Pause on bench good/bad for strength gains?

[CagedBeast23]

Is it good to pause on every rep on the incline bench,all the way down 1-2 seconds pause then all the way up,cause u lift less weight than without pause.Opinions?

[Farley1324]

Is it good to pause on every rep on the incline bench,all the way down 1-2 seconds pause then all the way up,cause u lift less weight than without pause.Opinions?

General strength training?

A nice, controlled, unrushed touch and go is probably best.

Pick one, stick with it, progress with it.

[sooby]

Paused is very good for strength AND hypertrophy gains and IMO superior to Touch and Go. It doesn't necessarily have to be a 1 or 2 second pause. Just lower the bar to your chest in a controlled manner. As soon as the bar remains motionless on your chest, press up. This ensures you are not bouncing the bar on your chest and that you aren't using momentum, thus ensuring maximum chest recruitment. Even a controlled touch and go will involve a bit of momentum.

Not that touch and go is bad and won't lead to strength and hypertrophy, a split second pause and not using momentum is just, better.

Joe DeFranco actually has a very good video on this:



Cliffs
- Said he got to a 2x BW bench using paused bench
- Paused carries over to TnG, but not the opposite
- Most of what I just said above
- Actually recommends "t shirt bench" basically touching your shirt, avoiding the bar sinking into your chest and using that as momentum

Do what you like OP, but I would recommend a split-second pause (press when the bar has become motionless on your chest)

[CagedBeast23]

General strength training?

A nice, controlled, unrushed touch and go is probably best.

Pick one, stick with it, progress with it.

Yeap clean paused bench,is it harder to progress than TnG?

[CagedBeast23]

Paused is very good for strength AND hypertrophy gains and IMO superior to Touch and Go. It doesn't necessarily have to be a 1 or 2 second pause. Just lower the bar to your chest in a controlled manner. As soon as the bar remains motionless on your chest, press up. This ensures you are not bouncing the bar on your chest and that you aren't using momentum, thus ensuring maximum chest recruitment. Even a controlled touch and go will involve a bit of momentum.

Not that touch and go is bad and won't lead to strength and hypertrophy, a split second pause and not using momentum is just, better.

Joe DeFranco actually has a very good video on this:



Cliffs
- Said he got to a 2x BW bench using paused bench
- Paused carries over to TnG, but not the opposite
- Most of what I just said above
- Actually recommends "t shirt bench" basically touching your shirt, avoiding the bar sinking into your chest and using that as momentum

Do what you like OP, but I would recommend a split-second pause (press when the bar has become motionless on your chest)

Thanks man very very good info,one of the reasons I started paused cause my chest sucks,but wouldn't be harder to progress on it then on the TnG?

[Garage Rat]

It depends on what your intent and purpose is with it.
For bodybuilding purposes it IMO doesn't matter and really all it does is take out or diminish the stretch reflex making the lift harder from the bottom/stretch position.
If you are a powerlifter and or compete on the bench press then yes it has value to you as you have to pause briefly at the bottom when in a competition.
When i competed in powerlifting i always paused my reps in training even if it was a quick pause.
I was never called on not pausing and was fairly strong from the bottom up because of pausing in training.
You might try if your going for mainly strength incline pin presses.
Start with the bar on a pin at chest level and press from there bottoms up.
Its a dead start probably even harder than a pause with no stretch reflex and you can control the negative on every rep.
Just an idea for you.

[sooby]

Thanks man very very good info,one of the reasons I started paused cause my chest sucks,but wouldn't be harder to progress on it then on the TnG?

There shouldn't be a huge difference in weight from paused and TnG. In my experience it is about 5% less than my TnG which is around 10-15 lbs less for me. It's a lot harder at first but as you get used to it the gap usually closes and for some people there really isn't a difference although intuitively it might not make sense. As far as it being harder to progress, not really IMO. The hardest part of the lift for anybody is the bottom. Learning how to control the weight at the bottom then press with your chest will help with this.

[blazy4lyfe]

usually you'll find a lot of powerlifters incorporating deadstop and pause reps in their training. especially the ones that are competitive powerlifters as they will be commanded to start, press, and rack by a judge at a powerlifting meet. but even if you're not a powerlifter it's still a good idea to do it, just to switch things up just to put a different kind/type of stress that your muscles are not used to.

[koweanguy]

Yeap clean paused bench,is it harder to progress than TnG?

Yup.
Experiment with both, bu the key is progression OP

[CagedBeast23]

It depends on what your intent and purpose is with it.
For bodybuilding purposes it IMO doesn't matter and really all it does is take out or diminish the stretch reflex making the lift harder from the bottom/stretch position.
If you are a powerlifter and or compete on the bench press then yes it has value to you as you have to pause briefly at the bottom when in a competition.
When i competed in powerlifting i always paused my reps in training even if it was a quick pause.
I was never called on not pausing and was fairly strong from the bottom up because of pausing in training.
You might try if your going for mainly strength incline pin presses.
Start with the bar on a pin at chest level and press from there bottoms up.
Its a dead start probably even harder than a pause with no stretch reflex and you can control the negative on every rep.
Just an idea for you.

yea I think guy on yt alphadestiny does pinpresses a,lot and he benches ithink 375 at 165bw,thanks for the idea

[CagedBeast23]

There shouldn't be a huge difference in weight from paused and TnG. In my experience it is about 5% less than my TnG which is around 10-15 lbs less for me. It's a lot harder at first but as you get used to it the gap usually closes and for some people there really isn't a difference although intuitively it might not make sense. As far as it being harder to progress, not really IMO. The hardest part of the lift for anybody is the bottom. Learning how to control the weight at the bottom then press with your chest will help with this.

it was very unnatural the first time i tried it,3rd week now i think it becomes habbit

[CagedBeast23]

usually you'll find a lot of powerlifters incorporating deadstop and pause reps in their training. especially the ones that are competitive powerlifters as they will be commanded to start, press, and rack by a judge at a powerlifting meet. but even if you're not a powerlifter it's still a good idea to do it, just to switch things up just to put a different kind/type of stress that your muscles are not used to.

heard it is awesome for lagging chest thats why i started with it

[CagedBeast23]

Yup.
Experiment with both, bu the key is progression OP

trying to add 2.5lbs every time i complete the given sets/reps

[GeneralSerpant]

trying to add 2.5lbs every time i complete the given sets/reps

Are you using 1 1/4 plates?

[CagedBeast23]

Are you using 1 1/4 plates?

Nope 2 1.25lbs plates why?

[GeneralSerpant]

Nope 2 1.25lbs plates why?

1 1/4 = 1.25. and also if you're talking about weight in the English measuring system then figures are denoted with fractions rather than decimal.

I was asking because I'm only familiar with 2.5 lb plates that add to barbells to raise 5 lbs total weight, so I was seeing whether you were actually using 1.25 or mistakingly talking about 2.5's.

[Farley1324]

Yeap clean paused bench,is it harder to progress than TnG?

No, my point on progression was to progress on the one you pick as your primary, don't switch on the fly and try to compare as it will just confuse the issue.

[sooby]

trying to add 2.5lbs every time i complete the given sets/reps

that's good, keep it moving OP

[CagedBeast23]

1 1/4 = 1.25. and also if you're talking about weight in the English measuring system then figures are denoted with fractions rather than decimal.

I was asking because I'm only familiar with 2.5 lb plates that add to barbells to raise 5 lbs total weight, so I was seeing whether you were actually using 1.25 or mistakingly talking about 2.5's.

I meant that u were saying 1 and 1/4 haha sorry my bad..even 5lbs is a lot to add to almost every bench press session that's asking for plateu

[CagedBeast23]

that's good, keep it moving OP

thanks man

[CagedBeast23]

No, my point on progression was to progress on the one you pick as your primary, don't switch on the fly and try to compare as it will just confuse the issue.

nahh..my goal is to improve my chest and also improve my bench,why would anyone prioritizes flys if they wanna improve their bench.tbh I've haven't done flat bench in 6-7 months l,like u said pick one compound exercise and progress till ure satisfied(while using some assistance exercises)

[sooby]

nahh..my goal is to improve my chest and also improve my bench,why would anyone prioritizes flys if they wanna improve their bench.tbh I've haven't done flat bench in 6-7 months l,like u said pick one compound exercise and progress till ure satisfied(while using some assistance exercises)

he said "don't switch on the fly" as a figure of speech, don't think he meant do chest flies lol

[Farley1324]

nahh..my goal is to improve my chest and also improve my bench,why would anyone prioritizes flys if they wanna improve their bench.tbh I've haven't done flat bench in 6-7 months l,like u said pick one compound exercise and progress till ure satisfied(while using some assistance exercises)

Who is talking about flies?

Touch and go bench vs paused bench, pick one of those (pick touch and go bench, or pick paused bench) as your primary, and progress on that one

[joseperez18]

Is it good to pause on every rep on the incline bench,all the way down 1-2 seconds pause then all the way up,cause u lift less weight than without pause.Opinions?

For bench to increase strenght this is what I did. 10 Light warm up quick reps (135lb), then a quick (225) 10 reps, 225 pause reps 5-6, 275lb 8 reps, pause rep 275 3 reps, 315 for as many as I could do, 365 max capout. Thats about what i personally do when i am trying to gain sstrenght on the bench.