I
iron addict
Guest
Talk to 10 lifters and ask them where their sticking point for bench presses is and in 7-8 out of 10 cases they will tell you in the bottom. Ask these same guys what they are doing to correct it and they will just tell you they bench press and do incline presses and then some fly?s or cable crossovers. DUH! No wonder they are forever stuck. You will never be any stronger than your weakest areas, so to get stronger, it?s key to work on weak points. While there are MANY, MANY ways to address a weakness in the bottom position of the bench press, this piece will be about a simple to use method that works WONDERS for a large percent of the guys and girls that implement it--pausing lifts.
All paused lifts amount to is bringing the bar down to your chest, or to your sticking point if using boards or the power-rack pins to regulate range of motion, and pausing for at least a full second which is long enough to eliminate most of the stretch reflex. If you use the power-rack or boards, you can ALMOST relax the pressing muscles to further eliminate the stretch-reflex. Eliminating the stretch reflex will reduce (in many cases drastically) the amount of weight you can use. That is fine, as the results will pay for themselves when you go back to regular benching and find the bar moves much more explosively in the bottom position after a period of paused rep benching.
Pauses can also be done when doing your dumbbell benching, close grips, and even much of your tricep and shoulder pressing movements. Another key to making this work well for you is to be very explosive on the positive portion of the lift, and of course, to control the negative portion with care.
I often put my trainees with bottom benching weaknesses on all benching and bench assistance work paused and within 8-10 weeks or so their sticking point has not only moved way up, but their bench poundage?s have moved way up too!
Iron Addict
All paused lifts amount to is bringing the bar down to your chest, or to your sticking point if using boards or the power-rack pins to regulate range of motion, and pausing for at least a full second which is long enough to eliminate most of the stretch reflex. If you use the power-rack or boards, you can ALMOST relax the pressing muscles to further eliminate the stretch-reflex. Eliminating the stretch reflex will reduce (in many cases drastically) the amount of weight you can use. That is fine, as the results will pay for themselves when you go back to regular benching and find the bar moves much more explosively in the bottom position after a period of paused rep benching.
Pauses can also be done when doing your dumbbell benching, close grips, and even much of your tricep and shoulder pressing movements. Another key to making this work well for you is to be very explosive on the positive portion of the lift, and of course, to control the negative portion with care.
I often put my trainees with bottom benching weaknesses on all benching and bench assistance work paused and within 8-10 weeks or so their sticking point has not only moved way up, but their bench poundage?s have moved way up too!
Iron Addict
