Lockout
Partial Bench Presses For
Strengthening Connective Tissue
and Building a MONSTER
Bench Press
There aren't
too many trainers I know who don't want a bigger bench press.
Let's be honest...it's an ego lift but it's nice to see
people's eyes bug out when you tell them how much you can
bench press (because you know they always ask!).
But what do you
do if you get stuck at a certain weight with the bench press
and you can't seem to budge it upwards a single pound?
The key here
is not to work harder but instead work smarter.
In my experience
with bench press (and my biomechanics STINK for bench press
- I've never had a strong bench and have always had to work
hard at it to get anywhere. And even then, it fades fast
when I don't keep at it constantly!), it's often not the
strength of the muscles holding a person back but the strength
of the connective tissue in the shoulders and arms.
When you strengthen
the connective tissue, your numbers start going up almost
on their own!
Strengthening
connective tissues requires two things...HEAVY weight and
HIGH REPS (to get circulation into the connective tissue
for recovery). You need to do something to pile the weight
on much more so than you can do with full range presses.
So we first go
to partial range presses where you can use the MOST weight
possible. In the case of the bench, that's the lockout (only
the top 2 inches).
We'll target
the HEAVY weight aspect first by loading as much weight
on the bar as we can get for 3 to 5 reps (no more).
So get yourself
set up in the power rack. DO NOT
DO THIS EXERCISE WITHOUT A RACK. I'm telling
you this for your health and safety. Don't even think about
doing heavy partials without a rack. Spotters just won't
cut it. Personally, I do all my regular bench pressing in
a rack, too.
You'll be setting
the bar on the safety rails of the rack NOT unracking like
you would a normal bench press. Put a flat bench in the
rack and lay back on it. Look to see where the rails would
be set if you just want to hit the top 2 inches of the bench
press.
Move the rails
then set a bar on them. Lie on the bench and test it out.
With just the empty bar, you should have about 3 inches
or so of clearance (when you load the bar with weight, not
only will the bar bend but you will sink into the bench
AND your bodyparts are going to get compacted a bit (in
a good way!). This means it's important that you have a
little room to play in terms of safety rail height.
Now start loading
some weight onto the bar. Put as much on as you would normally
do for sets of 6 reps and do a few warm-up reps just to
see what it feels like. Then load on what would normally
be your 1 rep max and do a few more warm-up reps. Even though
it's your full-range max, it'll still be easy in the top
lockout range.
Here's what the
movement looks like... (if you're curious, into the demo,
I'm using 6 plates on either side, which is 585 lb - this
is a bit less than double what my full range 1 RM was at
the time. This is to give you an idea of how much weight
you can potentially work up to with this exercise. I've
gone as high as 7 plates on either side in the past when
I was focusing more specifically on bench).
It's a great
way to scare the crap out of people at the gym, too, when
you start throwing that much weight on the bar! :) Not that
I would ever want to do that, of course...
When you're doing
maximal heavy reps like this, set the weight back down on
the safety rails in between each rep to regroup and reset
yourself. Basically, you're just locking out the bench press
on each rep!
With this exercise,
breathing and locking your body in tight is very important.
Before you lift the bar off the rails, take a deep breath,
inflating your lungs as much as possible. Squeeze your shoulder
blades behind your back and tighten EVERYTHING. Now you
can push. As you push, you can either hold your breath briefly
or exhale sharply through pursed lips - do what feels best
to you.
Move your mouse
on and off the picture below to see the movement. The video
shows the true mechanics of it better but this gives you
an idea of how short the range of motion is.
So this how the
exercise is done.
One of the tricks
I like to use to get maximum push is to envision NOT that
I'm pushing the bar up but that I'm actually pushing myself
DOWN through the bench! Sounds crazy but I've found it really
works to give you some extra mental push.
Next comes the
fun part...seeing how much YOU can do! Add some more weight
(I usually recommend adding a 45 lb plate to either side
at this point) and go again. If you find you can get more
than 5 reps with it, increase the weight on the next set
(rest 1 1/2 to 2 minutes in between sets for recovery -
you won't be breathing hard but your energy stores get depleted
fast with the heavy of a weight).
If you don't
get much more than 5 reps, increase the weight by 25's on
either side, not 45's.
When you hit
a weight you can only get for 3 to 5 reps, stay there. That's
your first work set. We'll do 3 work sets at that weight
(so you'll do 2 more sets), again resting 2 minutes or so
between reps. When you do partials next time, you'll have
a better idea of what you can do and get to your work weights
sooner so you can feasibly bump those up.
Here's a video
of the lockout partial bench press in action.
HIGH REP PARTIALS...
When you've done
your 3 total sets, peel off HALF the weight (or you can
basically set it to your current 1 rep max weight that you
would do for full range reps).
We're going to
address the HIGH REP aspect of connective tissue training.
To do this, we're going to do high-rep partials. These still
use a relatively heavy weight but allow you to get a LOT
of reps with that heavy weight to force blood into the connective
tissue.
We'll only be
doing 2 sets at this weight so make each one count.
This version
is pretty much the same as the heavy lockouts only you won't
be setting the bar down on the rails in between reps. You're
going to do very short, continuous reps at the lockout point,
never touching the bar down. You're going to do as many
reps as you possibly can (probably between 30 to 60 or so)
and you're going to do them fairly quickly, keeping tension
in the chest and arms.
With this exercise,
you can do very short breaths on each rep or (since the
weight is lighter), you can take slower breaths but do so
regularly.
Take 2 minute
rest in between these 2 sets. Then you're done! That's your
chest workout for this session. DO NOT DO ANYTHING ELSE
FOR CHEST TODAY. You may be tempted to because it may not
feel like you've done that much work, but trust me, your
body needs the recovery now so move to the next bodypart.
Do this type of training once a week (you can do full range
movements for chest in a different workout during the week)
for 3 to 4 weeks and you should see big improvements in
your bench press numbers.
It's also VERY
important to note that you should take joint protective
nutrients like glucosamine, chondroitin, MSM and Vitamin
C (4 to 5 GRAMS) while you're doing this type of connective
tissue training. You need to give your body the raw materials
to rebuild with.
If you don't,
you'll probably get joint pain and impair your recovery
so don't argue. If you're not going to take at least glucosamine
and extra Vitamin C, don't even use this type of training
because it does break down connective tissue more than regular
training and you need to help it rebuild.
That's the Lockout
Partial Bench Press! And it's just a very small sample of
the type of chest training you're going to find in "The
Best Chest Exercises You've Never Heard Of" - some
exercises (like this one) are dedicated to strength and
power...some are dedicated to muscle mass and some are dedicated
to enhancing the look of the chest.
It's all here!
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