ME Bench Question

[Arsenal1986]

So ive done six weeks of Barbell Bench Pressing for My Bench ME day and have started to stall out and want to change theME exercise, just wondering should i go for Incline BB presses, DB press or what? My goals are strength and Hypertrophy. Im doing that Defrancos Westside for Skinny Ba#stards.
Cheers!

[igunick]

I wouldn't do DB exercises as a ME exercise, you can go much heavier with barbells. Leave the DB work for the assistance exercises.

As for the ME exercises you can choose from every type of horizontal pressing: floor press, incline/decline press, board press, close grip, ...

[El tío Saín]

I´d also go for two or three-board press, floor press, incline press, decline press, rack lockouts...

I don´t feel like DB´s are fine por a ME day, unless you have microloads, and even in that case I find BB´s safer and more suitable por max efforts.

If hypertrophy is a goal I would go for incline BB presses, leaving the rest of powerlifting techniques (board press, etc) for pure strength work.

[Alcoholiday]

what ig said. floor presses, incline, flat, and close grip presses. Use DB work for an accessory

[Jason B]

You're already using DB's for your RE day on that program, so stick with BB variations like Floor press, board press, incline/decline, etc. And remember, you don't have to use a completely different movement, you can just change your grip width as well. Or you can do overhead press variations depending on your shoulder health. You can also do tricep stuff like JM's or heavy back exercises like power rows and pull-ups, I wouldn't do a real ME with those though, just do heavy 3's or 5's.

[Matthew]

What movements are good to bring up what parts of the bench?

I mean, db pressing is good for strength off the chest, rack lockouts are obviously to bring up lockout strength, floor presses I think I read are good for strength off the chest..
What are board presses used for? Shoulder presses? wide/close grip presses?

[MindPower]

Originally Posted by mAtThEw

What movements are good to bring up what parts of the bench?

I mean, db pressing is good for strength off the chest, rack lockouts are obviously to bring up lockout strength, floor presses I think I read are good for strength off the chest..
What are board presses used for? Shoulder presses? wide/close grip presses?

I was just about to ask a question regarding sticking points for benching, and T-Nation has a new article from Mike Robertson on that very subject.
Here It Is

[Matthew]

Thanks MindPower.

There's also this article, that I forgot about.

[Alcoholiday]

Originally Posted by mAtThEw

What movements are good to bring up what parts of the bench?

I mean, db pressing is good for strength off the chest, rack lockouts are obviously to bring up lockout strength, floor presses I think I read are good for strength off the chest..
What are board presses used for? Shoulder presses? wide/close grip presses?

board presses: train lockout. good for shirted benchers, and for getting your CNS used to handling heavier weights

DB Bench: off the chest/shoulders

Military Presses: shoulders/off the chest

wide: off the chest

narrow/close grip: tri movement. Generally easier for longer armed lifters.

[MindPower]

My sticking point is at the bottom of the bench,
will performing my RE benching movement (pushups currently) using the double contraction method or a 1 and a half pushup with the extra half at the bottom of the movement help with this sticking point??

heres a link to the double contraction method
Mark
(sorry for the hijack)

[Frank.S]

Originally Posted by MindPower

My sticking point is at the bottom of the bench,
will performing my RE benching movement (pushups currently) using the double contraction method or a 1 and a half pushup with the extra half at the bottom of the movement help with this sticking point??

heres a link to the double contraction method
Mark
(sorry for the hijack)

Maybe.. But its not a great method for getting past sticking points.

By doing 1 + 1/2 reps. you are decelerating the movement 1/2 way through. you may be getting pasy your initial one, but if you stick with it to much you could create another sticking point.

[Matthew]

Thanks alco.

Frank, getting past one sticking point will always create another sticking point.

[Snake_eyes]

Originally Posted by MindPower

I was just about to ask a question regarding sticking points for benching, and T-Nation has a new article from Mike Robertson on that very subject.
Here It Is

Wow that article was awesome

[Frank.S]

Originally Posted by mAtThEw

Thanks alco.

Frank, getting past one sticking point will always create another sticking point.

True.. I am not a fan of the extra deceleration in the middle of a lift in 1 and a 1/2 reps. Of course you will always have another sticking point, but the extra deceleration could cause one where you wouldnt of had one in the first place.

[Alcoholiday]

raw benchers will always be weaker off the chest. That's the usual weakpoint for raw benchers, which is why lots of ppl recommend shoulder and off the chest work.

[igunick]

I'm not... I can always get the weight of my chest. My sticky point is around the point where my upper arms pass parallel (2board area).

*EDIT* CRAP, this one was my 1000th post. Thought I was still at 999

[Alcoholiday]

Originally Posted by igunick

I'm not... I can always get the weight of my chest. My sticky point is around the point where my upper arms pass parallel (2board area).

*EDIT* CRAP, this one was my 1000th post. Thought I was still at 999

2 board for me is off the chest.. haha

[igunick]

I could be higher, when I'm struggling with a weight i'm not looking at the exact height of the bar. Still, I don't consider 2 board height the same as of the chest.

Also, I still don't agree on the original statement. Wouldn't shirted benchers be generally weaker of the chest as their lockout strength is way higher then with raw benchers? With the raw benchers the sticky point is more of a result of their training history. I could be off the chest but I could be lockout just as well.