Dumbbell Bench

**cutnbulk** · 04-21-2009, 07:16 PM

I have been doing the dumbbell bench with my knuckles vertical and horizontal (like holding a barbell). Is there any other type of grip, or motion, besides changing the angle (incline/decline) or tempo ?

**Ngordyn** · 04-21-2009, 10:16 PM

rotate the hands

when down bring your elbows to your side palms face towards each other , at the top rotate so it is held like a barbell

**cutnbulk** · 04-22-2009, 04:26 AM

Originally Posted by Ngordyn

rotate the hands

when down bring your elbows to your side palms face towards each other , at the top rotate so it is held like a barbell

Thanks!

**Ngordyn** · 04-22-2009, 05:44 AM

Originally Posted by cutnbulk

Thanks!

np you are going to feel it in your triceps a lot more

**T_man** · 04-22-2009, 08:56 AM

What does changing the postioning of the hands change?
And also when doing it, should you bring it down brushing past your side or should it be wide out at around elbow distance from your torso?

**Ngordyn** · 04-22-2009, 12:35 PM

Originally Posted by T_man

What does changing the postioning of the hands change?
And also when doing it, should you bring it down brushing past your side or should it be wide out at around elbow distance from your torso?

bringing the elbows to your sides will take some stress off of the chest and force more tricep work, changing hand positions just hits the muscles in different angles

**T_man** · 04-22-2009, 02:52 PM

Originally Posted by Ngordyn

bringing the elbows to your sides will take some stress off of the chest and force more tricep work, changing hand positions just hits the muscles in different angles

I thought the muscle contracted "as one" and so hitting it from different angles didnt matter because you cant emphasise on different parts of the chest?

**largepkg** · 04-22-2009, 03:02 PM

Originally Posted by T_man

I thought the muscle contracted "as one" and so hitting it from different angles didnt matter because you cant emphasise on different parts of the chest?

You can still hit the muscle from alternate angles. I am one who doesn't believe this will get one specific portion of that muscle to grow more than another. Although, it will help change your routine and thus keep your body guessing. I also believe it will help build strength in various plains of movements thus making you well rounded.

Otherwise why do incline, decline and not just flat bench? Approaching a muscle from different angles is a requirement IMO!

**Ngordyn** · 04-23-2009, 07:55 AM

Originally Posted by largepkg

You can still hit the muscle from alternate angles. I am one who doesn't believe this will get one specific portion of that muscle to grow more than another. Although, it will help change your routine and thus keep your body guessing. I also believe it will help build strength in various plains of movements thus making you well rounded.

Otherwise why do incline, decline and not just flat bench? Approaching a muscle from different angles is a requirement IMO!

agreed

**Hench** · 04-23-2009, 08:06 AM

Originally Posted by largepkg

You can still hit the muscle from alternate angles. I am one who doesn't believe this will get one specific portion of that muscle to grow more than another. Although, it will help change your routine and thus keep your body guessing. I also believe it will help build strength in various plains of movements thus making you well rounded.

Otherwise why do incline, decline and not just flat bench? Approaching a muscle from different angles is a requirement IMO!

Cant say it any better than that.

**T_man** · 04-23-2009, 09:03 AM

Originally Posted by largepkg

You can still hit the muscle from alternate angles. I am one who doesn't believe this will get one specific portion of that muscle to grow more than another. Although, it will help change your routine and thus keep your body guessing. I also believe it will help build strength in various plains of movements thus making you well rounded.

Otherwise why do incline, decline and not just flat bench? Approaching a muscle from different angles is a requirement IMO!

If you do the same movement each time, how does that vary your routine?

Wouldn't it be better to have it closer one week, and further the next?

I still believe in "inner" chest thing, although I know it contracts as one. My inner chest was really behind my outer chest till I started doing cable crossovers. Now you can argue that it was just the way the muscle grew; outside first, then inside, but now that I stopped doing cable crossovers, the inner section isnt growing anymore yet the outer is growing. I'm not being ignorant it just works for me doing close grip stuff. Everybody is different though right?

**largepkg** · 04-23-2009, 09:18 AM

Originally Posted by T_man

If you do the same movement each time, how does that vary your routine?

Wouldn't it be better to have it closer one week, and further the next?

I still believe in "inner" chest thing, although I know it contracts as one. My inner chest was really behind my outer chest till I started doing cable crossovers. Now you can argue that it was just the way the muscle grew; outside first, then inside, but now that I stopped doing cable crossovers, the inner section isnt growing anymore yet the outer is growing.

Who said anything about doing the same movement each time?

Variation is key. IMO, your chest grew because you changed up your routine by adding unknown movements your body hasn't seen. Obviously this is why variation is the key.

I'm always doing something different in the gym. ex. 1 week high cable crossovers. The next week low cable crossovers. Flat DB fly's, then incline DB fly's. DB bench, BB bench. Rest pause sets, explosive sets. The list goes on and on.

You're only limited by your imagination.

**T_man** · 04-23-2009, 09:55 AM

But the inner part only grows when I do xovers or close grip bench. I vary my routine alot, I only do 3-4 chest exercises each week compared with the number available. I change atleast 1 exercise each week.
And if it was the variation that caused the growth, how come the outer is still growing and the inner isnt anymore? :S

**highpockets** · 04-23-2009, 10:00 AM

Originally Posted by largepkg

Who said anything about doing the same movement each time?

Variation is key. IMO, your chest grew because you changed up your routine by adding unknown movements your body hasn't seen. Obviously this is why variation is the key.

I'm always doing something different in the gym. ex. 1 week high cable crossovers. The next week low cable crossovers. Flat DB fly's, then incline DB fly's. DB bench, BB bench. Rest pause sets, explosive sets. The list goes on and on.

You're only limited by your imagination.

Totally agree!! For a different variation you can also change tempo. Next time you work your chest, try lowering the weight with a 2 count, pause for 1 complete second and then explode up. Beware though you might want to lighten up the load. It's a lot different than the guys I see at the gym bouncing bars off of their chests!

**largepkg** · 04-23-2009, 12:24 PM

Originally Posted by highpockets

Totally agree!! For a different variation you can also change tempo. Next time you work your chest, try lowering the weight with a 2 count, pause for 1 complete second and then explode up. Beware though you might want to lighten up the load. It's a lot different than the guys I see at the gym bouncing bars off of their chests!

Rest pause is GTG! 3/3/1 tempo.

**CowPimp** · 04-23-2009, 03:59 PM

Originally Posted by T_man

I thought the muscle contracted "as one" and so hitting it from different angles didnt matter because you cant emphasise on different parts of the chest?

Taking a neutral grip versus your standard grip does a few things:

First of all, the range of motion of the movement is increased. With a given weight, you are doing more work. Additionally, it reduces the amount of time a large lever is acting on your shoulder, giving the joint a little bit of a break relative to the standard variation. The primary shoulder articulation also changes from transverse adduction to flexion. This does reduce chest involvement, but calls on the shoulders to do more work in its place.

Further changes get a little more complicated, and I can't quantify them exactly for you. I don't think anyone realistically can without some high speed cameras, joint markers, and biomechanical analysis software, and even then it's going to be some work. I will try to explain the basic idea though.

There is something called the force curve. What this refers to is the amount of tension that must be generated by a given muscle, or group of muscles, in order to overcome a given resistance. The amount of tension is NOT the same throughout the entire range of motion, despite the fact that most traditional lifts are classified as isotonic.

Although the amount of resistance is the same, the lever arm distance of that resistance to the joints in question is constantly changing. That is one of the reasons why it is far easier to do things with a shorter range of motion, because you are often avoiding the position which requires you to fight against the biggest lever.

Anyway, because of these changes in the apparatus used, joints positions, grips, or whatever, you may very well be changing the force curve. What does that mean as far as stimulating the muscle? Well, now the muscle might be 50% of resting length when it has to produce the most force, when it was 60% with the original movement (These are totally random numbers for example sake).

In short, to simplify things, at any given time during the movement a muscle may have a greater or lesser mechanical advantage relative to the orginial movement. It has a lot more to do with the nervous system and inter/intramuscular coordination than "keeping the muscles guessing." That is just a pseudoscience way of saying that you should change things in your program because your body adapts to a more regularly applied stimulus less readily than a novel stimulus.

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