For all u deadlifter built people out there like me...

[Sebass67]

Alright...i can dead and squat well. But i can;t bench all that great. It might be caused by my long arms...

Now, just like endo and ecto morphs train a little differently...i was thinking deadlifters would train differently for bench then a natural bencher would..

So...for all of you who have the same difficulties as me...

How did you get your bench up? What kind of program did you use?

BTW i am natural so the solution can;t be as simple as go on gear b/c i can't.

Thanks.

 

[sysopt]

Everyone in the powerlifting world says that bench is all triceps, and I agree with them...if you have shorter arms and a huge chest. But if you longer arms and dont have a massive chest, then there's more shoulder, chest, and lats involved...muscles other than triceps. Let met guess, you get stuck in the bottom or middle part of the lift?

 

[spatts]

Sebass, I like to think I'm "built to deadlift" as I have long arms and average legs. =BUT= Right now, my best lifts, in order, are bench, dead, squat...with the squat being pretty bad. There are so many ways to work around long arms, and yes, you can train differently to accomodate these differences. There's no way in the world, based on physique, that I should have a decent bench. However, building up the traps to elevate your body, building the chest to decrease ROM, using a wide grip to decrease ROM, using leg drive to increase speed through the ROM, and tucking the traps tight to decrease arm length in ROM, are all ways to get around it. The difference between my close grip bench and my extra wide grip bench is almost 6 inches, so of course I bench wide. Additionally, the TOP of my bench is the strongest, and this keeps most of my bench in the tricep recruitment range. All I have to do is be able to SPEED it off my chest to where my tris can take over. ALSO, in a bench shirt, I will get more assistance out of a wider grip, and it will assist me more where I am WEAK...at the bottom. As long as I can use speed and a shirt to get off my chest, my tris can take over and lock the other 4 inches. Of course, this doesn't mean I can neglect shoulders and lats to move the bottom of my bench, especially where speed is concerned. If anything, I train them harder because they're weaker.

 

[Imnotdutch]

I try to incorporate most of the things Spatts mentioned for lowering range of motion. This is what PLJay meant when he said arm length means little when benching.......technique is everything (I ad libbed a bit!). Look at Jamie Harris.......those are some long ass arms and he benches huge.

BTW great post Spatts!!

Alright...i can dead and squat well. But i can;t bench all that great. It might be caused by my long arms...

Now, just like endo and ecto morphs train a little differently...i was thinking deadlifters would train differently for bench then a natural bencher would..

So...for all of you who have the same difficulties as me...

How did you get your bench up? What kind of program did you use?

BTW i am natural so the solution can;t be as simple as go on gear b/c i can't.

Thanks.

 

[makedah]

From one long-armed gal to another...

Good post, Spatts!

Question: I always read that wide-grip benching can aggravate a bad shoulder (which I also have). How does it affect yours?

BTW: I get stuck in the bottom. I start floor-pressing on Wednesday.

 

[spatts]

Wide grip and wide bench are very different. Benching wide is what caused me to spend the last 8 months rehabbing my rotator cuffs. Believe me, if wide grip was going to irritate my shoulders, I wouldn't do it. I still bring the bar low, and my arms are no more than 45 degrees from my body. That, alone, minimized the shoulder rotation.