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Critique my Dumbbell Bench

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bigbenj, thanks for responding. I know that originally he asked about his form only, but the topic shifted a little when he asked how to break a plateau.

I agree with avoiding the hard locking out that fufu elaborates on. What you're suggesting would be like squatting and not standing up fully. Sure it might keep stress on the hammies and glutes more, but it's just not the most effective way to train.

And it was a generalization when I said people don't go all the way down. I saw that you wrote you go all the way down on bench, just not all the way up.

Obviously as we all progress in this game, we figure out what works for some won't work for others. I don't mean to jump on your method bigbenj and tell you you're wrong, I'm just giving the OP my opinion on what I think is in his best interest... it just happens to disagree with your opinion, haha :)
 
Cork said:
bigbenj....your comments are so close to bodybuilding myth, I'm going to reply respectably though. I'm not trying to flame you of course, but my views on the subject differ greatly.

I don't know why it is touted that you have to keep tension on the pecs. Normally it's just an excuse people use for not going down all the way. If you want to keep tension, just do isometric holds. If you want full muscular development, you should stick to full ROM. Sure, the triceps help more with lockout than any other part of the lift, but why would you want to limit that? The OP wants to get stronger at DB benching so he shouldn't cut the ROM on his main lift. Sure you can do abbreviated ROM on accessory lifts, but I would still rely on full range pressing to improve.

The fibers of the pec major run horizontally across the rib cage. There is already enough ambiguity between upper and lower pec, let's not even bring in "inner" and "outer". There is no such thing. A muscle fiber can only contract or not. You cannot specify which end you want it to contract from.

Even if you were on as much sauce as Branch Warren, I'd say don't even attempt to train like him. It's amazing he isn't a paraplegic. I bet he has chronic pain all over.

Inclines can help improve your bench, but like I mentioned, triceps really help with your pressing strength. I'd try declines, dips, close grip benches. Any one of those will add mass and strength to your triceps which will directly increase your bench.
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:clapping:
 
fufu said:
I would suggest to use a full ROM, and I'm not saying you need to ballisitically extend your elbows into an end range of motion every rep.

The argument of "unnecessary stress on the elbow" is one I don't agree with, unless of course you are jamming out your elbow as hard as you can. Strength training is an unnecessary stress, we don't need to do it. We do it for several reasons...performance, general functionality, aesthetics, health, etc. Weight training comes with an inherent risk of injury. But until someone presents me with evidence that using a full ROM on a press is going to encourage a degenerative process on the elbow joint, I'll say keep doing it.

I don't quite understand the argument for avoiding stress on the triceps either, why would you want to have weak triceps? The triceps are involved with the basic human motion of pressing, and purposely neglecting them by stifling a full ROM is silly to me. Yes, I see that staying within a bottom 2/3 ROM on the bench press will allow for steady tension on the pecs, but whether or not that is necessary for optimal hypertrophy is another story. Using a pro BB training technique isn't really a good example, because they are 1.) genetic freaks, 2.) training and eating for a job and 3.) are on loads of drugs. Mimicking pro BB training isn't always going to work for the average person.

If you don't use full ROM, you won't be strong through a full ROM. So this really all depends on what the OP is looking for, strength/function or size. Obviously you'll get both from either BB or PL type training, but in terms of optimizing your training for strength & function, I'd totally encourage full ROM. To finish up, the elbow joint will not stabilize through bony approximation (bone on bone) with a reasonable elbow extension as long as the muscles of the forearm, upper arm and torso stay within a significant contraction, which of course they will if you are lifting heavy weight & not in extreme levels of muscle fatigue.
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if you are strong...eventually your elbows run out of grease:(....and it hurts
 
Cork said:
bigbenj, thanks for responding. I know that originally he asked about his form only, but the topic shifted a little when he asked how to break a plateau.

I agree with avoiding the hard locking out that fufu elaborates on. What you're suggesting would be like squatting and not standing up fully. Sure it might keep stress on the hammies and glutes more, but it's just not the most effective way to train.

And it was a generalization when I said people don't go all the way down. I saw that you wrote you go all the way down on bench, just not all the way up.

Obviously as we all progress in this game, we figure out what works for some won't work for others. I don't mean to jump on your method bigbenj and tell you you're wrong, I'm just giving the OP my opinion on what I think is in his best interest... it just happens to disagree with your opinion, haha :)
Click to expand...

Its all good. I was merely suggesting something that I've had good success with, as were you. And I was going to add what you just said, its all about finding what works best for the individual.
 
Yeah, I think I'll stick to using the full ROM on DB Bench Press. That's what I've always done and it feels as though I'm cheating if I don't lock out. However, I do sometimes use half reps no lock outs) on high rep sets with INcline Presses.
 
Didn't want to start a new thread for this, so I guess I'll ask this question here in hopes someone sees it:

Do you arch your back/retract your shoulder blades (like you do on a BB bench) when Dumbbell Benching?

With barbell bench it's easier because you can lie down, tuck yourself in nicely and get a good arch and retract your shoulder blades BEFORE unracking the bar and doing your set,

whereas with DBs you have to try to get an arch and retract your shoulder blades after lying down and while holding a DB in each hnad, and when you use 100+ lbs DBs it's not that easy.

In the vid where I'm benching the 100s you can see me retracting my shoulder blades and getting a slight arch in the beginning,

but I was wondering how you guys get a good arch/set up with DBs?
 
TheJabroniLifter said:
Didn't want to start a new thread for this, so I guess I'll ask this question here in hopes someone sees it:

Do you arch your back/retract your shoulder blades (like you do on a BB bench) when Dumbbell Benching?

With barbell bench it's easier because you can lie down, tuck yourself in nicely and get a good arch and retract your shoulder blades BEFORE unracking the bar and doing your set,

whereas with DBs you have to try to get an arch and retract your shoulder blades after lying down and while holding a DB in each hnad, and when you use 100+ lbs DBs it's not that easy.

In the vid where I'm benching the 100s you can see me retracting my shoulder blades and getting a slight arch in the beginning,

but I was wondering how you guys get a good arch/set up with DBs?
Click to expand...

anyone?
 
I retract the scaps and arch my back, but like you said, it is hard to really tuck yourself tight because you aren't unracking with a barbell.

I do make sure I walk my feet backwards before I lay down when I am setting up for the bench press, so that I can get good tension through my hips in order to arch better and get better leg drive.
 
fufu said:
I retract the scaps and arch my back, but like you said, it is hard to really tuck yourself tight because you aren't unracking with a barbell.

I do make sure I walk my feet backwards before I lay down when I am setting up for the bench press, so that I can get good tension through my hips in order to arch better and get better leg drive.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply. I've been trying different methods lately as far as form goes, including the one you mentioned where you bring your feet backwards. i find it works well with the lighter weights but a bit harder to do with heavier DBs.

I also seem to have gotten past my plateau, I can do the 110s for 11-12 reps now after having done several sets.
 
TheJabroniLifter said:
Updating thread with new vid of me benching the 110 lbs dumbbells for 12 reps from todays workout. Shows the strength gains I've made since the last 2 vids:

110x12 Dumbbell Bench Press - YouTube

This was after doing 3x5 with the 115s
Click to expand...

I gotta get me some of those ironman weights!!!

Anyhow, I thought your form was better in this most recent video, over your first two. I noticed you still lift your head a bit, but maybe a bit less so now. On the first two vids, it appeared you were leaning left when pushing up with the weights, but in the last vid, I really didn't see that too much (although the video was awfully dark).

All in all, good job! I am jealous on how much you can do! Maybe one day, I will be there too.....


Ian
 
txsizzler said:
I gotta get me some of those ironman weights!!!

Anyhow, I thought your form was better in this most recent video, over your first two. I noticed you still lift your head a bit, but maybe a bit less so now. On the first two vids, it appeared you were leaning left when pushing up with the weights, but in the last vid, I really didn't see that too much (although the video was awfully dark).

All in all, good job! I am jealous on how much you can do! Maybe one day, I will be there too.....


Ian
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply man and for taking the time to watch the video, I thought this thread was dead lol.

That's funny because I actually thought my form was a bit better on the first two vids, but that's just me....I agree the video is awfully dark, I wasn't using the same camera.

I'm happy with my progress in the past few weeks, in one of the 2 vids I posted earlier I did 100x11, now I did 110x12 (granted the 100x11 set was after 2 sets to failure, but I wasnt completely fresh on the 110x12 set either.

Btw, these are Ironmaster weights. They're great.

And no doubt you'll easily be able to do this one day, it hasn't taken me too long to get here, 2 years lifting, so I'm sure anyone can do it with a few years of lifting if not less.
 
Ill critique your video making/editing skills: the angle sucked. Also, why the hell wouldn't you have cut the first 35 seconds off of this video before you uploaded it.

Your form was fine. I don't know why people love to bench press super heavy so that they only get 2-3 reps out. Its all ego. I hope that you normally do sets of 6-10 at least.
 
32bulkcycle said:
Ill critique your video making/editing skills: the angle sucked. Also, why the hell wouldn't you have cut the first 35 seconds off of this video before you uploaded it.

Your form was fine. I don't know why people love to bench press super heavy so that they only get 2-3 reps out. Its all ego. I hope that you normally do sets of 6-10 at least.
Click to expand...

What? Are we watching the same video? I got 5 reps in the first video, and 11 in the second....in no video did I only get 3 reps.
Also wtf what do you mean the angle sucked, I filmed from an angle where you can see everything
 
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