Hips Off Dumbbell Bench Press I'm willing to bet you don't create enough tension when you press. I know I don't. How do I know this? Just go to the gym and watch folks bench press. You'll see lots of wiggling around, feet tapping and moving, knee coming in and out, hips up and down. But watch the strongest, smoothest bench. What do you see? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLrecJPciy4 None of that, usually. There is always that dude who is a freak, has craptastic technique and is waaaaaay stronger than almost everyone else. But we call those people freaks, lucky, outliers and wasting lots of potential if they just got their shit … [Read more...]
You Should Do This: Single Arm Dumbbell Bench
June 21, 2018 by
No, I don't change the dumbbell magically half way through the movement. Just took pictures of the bell in different hands. Time for a Story Kids: Long Ago in the Way Way Back Time Lil Roy went to his (probably 2nd) Strength and Conditioning seminar evvveeeerrrr. It was the 1st Annual Mid Atlantic Sports Symposium, or at least I THINK that's what the name was. Any who, it at George Mason a year after they made the Final Four and it was Hosted by Todd Hamer. *I've been to LOTS of these things through the years and could totally be wrong about the following facts, it coulda been a different seminar, but the essence of the story is the same. This isn't a … [Read more...]
You Should Do This: Stability Ball Dumbbell Bench Press
February 26, 2018 by
Yeah, I know I rag on wobble stuff all the time. I even did Masters Work on unstable surfaces. So I can say with a fairly high degree of certainty: If you're trying to get really strong, This Exercise Should Probably NOT be One of Your Primary Strength Exercises. But for accessory stuff, it ain't all that bad. Here's The Deal: We'll start with the bad <---ALWAYS start with the bad. Get up and "eat the frog" Using an unstable surface instantly makes you weaker. "It has been established that there is a significantly lower peak isometric force and rate of force development during resistance exercises under unstable as compared to stable conditions. In … [Read more...]
Doing It Better: Dumbbell Bench with Progressions
December 13, 2012 by
Monday is and will always be National bench Press day. That's just how it is folks....there are too many Bro's in wifebeaters, Ed Hardy jeans and blowouts in gyms across America for it to be any other way. Short of a major cultural shift, we're going to have to try to educate the "indigenous" people of Bro'merica. It's going to have to be a slow and (almost) painless progression as we move them from a regimen of chest, shoulders and bi's 3 x's a week to well-rounded programs that include things like The entire back side of your body. and The very skinny things they walk on....I think they call them toothpicks legs. But we'll have to take it … [Read more...]
