bigrobbie
TID OG Member
- Sep 19, 2010
- 861
- 406
I was reading Muscle and Fitness magazine last night and they had an article on Bench Press training. They raised an interesting point that is really basic, but I had simply forgotten...How easy it is to lock into a routine and forget important base knowledge!
The point was raised (as the title may have prefaced) that we should not forget-as common place as the bench press is-that the method used, and by method I mean rep count, rep speed, weight used, etc., can determine if we are using our time on the flat bench to work for strength gains, or size gains?
This is one of those weight lifting 101 fast, slow and intermediate twitch muscle fiber issues. I am not a believer of the light weight-high reps "theory" many claim to use when "toning." But I do believe that by going lighter on the weight will help you to maintain (or develop) that near perfect form.
I have worked out for years and still have a tendency to have a "sloppy" bench press form. So how does using more managable weight increase strength? Simple really...when you are not pushing 70 or 80 percent of your 1RM you can focus on technique, and by focusing on form and technique you are utilizing all those wonderful stabalizing muscles. The stronger your stabalizers and core become...the stronger you become with your bench!
So how does a strength building bench press transend into a mass building bench press. The more stable your form and the stronger you become the less likely you are to compromise your technique when it's time to start going really heavy to stimulate even more muscle growth, and this is exactly what we want isn't it? Getting bigger is the goal of most of us anyway, but strength building also serves another important function when you start to build mass, and that's injury prevention! Poor form will very simply f**ck you up if you mess with too much weight!
Using a lighter weight and lowering that weight slow and controlled then exploding up with your press gets you ready for the wonders of mass building benching! I'm talking about forced reps, drop sets, negatives, etc., all in the lower 5 to 6 rep range. In my opinion, I think a rep pattern of 8, 6, 4, 2, 1 (8 being your warmup) adding plates in a "reverse pyramid" (for lack of a better term) bench press workout is one of the best mass builders for myself at least. I have a close friend who, when he is on a serious mass building cycle, will do only 5 sets of 5 reps-very heavy negatives for his flat bench workouts.
So if you can decode all the rambling I've just done I hope you can read between the lines and understand the basic principles that seperates the two Bench Press "goals." Even a very experienced lifter, should probably alternate every 6 weeks or so...putting on mass tends to defocus for the core of the exercise, while strength training obviously will not yeild you the huge gains you will eventually want.
On an end note, I like to utalize benching for strength either off cycle or on a cutter, and I try to take advantage of the muscle building properties of AAS and focus on Mass benching while on a bulking cycle...yes I just stated the obvious, but I think you will all be ok!!! Thanks for your ears guys!
The point was raised (as the title may have prefaced) that we should not forget-as common place as the bench press is-that the method used, and by method I mean rep count, rep speed, weight used, etc., can determine if we are using our time on the flat bench to work for strength gains, or size gains?
This is one of those weight lifting 101 fast, slow and intermediate twitch muscle fiber issues. I am not a believer of the light weight-high reps "theory" many claim to use when "toning." But I do believe that by going lighter on the weight will help you to maintain (or develop) that near perfect form.
I have worked out for years and still have a tendency to have a "sloppy" bench press form. So how does using more managable weight increase strength? Simple really...when you are not pushing 70 or 80 percent of your 1RM you can focus on technique, and by focusing on form and technique you are utilizing all those wonderful stabalizing muscles. The stronger your stabalizers and core become...the stronger you become with your bench!
So how does a strength building bench press transend into a mass building bench press. The more stable your form and the stronger you become the less likely you are to compromise your technique when it's time to start going really heavy to stimulate even more muscle growth, and this is exactly what we want isn't it? Getting bigger is the goal of most of us anyway, but strength building also serves another important function when you start to build mass, and that's injury prevention! Poor form will very simply f**ck you up if you mess with too much weight!
Using a lighter weight and lowering that weight slow and controlled then exploding up with your press gets you ready for the wonders of mass building benching! I'm talking about forced reps, drop sets, negatives, etc., all in the lower 5 to 6 rep range. In my opinion, I think a rep pattern of 8, 6, 4, 2, 1 (8 being your warmup) adding plates in a "reverse pyramid" (for lack of a better term) bench press workout is one of the best mass builders for myself at least. I have a close friend who, when he is on a serious mass building cycle, will do only 5 sets of 5 reps-very heavy negatives for his flat bench workouts.
So if you can decode all the rambling I've just done I hope you can read between the lines and understand the basic principles that seperates the two Bench Press "goals." Even a very experienced lifter, should probably alternate every 6 weeks or so...putting on mass tends to defocus for the core of the exercise, while strength training obviously will not yeild you the huge gains you will eventually want.
On an end note, I like to utalize benching for strength either off cycle or on a cutter, and I try to take advantage of the muscle building properties of AAS and focus on Mass benching while on a bulking cycle...yes I just stated the obvious, but I think you will all be ok!!! Thanks for your ears guys!