Tip number 1 is unbelievably true. Training with people who have “trained” in the gym for 1-2 years and are “stuck” in the 60-80kg 1 rep max range really highlighted this to me. Unsurprisingly nearly all had shoulder pain to compliment these shit numbers
My competition bench is close grip and I'm around 480 at the moment and aiming for 500 this year at 200 bodyweight. My experience aligns with your advice about building triceps to build bench. I hit tris hard with lots of volume. Spoto mentioned a stacking affect with pressing when you develop big lats, tris and bis. I feel this when I bench especially this past year when I focused more on lat and tri development. Great advice!
"Bench press should be thought of as an arm exercise" I'm REALLY glad I'm not the only one who thinks that. I have the same theory about the military press in that both of them utilize triceps just as much as the bench press AND the military press, which is why I do skull crushers as an accessory exercies for both.
Benchpress is a beast exercise. Strangely enough and contrary to many believes, complementary to other lifts and spills over to other sports. Strong triceps and strong upper back, who does not need them every day? Thx for your persistent message.
So far, 1 year and 3 months at a gym, 1 year at bench, I get 3 to 4 month plateaus followed by rapid launch up periods where bench wt I can lift shoots up 30 lbs. I am in this launch phase again, right now. Attributing doing this or that to this kind of periodic gains I am sure drives a lot of people batty and leads to a lot of misinformation as to what worked.
Bench is probably my worst of the big 3. However, much of the "excuse" is that I train alone 98% of the time. You can fail a squat safely. You can definitely fail a deadlift safely. But with the equipment I have, you can't fail a bench safely. It's my own damn fault.
Remember 1 thing. TO be successfull in any of the lifts, you dont need to fail. training in the 80-90% max range and then doing a proper program to hit your peak at a meet in the way to go. Went to a seminar that Ed Coan had and he and the other speaker agreen that PR and Max lift should be done on the platform. SO I think with correct program you can achieve gains safely alone...
@@skullyeb1stphorm thanks for the well thought out response. Don't get me wrong - there have been plenty of gains over the years. Sometimes it's in the sense of a one rep max but also in the sense of "going to fail." Bench is one of those movements that sometimes you think you have one left in the tank and you don't. Also, in the sense of injury (which hasn't happened yet, knock on wood) if you're by yourself and something goes wrong mid-rep, you're gonna have a better time just dropping the bar on the floor than you are dropping it on your neck or chest. You're gonna have a bad time. Also, I just love deadlifting. lol
When I chatted with one of the strongest guys in Switzerland, and he told me, by experience, how dangerous benches are and how cheap workhorses are, you know what I did? Well, I bought workhorses.
What could cause bad neck pain from benching? I try to keep all pressure on my upper back and not neck - but my neck feels fucked --- like a pinched nerve after heavy benching.
so if i roll back my wrist instead of keep it in a narrow position it puts more pressure on my front delt? cause i am having front delt problems all the time
This may not be a interesting video idea to you Matt or any viewers but I would be interested in seeing what you would teach about when two elite level trainers/competitors (that genuinely know what they are talking about) give conflicting advice. Like one says for longevity do this movement but you might say no that will cause milage.
I don’t think it’s smart to make everybody an arm dominant bencher. A client of mine with a big arch and big chest will certainly be benching with their chest.
