One week is three sets of 5, another is three sets of 3, the third is a set of 5, 3, 1, and the fourth week is a deload @ 50% of your training max. The poundage is decided via your training max, which is 10% below your true max.

3x3          3x5          5/3/1        3x5, deload
Week 1   Week 2    Week 3    Week 4
70% x 3   65% x 5   75% x  5  40% x 5
80% x 3   75% x 5   85% x  3  50% x 5
90% x 3+ 85% x 5+ 95% x 1+ 60% x 5

The Joker sets are additional sets after the main work load, which allow you to ramp up to a PR. The Drop Sets are after even the Joker Sets, and serve as extra volume.

New Routine and New Site

Click on the image below to see it larger.

I made a new site on fitness here - http://goblin.neocities.org/ Take a look.

Lifting Analysis

I have read people saying that you can't critique someone's workout without knowing their goals. While this is true, I find that the groups of people who seek merely to be fit, strong, and aesthetic are still left with a myriad of options. Some muscles my be prioritized, or some movements for functional display. Through researching lifting, I have gravitated to Powerlifting as it focuses on Bench Press, Squats, and the Deadlift.

I remember when I first started training, I had the idea that opposed to Bench Pressing, I'd do Push-Ups, and opposed to Deadlifting, I'd do Pull-Ups, expecting to be able to achieve the same results. This didn't work though, because those body movements were too hard to weight unlike their Powerlifting counterparts, and they also used less muscles to complete. In the Powerlifting world, only those three lifts matter, and to raise your numbers in those lifts is the goal. I've chased this for a bit, but there is the realization that while lifting for fitness and aesthetics, the poundage doesn't matter. When we walk about the city, we don't have our 'big 3' numbers floating above our head. People who don't lift can't comprehend or appreciate the difference in poundage.

Unfortunately, there's gaps in every system. No matter the exercise, there's something being left out. This can also vary depending on the person's limb lengths and leverage. I'm going to plan out a new Bodybuilding routine.

Post WK1 Bodybuilding Split

After having spent 2 months strength training 2 times a week. I ended it with training 3 times the last week. The bodybuilding split has me doing 5 days a week. This method lets me cut bodyfat whilst not changing diet. I will overeat at times while bulking (necessary for fast metabolism), but not while cutting. Water intake has been higher with the additional workouts. There is no joint pain unlike strength training. My lower back is literally never sore. I don't do conventional deadlift, and stick with trap-bar deadlift for that very reason.

Just going through the first week, I've dropped 3 pounds bodyweight to 186lb at 5'11 at about 12% bodyfat.