Extremely weak shoulders holding my bench press back?

[Link815]

I agree shoulder strength is important. You're pretty spot on about the lats being the stabilization. My military hasn't gone up really at all since my bench has gone up 100 lbs and I have way better control of the bar. I'm one of those people who bench 400 and would struggle to row a 100 lb DB. But I've always had strong shoulders. I guess I've just taken that for granted. I guess I also figure shoulder strength into the lockout because shoulder pressing uses a ton of tricep too.

[Blindead]

Yeah...that's extremely low shoulder pressing. I could do that my first workout back from a rotator cuff tear, and we bench(ed) the same.

[babyslayer]

Yeah a tight back is a huge boon, but the lats physically can't contract to push the bar against gravity lol.

This a quite a mega agreement sesh.

Bahaha, do you work?

no, i should get a job, but i have never had too, so i never have.

my dad makes like 400k a year, so he has never cared about paying for what ever it is i want. THEN AGAIN, my only real expenses are food, and gym member ship, because i dont drive, and i HATE shopping.


if i got a job it would only be to buy supplements, which he would buy for me if i asked...


strong spongeyness i know lol.

[AusLifter06]

I still think lats can give you a huge boost when benching raw. I use to plan my workouts so a back day was 2 days before benching for this reason.

Shoulder strength is important(in it's own right) but also lots of guys can bench 350-400 who have a crappy military(i.e 185) so I'm not all that convinced. Mainly because the bench has so many variables(tri strength, pec strength, leverages) and gimmicks(arch) to cheat on.

[Mike516]

This man speaks the truth.

OP: What's your BB OHP and BB Flat Bench?

Haven't done BB OHP since I tired ripptoes (sp?) last january and gave up on it. BB flat bench was mentioned earlier, im maxing thursday but predicted based off of other lifts (max efforts) improvements and last max bench, should be ~230.

Also, to the lats comments, I also have pretty weak lats in comparison to my chest / tris.

I lifted for 2-3 years avg prob 3-4 times a week not having a clue what I was doing and trying to lose weight by eating 1400 calories while lifting and running XC.
I never really worked my lats at all during that time, but I heavily worked my chest/tri's (i benched 220 before college on barely any shoulder work and almost no lat work.) That 220 was on Aug 27th, the day before I left for college. I continued my random lifting scheme in college until around the last week in september which was when I started training with the conjugate method. I benched 265 with bands the first week of october, and the last week of november it only jumped to 275. Thats where my 230 estimate is coming from. The only thing that could change that estimate from being relatively correctwould be because of my new bench form.

Before college : completely flat on bench, pinkies at the grooves, lift off on my own,breath, press
after getting a little technique help : dig my traps/upper back into bench, pull my ass closer to the bar to make an arch, ring fingers at grooves, breath, get lift off, press.

[sheepyd]

Haven't done BB OHP since I tired ripptoes (sp?) last january and gave up on it. BB flat bench was mentioned earlier, im maxing thursday but predicted based off of other lifts (max efforts) improvements and last max bench, should be ~230.

Well if you max out on it, we could tell you if you have weak shoulders or not.

[sheepyd]

no, i should get a job, but i have never had too, so i never have.

my dad makes like 400k a year, so he has never cared about paying for what ever it is i want. THEN AGAIN, my only real expenses are food, and gym member ship, because i dont drive, and i HATE shopping.


if i got a job it would only be to buy supplements, which he would buy for me if i asked...


strong spongeyness i know lol.

Ahahahah well I can't really argue with that. Sounds pretty swell.

[Mike516]

Well if you max out on it, we could tell you if you have weak shoulders or not.

Well didn't you read the OP? I failed to do 4x10 @ 35 seated dumbbell press. The kid who I lift with (and guides me) has the same bench that I do (he weighs 20 lbs less and his other numbers are way higher) but he does 4x10 @ 55 with very fragile shoulders (had surgery multiple times, he has to progress extremely slowly to avoid injury) . If you guys wanted me to, I could do a max BB OHP on saturday and get a real number for you.

[LeakyQuesadilla]

i think a strong shoulder is good for bench if all of your other muscles are up to par. i've seated shoulder pressed 95 db's for 6 reps but have never benched above 275. i think i have either really weak lats or just pure sh!tty form.

[sheepyd]

Well didn't you read the OP? I failed to do 4x10 @ 35 seated dumbbell press. The kid who I lift with (and guides me) has the same bench that I do (he weighs 20 lbs less and his other numbers are way higher) but he does 4x10 @ 55 with very fragile shoulders (had surgery multiple times, he has to progress extremely slowly to avoid injury) . If you guys wanted me to, I could do a max BB OHP on saturday and get a real number for you.

It's easier to compare standing BB OHP and BB Flat Bench, hence the request.