NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/misc/fitness/9924

Text File | 1993-01-28 | 2.9 KB | 70 lines

Newsgroups: misc.fitness
Path: sparky!uunet!UB.com!pacbell.com!sgiblab!spool.mu.edu!uwm.edu!linac!att!cbnewsk!krw
From: [e-mail] (keith.r.smith)
Subject: Re: Bench press question
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 21:47:50 GMT
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
References: <[e-mail]>
Lines: 58

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>When you bench press very heavy weights, i.e. near your maximum lift weight,
>there is a "stick point" which impeeds the motion of the bar.  Once this
>point is overcome, the bench press action becomes easier.  On myself,
>this stick-point is a couple of inches above my chest.  On a friend, it is
>directly at the point of contact of the bar to her chest.
>
>Are there any exercises that may help to reduce the stick-point effect?  My
>friend was told that doing all sorts of shoulder exercises would help.  I
>don't believe this because if you examine the layout of the arm bones and
>the shoulder, the only muscles are the ones in your chest (mainly pecs) that
>have any affect on the upward motion of the arm.  The shoulders have no
>mechanical advantage.

This is simply not true! Try this experiment:

    Lay back on your bench with an empty bar, as if you were
    about to do a bench press. Take your usual grip, and lower
    the bar to your body, as per usual.

    If the bar lands near the lower edge of your pecs, rather than
    near your collarbone, you can rest assured that your anterior
    delts are heavily involved. They might not have the best
    mechanical advantage, but they're in there!

I believe that it is actually the delts that move the bar those first
coupla' inches offa' the chest, after that, once your upper arms "line-up"
parallel to the bar, that is when the load shifts to the pecs and triceps.

Anyway, back to your original question....
There are two ways that I have found to be effective in getting past the
"sticking point". Both of these techniques involve isometrics.

    1) When Chuck Sipes was training to make a 500 lb. bench press,
       he trained on a "power rack". He would set the pins to limit
       his range of motion to that range that included his "sticking
       point" and little else. He would press and _hold_ for a few
       seconds, as much weight as he could handle, against the top
       pair of pins.

    2) A similar technique, that I have used personally, is to have
       a particulary sadistic spotter/training-partner _prevent_
       you from pressing the bar beyond your "sticking point" for
       several seconds, and then release, so that you can finish
       the lift. (I say "particularly sadistic", as my training
       partner was not content to simply _stop_ the bar, but felt
       the need to apply some "down pressure" as well :-))
       This technique will _definately_ shift your "sticking point".

Keith R
>
>Any ideas?
>
>--
>
>Eric Alter        [e-mail]