Any Alternative exercises for benching............

[ncbear]

That will give you the same strength as effective. I know we all have our starting points but my max is around 140. I would like to do 190 before summer and be doing 135 10 times. im only 16 and been working out a month and a half.



Heres my current workout for chest

incline press
dumbell flat bench
dumbell pullover
dumbell fly

all 4*8-12


french curl and press downs are my only tri for this new six week program

[Satch]

The only way you are going to gain strength in your benching is by benching A LOT. So you should start off with flat bench using a strength oriented program such as a 5x5 or 3x3 program. Then move on to incline press and decline.

You should also be doing a lot more exercises for triceps. Triceps strength are about 2/3 of the benching game. You can't bench heavy weights without some really strong triceps. So you should also include a 5x5 using close grip bench.

Also read this article by Dave Tate: Bench Press 600 pounds (http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459808). That article alone added 25 pounds to my bench because I have improved my form.

[sucramdw]

Just so you know, trying to raise a one rep max will be least effective for growth. Lower reps like the 1-5, work your fast twitch muscle fibers and do not involve the time under tension principle which induces amazing growth. In my opinion i would worry less about your rep max, and focus on your training for growth. If you do that your one rep max will automatically go up as well.

[Jedi]

Interesting article, but when working for size is it still suggested to bring the bar to the upper abdominals as apposed to the middle of the chest?

[rush2112]

Add facia stretching. It's working great for me in both size and strength.

[ncbear]

facia streching never heard of it

[thevoice]

[ QUOTE ]
facia streching never heard of it

[/ QUOTE ]

Here is a link:

http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/magazine/fascialstretching.htm

[ByronSRU23]

[ QUOTE ]
Interesting article, but when working for size is it still suggested to bring the bar to the upper abdominals as apposed to the middle of the chest?

[/ QUOTE ]

Benching the powerlifting way, is what finally allowed me to bench without stressing my shoulder too much. For people who are not flexible, have had shoulder problems in the past, or those who want to PREVENT shoulder problems, benching this way takes the MAJORITY of the stress off the shoulders, and puts the brunt of it on the triceps.

Think about it, how many torn rotator cuffs/pec injuries have you heard of? Now, how many TRICEP injuries have you heard of? I think that shoulder answer the ?? right there.

If you want to stress your chest more, then you'll have to bring the barbell up higher on your chest....BUT...when you do that, just be aware that its putting a great deal more stress on your shoulders, and if your form falters....be ready to accept the consquences.

[ncbear]

Thanks for the link it sounds pretty hard defintaly something i want to check out though Have any of you done [or do] it?Have you noticed large gains from it?

Theres so many diffrent exercises and routines i would love to try

[sandspawn]

Don't forget weighted dips mate, there a great exercise for your chest and triceps

[Satch]

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks for the link it sounds pretty hard defintaly something i want to check out though Have any of you done [or do] it?Have you noticed large gains from it?

Theres so many diffrent exercises and routines i would love to try

[/ QUOTE ]

I've noticed huge gains in shape and strength of my triceps since changing my form and now my shoulders never hurt afterwards. Personally, I'm a fly and pullover kinda guy and just like benching because I can play with heavy weights. /forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[icecube]

Workout your rotator cuff before you do bench, that will help with bench.. and will help prevent an injury that will make your max bench 0lbs for a LONG time.

Grip is also very important along with form, too close and you are using too much triceps, too far and your working too much stress, I also had a horrible platue at about 250lbs, couldn't get past it, then talked to the powerlifting president of Ontario about it and he said to widen my grip, my bench was lower at first but it soon shot up into the high 300s. I wrote a thing on the proper grip you should have when benching awhile back, heres the link http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/forum/sho...true#Post901639 (http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=science&Number=901639&Searchpage=1&Main=901639&Words=%26quot%3Bbench%26quot%3B+icecube&topic=&Search=true#Post901639) .

I have also found a amazing exercise that has got my bench up huge, after I do my bench work, I do DB press but with my palms facing eachother 3 sets of 8 (well atleast try for 8) if I can get all 3 sets of 8, the next week I move up weight in the DBs and doing that just made my bench fly up, same with my training partners.

-Matt