Back Your Bench!

By DB Hammer
EliteFTS.com

Is your bench press wrecked? Not stalled or stubborn, but actually wrecked- no matter
what you do, it’s stuck? Don’t shy from admitting it, after all, you’re not alone. Okay, so
do you have the gonads to admit you’re suffering but do you have enough sack left to do
what’s needed?

There are an infinite number of reasons why performance stalls, no question about it, so
this article is written to instantly gratify you with a few easily implemented yet often
neglected cures.

Prime Anatomical Position (PAP)

Try bench pressing with your shoulder blades protracted (pulled forward) versus retracted
(shoulder blades back and tight). What you find is that the more your shoulders are
protracted (pushed forward), the less force you can apply to the bar (pecs and delts taken
out of the movement and triceps reliance is engaged). This is due to the fact that if your
skeletal system is in proper alignment, and each limb is associated with the next link in
the chain properly, then performance production is promoted. That is, your best results
will come from being in your best structural position. Even the slightest error from this
“best position”- the PAP- may result in a dramatic halt in performance. Furthermore, each
time that you practice via an inferior system construct, you are perpetuating self
destruction and you are inhibiting the contractile units to do their job optimally. Over
time, your posture and performance will look very poor. Lastly, even the “jungle-gym”
trainers out West will want to integrate PAP understanding to their programs since injury
avoidance is highly reliant on neglecting undue stress to the contractile units (i.e.
decrease risk of tendonitis and muscle tears).

Healing the Hurt

It’s getting more and more difficult to have a discussion about the bench press these days
without ending up in talks about elbow and shoulder problems. This trend regarding
ignorance to prime the system back into proper postural alignment is increasing
exponentially. It is just as common to see a guy with bad posture as it is to find an athlete
who suffers from chronic shoulder and/or elbow problems. The fact is, and what we have
had to learn to drop our injury rate to 0%, you can’t wait to fall out of the ship before you
learn how to swim. Fix the problem before it starts, or before it gets severe. You do this,
partially, by performing off-set techniques to maintain and/or bring your bone structure
back to PAP- once again, allowing your muscular system to function properly. Taking
into account the most common training bloopers, the following list of exercises should
help most of you “heal and steal”- fix your minor injury and swap a new personal record
in the process.

ProSup Extensions

The problem with bench pressers, as well as some other athletes, is that they seem to be
overly reliant on one grip orientation. This results in certain muscles of the lower and
upper arm being developed to a higher degree than their associative muscles, which
perpetuates injury and poor performance. For instance, if muscles that turn your hand
over and palm-down (“pronaters”) out weigh the development of the opposing muscles
which rotate the hand so that the palm is facing up (“supinaters”) then the integrity of
your elbow can be compromised. Anyone heard of Tommy John’s surgery? This is may
be the culprit for a lot of athletes who have had to go under the knife with that procedure.
It should be noted, however, that an injury potential is usually not realized in this regard
until your system is pulled out of PAP.

For this reason, and others, this movement may just be the savior to your elbow health
AND your bench press numbers are likely to jump. Perform this gem by laying face up
on a bench with a DB in each hand. Your palms will be facing the direction of your feet-
pronated grip- at the top. You will then gradually supinate your wrist orientation as you
descend the DB’s. With this fluid rotation and descent, the mid-range position will be
achieved when your palms face the floor (your face) as the DB’s float just above your
forehead. The concentric portion is a mirror image of the drop, simply pronating your
wrist in harmony with the degree to which you ascend- achieving full pronation just as
you achieve lock out.

Dip Shrugs

Only the best athletes seem to possess good scapular (shoulder blade) control. With that
in mind, this exercise will promote PAP achievement, upper lat development, pec
development, and even trap development. This specific exercise, however, is
implemented to depress the shoulders, primarily, with conditional cases to better regulate
the integration between these involved muscle groups.

The execution involves performing an inverse shrug on a parallel dip bar device. The
distance between the dip handles should be proximal 32”. Note: your shoulder blades
should be back and held static at this relative horizontal position as the vertical movement
is carried out. Maintain semi-stiff arms throughout- this is not a full-dip.

Incline Front Raise

This movement is designed to promote better posture with the shoulder complex as well
as rid and protect you from the slight hunchback syndrome that occurs at the nape of the
neck. Essentially, this movement will help to terminate upper back problems and
restrictions on performance.

Perform a neutral grip (palms facing each other) front raise to full overhead extension
(upper arms even with torso). The separation between the two DB’s may be manipulated
to better serve your individual purpose. In short, trap- and rhomboid- weak athletes will
take a slightly wider separation. Bench angle may also be toyed with to match up with
your preferences and needs.

Scapular Pullups

This movement will directly and indirectly blast your bench. Indirectly, you will promote
a shoulder retracted and depressed position- essentially, making the adjustments needed
to achieve your PAP through deficiency training. However, most athletes rave about the
direct effect on their bench press. The simple truth is that very few athletes know how to
develop their upper lats, except gymnasts. How do gymnasts develop such impressive
upper lats? They do a ton of “bar work” in their sport, primarily from a hang position.
After all, the only time that the upper lats are brought into play is when the arms are
fully- or proximal- extended overhead.

For this one, use a palms facing grip and perform a semi-stiff arm pull up. The range of
movement will only be about 5-6”, mostly propelled via the depression and rotation of
the shoulder blades via the upper lats, primarily. Why the partial movement? Why not
perform just full range pull ups or pull downs? The answer is simple: the upper lats can
handle significantly more load than the rhomboids can handle at the top range of a pull
up, thereby a training effect is not strongly put into effect when a full range movement is
used. Once again, gymnasts develop their impressive backs from mostly hanging in this
Scapular Pull Up position and through reactive loading of such positions, not from doing
conventional style movements.

Now the impressive part; the thicker your upper back, the better you are able to use
friction between your upper arm and upper lats to lift big weights in the bench press.
Moreover, not only does the upper back promote getting out of the hole on its’ own but
the friction effect allows athletes to handle greater loads as their leverages decrease (as
the bar nears the chest/ upper arm reaches parallel to the floor). The net result is a shorter
range of movement to which you actually have to struggle. Results: 5-10% bench press
improvements are typical over a few short months.

Supinated Grip Rows

This movement is the perfect reciprocation of a bench press. That is, the action around
the elbow and shoulder is virtually the exact opposite of the bench press, which is needed
to draw everything back to PAP.
Use a supinated grip (palms up) for this movement and row to the naval with the shoulder
blades pulled strongly together. As for loading, use a cable apparatus, a barbell with a
bent over row, or even a chest supported row device, to name a few. Extended work with
this method will help to rid you of elbow and shoulder problems. But, more importantly,
you will strengthen your rhomboids to such an extent that your shoulder blades will be
pulled into their best position for work in a natural rest, which will result in a shorter bar
path during work with the bench press. Test this one out on your own. Lay down in bench
press position and play around with different positions of your shoulder blades. Do you
notice that when you pull your shoulder blades back that your chest rises to the ceiling,
thus creating a shorter distance between lockout and your chest? You should, as this is
part of the purpose beyond performing this movement.

Wrap Up

There are already too many training movements in existence, and this isn’t what we need.
What we need is better modalities and methods, primarily, with a great way to manage
this work. Therefore, my purpose is not to add coal to the fire but to simply give you a
few purposeful and practical exercises that can be integrated into your program with
relative ease. These are not exotic exercises that you are likely to try once and then
discard. Rather, these exercises are critically important for many athletes involved in
many sports and you will surely note the benefit as you apply them. In fact, you might
just discard some of your old movements along the way.

About the Author:

Dietrich Buchenholz, known as “The Hammer” by his peers and clients, is currently
about to finish his first English-text book regarding the future of sports training. For those
who are interested, you are welcome to contact him directly at DB@SchnellFitness.com.
And, as always, all questions, comments and/or complaints are welcome.