Bench Pressing and Shoulders

[Deciever]

How much do the shoulders help in the bench press?? Where do they perform their most work in the lift? Which head of the shoulder is used the most in the bench press? Also, would strengthening your rotator cuff, in turn, strengthen your bench press?

 

[vtec96]

I think the shoulders are pretty important, but of course not like the tri's! but they come into play in the middle...just after you get the bar off your chest.. after about 3/4 of the way up its pretty much all tri's!! I think the fronts get worked the most when benching! Maybe wrong, but they seem to get the most sore for me, without doing any other shoulder lifts. As far as rotator's they probably wont "increase" you bench directly, but WILL help your stabilizers from injury!! I do these once per week after tri's and shoulders... do light weight for like 15-20 reps...Good preventative excercise

 

[Deciever]

alright, i was just wondering. I do rotator cuff exercises twice a week (i started doin em 3 weeks ago). I think i need to strengthen my shoulders a bit.. they just dont feel strong.. maybe it would help with the transition point of the bench, right before the tries kick in, if i really got my shoulders stronger

 

[Deciever]

Since the front deltoids are used for flexion of the arm, it makes since that the incline bench would activate the deltoids much more than the flat or decline positions. Once again our EMG study agrees. The incline bench press with a wide grip produced more electrical energy than the narrow grip. Francois remarks, "I agree! The greater the incline of the bench the more the front delts will be activated." Dr. Arria adds: "While the narrow grip is a stronger position, the wider grip produces more stress to the muscle."

i just found that for myself .. maybe i need some wide grip inclines into my routine... i could use that as a ME exercise combo with close grip incline.. just do 1 set close, 1 set wide, raise weight, repeat

 

[powerlifterjay]

Persoanlly i do no pressing for shoulders but i used to so maybe that helped before. But with all the pressing from benching and boards and Jms i feel like my delts are getting enough. I do side and rear raises along with seated face pulls for rear delt. Rears in my opinion help stabilive on the decend letting the bar hit the same place each and everytime. They are important. Do some front delt work plate raises or light militaries. Never do them to the rear. And rotator work cant be done enough in my opinion. Keep doing them. It may not make your bench go up but will help you from hurting yourself in that area.

 

[vtec96]

I would definately say inclines work your front delts!! The wide grip will prob do more than close grip like u say .... instead of doing 1 set wide and one close, maybe try one or two ME day's wide and the next one's close....just an idea

 

[Deciever]

yeah, i probably should separate them into two me days....

pljay, i havent done board presses or jm presses , because im sticking to westside basics for the bench part of the program. Since i dont do them, they delts done get hit very hard. I do side and rear and front raises, and sometiems plate raises.. i'll read up on it, and figure out some stuff to do.

 

[GRIMMER]

For me i think that my delts are a weak piont. I havn't rally worked them in over a year. I do side front and rear raises whenever i feel like it and i htnk tha they are necesary for me keeping my shoulders in working order. Rotator work is a must for suport and i think can add a few lbs. to a bench if they are a wak piont.

 

[CytoMel]

I think that the shoulders are really the key to upper body strength. Think about this-the shoulders are the only muscle group that connects with all the upper body muscles. I am not saying that strengthening the shoulders will increase the BP like strengthing the triceps would.

Try dumbell cleans for sholders they are a cool exercise and they strengthen the rotators too. You don't need much weight. I have a video of Halbert doing these with 25pound dumbells

 

[Deciever]

i did some wide grip incline presses today as my ME Exercise.. felt it in my shoulders alot more than normal bench. I worked up to a triple with 150, which is rpetty good for me.