Other than your chest, what is the most important muscle to workout for a BIG bench?

[god hand]

From doing reseach with my own body, I think its the lats.

[MrSinister]

shoulders id say, considering its the most used muscle on a bench.. lats is just a stabiliser

[The Real Deal]

shoulders id say, considering its the most used muscle on a bench.. lats is just a stabiliser

^^^^^
Hands down shoulders.

[bdpettit]

Triceps, by far.
If you don't have strong triceps, you will never be able to lock out the lift at the top.

[momotheglutton]

"other than chest" implying that chest is the most important? Definitely by far triceps are the most important. There's a good reason why tricep work is more important than chest work in most powerlifting routines...

[Pyr0_FrEaK]

tris defeintly

[$AJ]

shoulders are the biggest, then tricep and chest, with other groups like lats being a driving force, and then the usual stabilizers like biceps, etc...

[$AJ]

. lats is just a stabiliser

no, they act as sort of a 'launching pad' of sorts at the bottom (very rough description)

hence why heavy benchers have a heavy row as well and it's important to train it on the horizontal plane (rows)

[Rocky_Maivia]

Shoulders / Triceps / Lats, in that order.

[CrazyAZNRedneck]

Since the lockout is the "sticking point", I'd have to say Triceps take the cake. In fact, research has pointed to triceps (not chest) being the muscle most dominant for big bench pressers. However, this was tested based on powerlifters, who use bench shirts, which spring most of the movement out of the bottom of the lift...

[Rocky_Maivia]

Shoulders are the most important when benching shirtless.

[$AJ]

Shoulders are the most important when benching shirtless.

^^^

[The Real Deal]

unfortunately 65% of the voters think otherwise

edit: replace otherwise with tricep...since otherwise would actually mean 75%

[$AJ]

unfortunately 65% of the voters think otherwise

edit: replace otherwise with tricep...since otherwise would actually mean 75%

it just shows that most people have a lot to learn.

which is why, for example, having 19'' arms while not being anything super duper great in reality is considered 'Awesome!' and 'most definately juicing!!!' by the average trainee, because they don't know how to get there.

[The Real Deal]

it just shows that most people have a lot to learn.

which is why, for example, having 19'' arms while not being anything super duper great in reality is considered 'Awesome!' and 'most definately juicing!!!' by the average person, because they don't know how to get there.

lol i like how u choose 19inchers over say 20 a nice round even number. im sure it has nothing to do with the fact u have 19s?

[CrazyAZNRedneck]

AJ, you seem to be the resident know-it-all (not to twist your balls or anything). Do you have any studies you've seen to convince me otherwise? Or is this just your personal experience? The sticking point is still the lockout for 9/10ths of people. That says to me that the weak point on the bench press is the triceps.

I have always had a nice bench press and I notice I do have huge front deltoids. But, I also have giant triceps and chest and lats and... I'm pretty developed all over (no if I could just drop these damn twins I been pregnant with for the past three years).

[dparm99]

I know shoulders (front delts) get hit hard while benching but i voted triceps because it's ALWAYS my triceps that give out when i'm benching. I think it also depends on your grip as well eg. if you're using a wide grip it works the delts less.

[$AJ]

lol i like how u choose 19inchers over say 20 a nice round even number. im sure it has nothing to do with the fact u have 19s?

noooooooooo, not at all, honest!

AJ, you seem to be the resident know-it-all (not to twist your balls or anything). Do you have any studies you've seen to convince me otherwise? Or is this just your personal experience? The sticking point is still the lockout for 9/10ths of people. That says to me that the weak point on the bench press is the triceps.

complete ROM bench is like (roughly) 65% shoulder, 20% tricep, 15% chest (more or less of course)

i don't know where you get 9/10ths have trouble locking out. if anything i'd say it's 1/3 @ lockout, 1/3 @ middle, 1/3 @ bottom, hence where there are so many techniques to address each spot, because the different variations of where people get stuck

if i had to pick a weak point though and can't evenly distribute it, i'd have to go with the bottom - hence why so many people drop the weight and bounce it...take out the bounce and bang, they lose 50pds on their bench. So then lats (launching pad) become the most important in a bench for a strong drive, but that's not entirely true.

so really, it's the % of stress distribution i listed above, and then the most important part will depend on where YOU get stuck. but in general, if you have really weak shoulders, your bench will suffer a lot more than a weaker chest or triceps.

[CrazyAZNRedneck]

I get the 9/10ths mostly from training methods as well as the motivations behind them. Everything from Boards Presses to Floor Presses to Bands to chains rack lockouts focuses on the lockout as the hardest part of the bench press.

It's rather hard to say that bench pressing is such and such a % chest and so on since working chest to any sort of heavy extent will make all 3 big. Though, you can isolate chest a little better by limiting your range of motion to the bottom half. Funny, it seems that just by working chest and legs (OH Squats), you can build extremely strong shoulders.

[$AJ]

I get the 9/10ths mostly from training methods as well as the motivations behind them. Everything from Boards Presses to Floor Presses to Bands to chains rack lockouts focuses on the lockout as the hardest part of the bench press..

you're basically ssaysing rack lockouts over and over; i can say something like pause pressing over and over in different terms to work lat drive, or training w/ chains for the middle. there's more than just lockout that people stumble on.

[Showtyme]

....so really, it's the % of stress distribution i listed above, and then the most important part will depend on where YOU get stuck. but in general, if you have really weak shoulders, your bench will suffer a lot more than a weaker chest or triceps.

This is exactly right. If you get stuck at the bottom, you might need to focus on lats...if you struggle locking out, focus on tri's.

And for all around bench press improvement, shoulders should be a focal point, especially the front delt.

[GimpyPaw]

then the most important part will depend on where YOU get stuck.

Right there, that's the answer to look for.