The Bench Press

[bodyhard]

All I see is young people doing bench more than squats...I very rarely see young dudes squat let alone older guys. You go to any gym in NYC and all the benches are taken, squat racks are usually empty.

[Payton1221]

When I get up in poundage I use Power Hooks, It's a cheap way to save your shoulders

Halfway mentioned his displeasure with them, and I think they're cumbersome (but your spot on about it saving your shoulders), but I workout at home and drilled and tapped holes in the tops of my dumbbells for a hook (visible from my video posted above) and it's GREAT!

[anonymous]

Halfway mentioned his displeasure with them, and I think they're cumbersome (but your spot on about it saving your shoulders), but I workout at home and drilled and tapped holes in the tops of my dumbbells for a hook (visible from my video posted above) and it's GREAT!

It's having to twist them to get them off at the start that annoys me, then for me the lockout is where I fail with DBs - so I couldn't get them back on the bar at the end of a set.

And when you drop them, they break lol

I've had 2 sets and ended up selling on both pairs.

[nkilmart]

This is a lot of great information. Unlike many of you, I find the incline press to be harder on my shoulders than the regular bench. I put the bench angle at about 32 degrees, and put up about 80% of my regular bench.

Both are hardest on my elbows, but I find that to be the case for both pushing and pulling exercises. It's just there. I'm not worried about the big injuries or huge wear and tear that some of you are facing, because it's pretty clear to me I'll never approach those numbers y'all are putting up!

I find flat bench much harder on the shoulders than incline. In fact I gave up flat bench about 3 years ago

[kyle38]

I find flat bench much harder on the shoulders than incline. In fact I gave up flat bench about 3 years ago

I agree. I injured the AC joint years ago bad, and notice a lot more pressure at that point when flat benching. I think the bone heals on top of one another and presses down with weight in that position.

[ezra76]

I'd rather do dumbells. I feel like I don't get as much out of the bar and it's a more awkward on my shoulders. I've worked on my form but still get a little pain in my right shoulder. The dumbell rom is just more comfortable and get a better chest isolation and pump. Unfortunately I have a lot of weight for the bar but not much for dumbbells.

[VicDumbbells]

Yes the shoulders do come into play but if your shoulders hurt from bench pressing your form is way off.

Nonsense.

I haven't benched in years, have no desire too.

Yep. And makes no difference in gainz. It's just one movement. There are lots of options to train those muscles.

[ezra76]

Just did chest an hour ago and decided to do warm-up sets incline. Felt smooth and great. Switched to flat for my working sets and by set 2 the right shoulder started to hurt. I'm considering just switching over to all incline instead. Working on finding some heavier DB's but so far either way to much $$ or to far away.

Miss that machine at the gym I used to go to. It was a seated bench machine with weight stack. Felt perfect and could just do drop sets till my chest was pumped to explode.

[adamgentile]

Nonsense.




Yep. And makes no difference in gainz. It's just one movement. There are lots of options to train those muscles.

It's not nonsense, if you have shoulder issues your form is off, plain and simple. Just like there is a correct way to run, throw a ball, swing a bat, golf swing, etc. There is a correct way to bench with taking the shoulders out of play.

This video was a game changer, say goodbye to any shoulder issues when doing it this way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdcg...ature=emb_logo

[Payton1221]

It's not nonsense, if you have shoulder issues your form is off, plain and simple. Just like there is a correct way to run, throw a ball, swing a bat, golf swing, etc. There is a correct way to bench with taking the shoulders out of play.]

I agree with Vic, and BTW, there are people with injuries who aren't capable of running, throwing a ball, or swinging a club/bat. This is the O35: lots of injuries

[00Olu]

Well I don't agree with variety. The reason most ovr 50 don't bench is fear, my experience is opposite I find many over 50 benching... I for one have been benching forever and wong ever stop, I work thru and past injuries and bench
As a side note I am 62 yrs old and steadily increasing my bench to a current 287 and a rep max of 225x12 all filmed and posted
Keep pushing

You're a beast, old man.

[xTeTe]

Just trying to get an idea of where you guys like to grip the bar.

I've found my best spot so far is with my ring finger on the inner hash mark. Keeping it wide enough to really activate the pecs but close enough to activate my triceps a decent amount.

[ElrondHubbard]

Just trying to get an idea of where you guys like to grip the bar.

I've found my best spot so far is with my ring finger on the inner hash mark. Keeping it wide enough to really activate the pecs but close enough to activate my triceps a decent amount.

It depends on your personal size and proportions, of course, but my gripping point is pretty close to where yours is.

[brit-iron]

I switched to Dumbbells only a few months ago and now much prefer it tbh. Shoulder pain never an issue, but I have found dumbbells to be great for sorting out imbalances for me. My left side was weaker, which became very apparent when switching to DB's, but is now catching up nicely.

[charlievanriper]

Nice numbers!

late but thank you, stopped posting for a bit after my 225X12 rep max, re strained the shoulder but i am back at it again now chasing 315 I never learn lol

[MajorTendonitis]

When I get up in poundage I use Power Hooks, It's a cheap way to save your shoulders

I use power hooks also, excellent investment. Unfortunately I dropped them once and broke a weld , but I’ll be buying another set , or learn how to use my welder .
I took the Velcro stuff off and only use the metal part , as I found the diameter too big for my grip .

Unfortunately my tendonitis in my forearms is terrible if I bench with a bar now . I think I brought it on myself for always using a suicide grip, as I believe it puts unwanted stresses on you tendons in that position.
I was improving and repping 225-5 in March , but got deathly ill with some stupid virus and spent a month in bed ,and am down to one rep.
Hopefully I can rep 225 on bench when I’m 65

[MoJoJoJo1977]

It's not nonsense, if you have shoulder issues your form is off, plain and simple. Just like there is a correct way to run, throw a ball, swing a bat, golf swing, etc. There is a correct way to bench with taking the shoulders out of play.

I don't think it's quite as simple as you make it seem.

I've had injuries to both shoulders from baseball. Right arm is wonky from years of throwing and is apt to get tendonitis. Left arm can get bad from an AC joint injury from diving to catch a ball.

There are correct ways to throw a baseball but the motion of throwing a ball with the velocity that the upper levels do puts a great amount of stress on the shoulder structure. Those stresses over time even with good form causes injury.

Throwing a baseball overhand has a greater potential for injury than an underhanded throw.

I put the bench press in the same category as the overhand throw.

Even with perfect form the barbell bench puts more stress on the shoulder joint than other exercises.

Barbell benching hurts my shoulders. Dumbells are fine in that I can rotate the grip and put less stress on the shoulder joints.

[xTeTe]

Im officially on hiatus from the bench. I've gotten stuck at 225 at various reps during the workout for a couple months. Can't seem to get past a 5,4,4,4,4 or 5,4,4,4,3 rep scheme. Sometimes I'll throw 235 on there for three reps but that tends to diminish returns when I drop back to 225 later in the workout.

I typically do dumbbell pressing one of the other three days I work out and flys the other. Now I'm replacing the bench with plate loaded chest press for a while and really working hard on the tricep isolation now which I wasn't doing before. Also, moving up a bit in weight on the dumbbell presses and flys. Hopefully it'll help when I return to the bench later.

[PhDPepper1111]

As usual, the truth is somewhere in between.
And individual specific.

I returned to lifting heavy after 10+ years away and post back fracture and beating cancer.
I'm not the same person I was back then.

I can't lift as often or I definitely feel more than just DOMS discomfort. I did a 10-week cycle that had me benching twice a week and the fatigue and soreness short-circuited any gains and I suspect would ultimately lead to injury or quitting. I'm benching once a week now and it's much better.
The other side of the coin though is that I'm positive that my form still needs to improve and as I put a little more arch in my bench and work to get my starting position/stroke lower on my chest I'll take some of the burden off my shoulders.
And now for the individual specific: my back fracture caused permanent damage to efferent nerves on the right side. Now that I'm getting stronger, I can see that my right pec, tri, and lat are all developing less than my left. My shoulders are about even.... my right shoulder is still firing at 100% but that means unavoidably I'm putting more burden on it.... will be a work in progress how much demand I can put on it, but still make gains.

[charlievanriper]

You're a beast, old man.

Lol thx youngster, just trying to stay relevant and in the game re strained the shoulder after that 225x12 but now i am back and working back up but slowly this time...

[charlievanriper]

Well all good responses but personally I credit the ability to continue to grow to. improve to get harder and stronger without giving in to assistance methods as I continue to age To heavy pressing and continually pushing to failure at Every session

Yesterday was a bench incline variation decline press where I pushed to a final 272.5 to end another solid week of pressing heavy .. Not bragging but wanting to show you guys what's possible EVEN over 62 yrs old

Day 3A - Week 8 Focus- Decline Press 272.5



Benching heavy CONSISTANTLY since my youth Just saying for the idiot Naysayers oh ya I also del with an old blown shoulder injury from 98 ... ZERO EXCUSES JUST HARD WORK

[blue9steel]

I've gotten shoulder problems from benching in the past but given what I know now it was pretty much all my fault.

1) Good technique is critical, use bad form and you're going to get hurt eventually
2) Lifting heavy is fine, but you can't do that continuously, learn to periodize your training as well as take deloads and active rest periods
3) Specificity is good but never using variation is a recipe for connective tissue problems

[PhDPepper1111]

Well all good responses but personally I credit the ability to continue to grow to. improve to get harder and stronger without giving in to assistance methods as I continue to age To heavy pressing and continually pushing to failure at Every session

Yesterday was a bench incline variation decline press where I pushed to a final 272.5 to end another solid week of pressing heavy .. Not bragging but wanting to show you guys what's possible EVEN over 62 yrs old

Day 3A - Week 8 Focus- Decline Press 272.5

Great work - yes, determination, commitment, and effort can bring amazing returns! Have you read the recent thread on going to failure? ymmv, but I think each person still needs to work to find that balance.

I've gotten shoulder problems from benching in the past but given what I know now it was pretty much all my fault.

1) Good technique is critical, use bad form and you're going to get hurt eventually
2) Lifting heavy is fine, but you can't do that continuously, learn to periodize your training as well as take deloads and active rest periods
3) Specificity is good but never using variation is a recipe for connective tissue problems

Definitely. 2&3 definitely come into play as we age even more, but have always been true.

[charlievanriper]

Great work - yes, determination, commitment, and effort can bring amazing returns! Have you read the recent thread on going to failure? ymmv, but I think each person still needs to work to find that balance.



Definitely. 2&3 definitely come into play as we age even more, but have always been true.

Thank you, Yes and I don't agree with with those who post against going to failure ... I train chest / shoulders 3 times a week and always include failure max sets and burn sets each time. Legs and back 2 sessions a week without failure sets .... Been training in this manner for many yrs (2004 join date here but for many yrs before social media ) won't change no matter what research or so called experts say... A 3 plate bench coming soon for the first time since my early 50's....

[charlievanriper]

More in response to Going to failure constantly nd in reference to old age and limitations of which I have always said are in your mind, not in your body here's more heavy pressing to failure for a 62 yr old with an existing injury which I deal with

DAY 1, WEEK 9 working my % based training PRESSING DAY.
The POA
Warmups on Smith machine
175x4, 185x4, 195x3, 205x2, 215x1, 225, 235
Now
Flat Bench A % Program max # 266
75%x6- 200/ 85% x 3-226.5
90% x 240- / 95% x 1-252.5
Now today's Max out attempts
260, 268.5 filmed, 275 New ovr 60 PR
**top out today ........275
90% x 4 R/P-247.5
85% x 4-235
80% x 6-220
65%-179x20r
Then CGBP
4 sets 225x6

all videos for proof are posted on my youtube channel
WEEK 9 working my % based training PRESSING DAY. New Pr Ovr 60 -275

THE ROAD TO AN OVER 60 3 PLATE BENCH

[charlievanriper]

HERE'S SOME UNINTELLIGENT DISCUSSION OR JUST PLAIN UNINTELLIGENT POSTING FROM AN OLD MAN WHO DOESNTG NEED ALL THE **** YOU DO TO STAY STRONG FIT HEALTHY
All videos of my progress and journey for proof are posted on my youtube channel

Well lets keep this thread Relevant...

Day 3a- Week 9 Focus- Flat Bench NEW 62 yr old Pr 282.5


Day 3a- Week 9 Focus- Flat Bench attempting 290..


failed at 290 but that goal will fall next week and then an over 60yr old will break past 300

next 90%= 255x4 tried for 5 got 4

Day 3a- Week 9 Focus- Flat Bench 85% 240x5


Day 3a- Week 9 Focus- Flat Bench 80% 225x8


Day 3a- Week 9 Focus- Flat Bench 75% 185x19


There ya go 62, but hey what do I know ??
Haters gonna hate but they fuel my passion ....

[superman704]

The bench builds the chest

[PhDPepper1111]

The bench builds the chest

Good to know.

[tkdnj]

I've gotten shoulder problems from benching in the past but given what I know now it was pretty much all my fault.

1) Good technique is critical, use bad form and you're going to get hurt eventually
2) Lifting heavy is fine, but you can't do that continuously, learn to periodize your training as well as take deloads and active rest periods
3) Specificity is good but never using variation is a recipe for connective tissue problems

This brings up a great point which I find is strongly debated (periodization). I will start another thread to get some dedicated discussion.

[charlievanriper]

The bench builds the chest

wow man Thx for that clarification.... Man thats really good to know