Your shoulders will give out doing Bench Presses before your chest starts to give/get sore if your shoulders are particularly weak. The more you work your shoulders the more you can bench.
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Fitness |OT3| BroScience, Protein Dysentery, XXL Calf Implants, and Squat Rack Hogs
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Your shoulders will give out doing Bench Presses before your chest starts to give/get sore if your shoulders are particularly weak. The more you work your shoulders the more you can bench.
Brolic Gaoler
formerly Alienshogun
At a certain point it's a balance of the 3.
All 3 are worked in all 3 "grips," however, positioning will emphasize one side over the other. Extreme close grip (elbows tucked) is going to be mostly tricep, gripping out all the way to where you can barely cover the rings on both sides is going to be heavily shoulder focused. There's a sweet spot right in the middle where you're going to maximize chest work.
Yeah, however, this also depends on where your "sticking point" is.
Also, this is why OHP is great for increasing bench and the other way around.
Yes I eat a lot of broccoli, spinach, sweet potatoes (here and there), i usually eat nuts (brazillian nuts, almonds, cashews, walnuts) as a snack every day w/ greek yogurt. I take about 6 pills of fish oil every day w/ vitamin b-complex. I have been eating a lot of avocado lately, some pineapple, strawberries.
Last night I had some salmon w /spinach and roasted potatotes. Most of the carbs I eat are brown rice or some type of rice/potato. I love my carbs and I'm skinny so I don't plan on giving them up anytime soon.
Eggs I made this morning were scrambled cooked in olive oil on organic multigrain bread.
I'm not PMing you and nor do I care if you respond. Let's just say we have a disagreement and leave it at that.
How should my elbows be if I am trying to focus on my chest the most. Currently if my elbows are out my arm makes a 90deg angle. Is that good or should I tuck my elbows or narrow my grip more?
Brolic Gaoler
formerly Alienshogun
You're elbows are way too flared. That's actually bad for your shoulder IMO. I tend to keep mine around a 45 degree angle, although when the weight inevitably gets heavier, I do approach 90 degrees.
Much like grip, degree to which your shoulders are flared also changes focus.
Thx for the advice. I will adjust my grip on Monday and give it a shot.
Brolic Gaoler
formerly Alienshogun
No problem, just realize you're going to be weaker moving "in" with your grip as opposed to moving out. So adjust for that.
If I was on foodstamps I would probably be spending my time rectifying that, rather than typing out a lengthy response about my budget to the 12 people who read the GAF fitness thread. To each their own.
Back on fitness, I think I'm going to stop locking out on bench. Kind of using the lockout as a crutch to take the strain off my muscles, but it's murdering my elbows. Feels bad man.
In my exercises the 3rd set is usually the easiest to get the weight up. Like I'll do two sets of 5 reps of 5 in bench and barely get the weight up on the 5th rep, making it so that if I wanted another rep I'd need a spotter. But then the 3rd set I'll get 6-7 reps, no spotter.
I'm wondering if this is the case with other people, and it's some phenomenon with getting more warmed up as the sets go along, or if it's maybe psychological, where since I've done the same weight two times very recently, I'm not as "afraid" of how heavy it is anymore, and I can snap right into form without as much thought.
I'm wondering if this is the case with other people, and it's some phenomenon with getting more warmed up as the sets go along, or if it's maybe psychological, where since I've done the same weight two times very recently, I'm not as "afraid" of how heavy it is anymore, and I can snap right into form without as much thought.
cuevas. PhD.
Member
The phenomenon is called not having a good warm up.
I do 5-6 sets of warm up *shrugs*
Heres a typical warmup on bench:
2x10 with just the bar. On these I'll explode up as fast as possible and very slowly lower the bar back down to my chest.
1x10 @95
1x5-7 @135
1x3 @ 165
1x1@185
working sets @205
DrBaalzamon
Member
Hey thanks everyone for the egg responses! My primary concern was with the cholesterol but those have been assuaged. Keep on lifting everyone!
Yep. Warm up sets should be the same number of reps or less as your working sets, not more. change those first sets to 2x5, 1x5, 1x5 and then get back to us.
Slayer-33
Liverpool-2
Have any of you guys used this?
http://youtu.be/SkcPgAoGcNo
I did at work and the damn thing is solid.. I was only looking for a dip station that didn't take much space but this thing serves so many more purposes... I'm going to order one off ebay now since it'll be cheaper than ordering from amazon..
Excellent piece of equipment, no fucking wobble.
http://youtu.be/SkcPgAoGcNo
I did at work and the damn thing is solid.. I was only looking for a dip station that didn't take much space but this thing serves so many more purposes... I'm going to order one off ebay now since it'll be cheaper than ordering from amazon..
Excellent piece of equipment, no fucking wobble.
Bearded Dudebro
Member
That seems like alot, I'd be curious of what your actual sets are if you're doing that many warm ups.
3 sets of 5 reps.
I'll try this today, but what about my issue with my last set actually being easier?
I can only offer you my routine as it is how I prefer to lift.
5 warmups with 135
10x205 (this is a half warmup/half working set.)
8x225
6x255
4x285
It is 28 reps total not counting the warmup 135 that I do for 5 reps. I use this formula for almost every exercise I perform. Good luck!
Maybe you are miscalculating your 5 rep max? Increase your work set weight. FWIW I always felt that my 2nd and 3rd sets felt best when I was squatting
AdventureRacing
Member
Build muscle and improve cardio, i need to do both (i play rugby)
I have been doing 3 sets with 12 reps.
Well in general i find it makes my wrists quite sore and i wasn't really sure if the bar should be resting on my shoulders at all which is also uncomfortable.
since you play rugby, you need explosiveness and strength, right? less rep and more weight. also, make sure your wrists are straight, and your thumbs are behind the bar. that will probably alleviate most of hte wrist issues. as for the bar being uncomfortable, i try to find a nice spot and wedge it in there. it's going to hurt at high weight no matter what though lol. rest it on your traps
Yeah, the uncomfortableness of having all that weight on your shoulders is just something you kind of get used to.
Brolic Gaoler
formerly Alienshogun
It doesn't even bother me anymore. I think once your shoulders/traps get big you don't even notice. That or you just become numb to the discomfort. I don't know.
Probably just numb to it. At 320 it doesntmbother me anymore. Ive been stalled for a bit though so being around the same weigt for awhile probably allows me to get even more used to it.
AdventureRacing
Member
Thanks for the advice. I'll be back at the gym tomorrow and give it a try. I don't mind if it's somewhat uncomfortable on my shoulders i just figured that probably meant i was doing something wrong.
If you are doing a low bar back squat and you have the bar in the correct position, your shoulders should not be bothering you.
HarryHengst
Member
I started seeing a girl recently and she doesnt care at all about muscles on a man, and rather see a bit of a beer belly on a man than a sixpack. What is this, this is not the right kind of motivation. :lol
She just has to deal with me going to the gym and becoming stronger though. Not going to give up my swole for a girl.
She just has to deal with me going to the gym and becoming stronger though. Not going to give up my swole for a girl.
My ex girlfriend was the same way (she was not fat). She jus said that she loved a little but of a gut on a man, said it was great feeling the gut on their you-know-what during s-e-x.
I have multiple on both shoulders from when I lifted heavy in college. Still think they're badass.
My brother has me beat though - his entire biceps on both arms are full of tiny stretch marks.
Pssh, curls.
Their gut?
My brother is riddled with stretch marks on his chest under his arms, on his biceps, shoulders, lats... he was a beast. At 6'2" he jumped from 140lbs to 230lbs - 240lbs, cut to 215lbs at 10% BF or so and stayed there for years. A half-year back he slimmed down to as low as 175lbs, dropping his bodybuilding split and pretty much only keeping his arms muscled up.
He got to the point where he was working out for purely superficial reasons, and since most of the women he hooked up with didn't care he didn't either. So unfortunately he isn't rocking the beast mode anymore. On the other hand, he's hasn't been small enough for me to theoretically beat him up in years. And while as grown men we don't brawl or fight anymore, I take a certain delight in mentioning this at family outings.
He got to the point where he was working out for purely superficial reasons, and since most of the women he hooked up with didn't care he didn't either. So unfortunately he isn't rocking the beast mode anymore. On the other hand, he's hasn't been small enough for me to theoretically beat him up in years. And while as grown men we don't brawl or fight anymore, I take a certain delight in mentioning this at family outings.
How unfortunate.
On a side note, I'm down to 237 from my original 285 with no real strength loss. I'll soon be doing be low enough that I'm benching bodyweight for sets across.
How do you have bad form with dips or chins? As long as you don't kip or swing, it's kind of hard to screw up.
Real easy to do, especially with high reps. The other major contributor to screwing things up is a piss poor ROM.
I've seen dips where reps are a slight bend in the elbows and chins that top out with the eyes on the bar.
Its pretty easy to have bad form on dips. Particularly to not go the full ROM.
Brolic Gaoler
formerly Alienshogun
No, it's really not.
Awesome week, every day was a PR got 340x3 on my third set for bench today. Feel beastly.
FallingEdge
Member
That's the spirit.
I was talking to one of my co-workers here and found out that he was a powerlifter back in the day. His knowledge is incredible. Some of it is brosciency, but he is on point with his knowledge. He said by next summer, I can be 250 (I weigh 220 right now). I asked him for a routine to focus on size for this summer as I am trying to cut. Man, I can't wait haha.
Im down from 268 maybe a year and change ago, to 244-247 right now and even though to my own eyes I don't see a big difference people who haven't seen me in a while are shocked. At the weight of 268lbs, I would struggle with repping 135lbs 10x, little more than a year later and I can rep 315 for sets. It's a great feeling having your own body weight drop, but watching your strength gains continue to climb.
And MJfrancis, you should challenge your brother for one final match, come out of retirement and stake claim to the throne.
Spiritreaver
Member
Truth. When I first started working out I weighed 250 lbs, couldn't do a single pushups, pullups, and could only bench the bar. I noticed the strength gains much more than the weight loss until I dropped under 200. I don't know how other people noticed. Either way it's really nice going from fat to fit, you see success on multiple fronts, it gets addicting.
I remember the day I did my first pullup. I was actually pretty close to my first goal of 190 lbs and strong. I just had this crazy mental hurdle form being teased as a kid for being the failure during those fitness exam gym days. So I never tried. I just hopped up on a bar and started cranking them out, completely changed my perspective on my body.
Tried the 100 reps thing not too long ago and managed it alright, pullups are one of my favorite exercises now.
CliqWriter
Member
Gained 5 pounds this week. Diet is everything. I only spend 150 and month and I can do it, I'm sure others can as well.
Also, how do you guys feel about dri-fit type shirts? Tried my first one on today and hated it. Guess I'm more of a cotton
guy for working out.
Also, how do you guys feel about dri-fit type shirts? Tried my first one on today and hated it. Guess I'm more of a cotton
guy for working out.
Jason's Ultimatum
Member
I'm sure it's possible if you lift heavy and eat right. Why not use free weight DB/BB?
Yeah, it's much harder though when you're trying to eat organic/grass-fed/etc. I don't do that personally, I get myself big bags of frozen tilapia and salmon from Walmart, but those paying $6+ a lb for chicken are obviously being picky. To each their own.
$6 a lb for chicken is all they have at the store. I probably spent about 150 on food last month, and gained like 8 lbs. I've already said that I don't give a fuck about how things taste.
Price Dalton
Member
Or chicken necking to get your chin over the bar. I've learned my lesson after several spinal tweaks.
HarryHengst
Member
American food is so cheap. I pay like 3 euros for 250 gram of chicken, and not even the organic variant. That easily goes up to 6-8 euros for 300 gram or something ridiculous. Im single and probably spend 300 euros a month on food. :lol
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