On Bench, if my sticking point........

[samsuperjew]

is about 2/5ths the way up, what would be a good assistance/main exercise for it?

[nekkidbear]

Floor press.

[justin36253]

sounds pretty ideal for a 1 or 2 board

[Entkommen115]

Barbell floor presses

[LongtimeLurkr]

Paused DB bench. Don't rest the dbs, keep full tension at the bottom. Drive them up explosively from the pause. Start with a weight that you know you'll get for 3 fairly easy sets of 10. Go up 5 lbs per week for a couple of weeks until it starts to get difficult. You want to keep your speed with these. Move on to 8s for a few weeks, then 6s.

[samsuperjew]

can i still tuck my shoulders on floor press? if i cant tuck them.... they get ****ed up

[tinyman5000]

Paused DB bench. Don't rest the dbs, keep full tension at the bottom. Drive them up explosively from the pause. Start with a weight that you know you'll get for 3 fairly easy sets of 10. Go up 5 lbs per week for a couple of weeks until it starts to get difficult. You want to keep your speed with these. Move on to 8s for a few weeks, then 6s.

this, also pause your shoulder pressing

[samsuperjew]

wouldn't the db's help more off the chest?

[Entkommen115]

can i still tuck my shoulders on floor press? if i cant tuck them.... they get ****ed up

Yes. Typically you want to use a more narrow grip when you do floor presses to make sure you hit your triceps as much as possible. If you do that tucking will be even easier than normal.

If you keep your standard bench grip you can still tuck, but because you will not have as much of an arch your tuck will not be quite as much as usual. The movement feels fine as far as shoulders go (with the exception of them being pressed against the floor) the only thing people complain about is their elbows. As long as you make sure to control the weight and give a pause at the bottom it should be a fairly comfortable movement.

[Entkommen115]

wouldn't the db's help more off the chest?

Both barbell and dumbbell floor presses are win, however if you are looking to get through that specific sticking point I would recommend the Barbell floor presses. I feel it help trains for the movement a little better than the dumbbells do.

[nekkidbear]

Yes. Typically you want to use a more narrow grip when you do floor presses to make sure you hit your triceps as much as possible. If you do that tucking will be even easier than normal.

If you keep your standard bench grip you can still tuck, but because you will not have as much of an arch your tuck will not be quite as much as usual. The movement feels fine as far as shoulders go (with the exception of them being pressed against the floor) the only thing people complain about is their elbows. As long as you make sure to control the weight and give a pause at the bottom it should be a fairly comfortable movement.

Agreed. But these should help with your bench sticking point. Also suggested the 1 or 2 board press would be beneficial.

[koyongi]

I disagree - if you're only getting 2/5ths of the way up, the problem is before that. All the suggested exercises are going to work at or above the sticking point, which is gonna be pointless, because the bar is already slowing (or stopping) before you even get there. I'd do way more lat work and back work, and really focus on your tuck and coming strong off the chest. The faster you can come off the chest, the more likely you are to have enough speed to get through that sticking point.

That said, a 1 or 2 board might not hurt, depending on how long your range of motion is.

[Entkommen115]

I disagree - if you're only getting 2/5ths of the way up, the problem is before that. All the suggested exercises are going to work at or above the sticking point, which is gonna be pointless, because the bar is already slowing (or stopping) before you even get there. I'd do way more lat work and back work, and really focus on your tuck and coming strong off the chest. The faster you can come off the chest, the more likely you are to have enough speed to get through that sticking point.

That said, a 1 or 2 board might not hurt, depending on how long your range of motion is.

In another thread he said that 2/5 of the way up for him is when his arms are parallel with the floor. Simply because of this I think that floor presses would be his best option. That said I agree with the upper back strengthening as well along with some kind of exercises to strengthen the external rotators.

[bigtallox]

In another thread he said that 2/5 of the way up for him is when his arms are parallel with the floor.

Then it's a technique issue. I have the longest arms in the world, and my arms are parallel to the floor when the bar touches my chest. There's no reason that arms parallel with the floor should happen 2/5 of the way up. He probably needs to tuck more, arch more and work on upper back strength, IMHO.

[babyslayer]

copy and pasteing from the other thread, incase anyone who is reading this happens to have the same problem as sam
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
the best assistance would be working on your arch, if you get a big arch your sticking point would be non existent.

foam rolling for your back, wide stance box squats to get bigger glutes for a bigger decline.

and this stretch






that stretch will help you arch like this






but other than that, id say floor presses lying on something like 1-2 inches high (to make a slightly larger ROM would be perfect. you want to do sticking point training starting right bellow the sticking point, so that you train the actual rom where the sticking point is.


chain bench, or band bench, or both, would also be good because it would teach you to explode off your chest and there for create enough momentum to get through the sticking point.


board presses right bellow your sticking point may also do the trick, perhaps even pause benching to make you stronger off your chest, so that you can get more momentum off your chest to get past your sticking point.


back work to help you off your chest, leg drive to help you off your chest.



there is also a TON to be said for technique, proper arch, proper leg drive, squeezing the bar as hard as you can, involving your lats in the lift, pressing and lowering the bar through the proper path, rotating your elbows back to lockout etc. with powerlifting form you might find your sticking points are completley different.


everything works, nothing works forever, when you really think about it, the best way to hit your sticking point on bench, is just to bench.

[bigtallox]

the best assistance would be working on your arch, if you get a big arch your sticking point would be non existent.

Yup.

Just know that not everybody can set up on the bench like that. It works for shorter/smaller guys, but bigger/taller guys will never look that even if there set up is good. Your post is still 100% valid though, I'm not suggesting that it's not.

[bigtallox]

I have the longest arms in the world, and my arms are parallel to the floor when the bar touches my chest. There's no reason that arms parallel with the floor should happen 2/5 of the way up. He probably needs to tuck more, arch more and work on upper back strength, IMHO.

Just to make my comment clear, I've had to work technique pretty hard to get to this point ( with my long arms ). I do lots of setup work/practice with just the bar ( especially before my meet last weekend ). I still have a long way to go, but I've found even making little changes in technique can make a big different.

Here's a video of what I'm talking about ( minus the grip work I do in this video ). Just keep in mind, this is a work in progress, in this video I'm nowhere near to where I want ultimately to be.

[babyslayer]

Yup.



Just know that not everybody can set up on the bench like that. It works for shorter/smaller guys, but bigger/taller guys will never look that even if there set up is good. Your post is still 100% valid though, I'm not suggesting that it's not.

yeah that takes a special person to do that, the main point of the picture is to show why that specific stretch i posted would help you get a bigger arch.

[bigtallox]

yeah that takes a special person to do that, the main point of the picture is to show why that specific stretch i posted would help you get a bigger arch.

Oh I understand and appreciate you posting it. Thanks.

[koyongi]

In another thread he said that 2/5 of the way up for him is when his arms are parallel with the floor.

Seriously? We only have one guy that can touch his chest on floor press, and he has a huge torso and t-rex arms...

[Baby_Hulk]

For the people that do Floor Presses with DBs... do you guys just have two spotters who hand you the DBs when you're already laying down?

What about after the set's finished? Do the spotters stay handy to take the DBs back, or do you just toss em aside?

I've been aching to give the Floor Press a shot, might give em a go on Thursday or so.

[bigtallox]

Seriously? We only have one guy that can touch his chest on floor press, and he has a huge torso and t-rex arms...

I can touch doing floor presses and I have a 7 foot wingspan. ( Yes I have a gut too, it's bloated from all the food I have to eat so I don't loose muscle mass. )

[samsuperjew]

i'll try to get a video of form next time, how often can the stretch be done?