I’ve
titled this article TNT (Tips-n-Tricks) for a very good reason. Many times it’s
the small things that make the biggest difference. Usually when reading a new
book or article you walk away with one good idea. This one idea could’ve
been presented in a paragraph or two. So I got to thinking, why not just provide
all those great ideas in a format that cuts out the BS? What you’re left
with is pure TNT, the stuff great explosions are made of.
Through
my many years of training, reading and discussing training with other lifters
and coaches, I’ve collected a ton of ammunition. When an athlete is really
stuck and has tried everything else, I can pull a little TNT from this stockpile
and blast through the barrier. Some of this information has come about by pure
accident and some of it has been borrowed or stolen from others, but it’s
all worked very well for many athletes. If you find yourself stuck in any of
the following situations, add in a little TNT and get ready to blow up!
"My bench always seems to stall at the top; my lockout
really needs help."
This
is really one of the best problems to have and the easiest to fix. When you’re
dealing with sticking points in the bench press you have to remember that there
are several ways to correct the problem, but most won’t work for you. So
don’t beat a dead horse! In other words, if what you’ve been doing
isn’t working, then try something else. You have plenty of ammo. I’ve
had this same problem with my bench and sometimes it takes years to stumble
upon the right movement to fix the problem. Other times I hit the right movement
the first time out.
Get
stuck at the lockout? Here’s some TNT to help you blast that problem:
1)
Get your head right. This is true with all sticking points regardless
of the point at which you stall out. If you believe you always miss at the
top, then you’ll always miss at the top! Your mind has a lot to do with
your sticking points. I try to teach all the athletes I work with to visualize
their sticking point at a higher position and focus very hard on driving the
bar through it. In other words, when you bench you must focus on pushing the
bar very fast through your sticking point. Focus will make a big difference.
2)
Learn to use your triceps. This is done by keeping your body tight
and focusing on pulling the bar apart. This will involve your triceps
more throughout the movement and keep the bar moving in a straight line. A
good trick to teach you to do this is to use a mini band from Jump Stretch
Inc. You double the band up and wrap it around you wrists while you bench.
This forces you to pull the bar apart and grasp the barbell tight. If not,
your hands will be shot together. Pull the bar apart and watch that sticking
point disappear!
3) Start the bar where you want to finish. This is a very simple concept
but it’s very seldom practiced. Most lifters will unrack the bar and
lower it to the chest without setting the bar first. This is usually done
by habit and will cause you to lower the bar in a diagonal pattern that will
result in you pushing it back up in the same pattern. When you push the bar
back toward the rack there’s more rotation and less emphasis on the triceps.
You
need to unrack the bar, then "set it" in the same exact position in which
you want to finish. This should be directly above where you lower the bar.
If you bench to your lower pecs then the bar must start above the lower pecs.
This will create a straight line both on the eccentric and concentric. Remember,
the shortest distance between two points in a straight line. Set the bar!
4) Move the bar fast. You need to make sure you’re pressing as fast
as possible to bust through your sticking point. A slow press won’t build
enough momentum to bust past your sticking point. If you’re trying to
open a stuck door would you try to open it slowly or would you bust into it
as hard as possible? Speed is key!
5) Strengthen the top half. There are several movements that can help you strengthen
the muscles that lockout the bench. These are best done using the max effort
method. This is the method where you work up to a one or three-rep max on
the movement. For more information on the method, see the Periodization
Bible Part Two article.
The
best movement for a weak lockout is a three or four board press. A board press
is preformed by using three or four 2 x 6 boards placed on your chest. Lower
the bar to the boards, pause and press back up. In extreme cases you may want
to use a set of mini bands on the bar as well.
A
second movement that works very well is the floor press with the use of chains.
The floor press is performed the same as the bench press except you’re
lying on the floor. Work up to about 60 to 70% of your best bench, then begin
adding one set of chains on the bar with each additional set. You fail when
you can no longer add any more chains. The chains increase the weight at the
top of the lift while deloading it in the bottom. Check out the Accommodating
Resistance article for additional info on chains and bands.
"I can’t keep my ass on the bench."
This
is a very common problem with many lifters who don’t know how to stay tight
on the bench. This problem can range from a small lift of the butt to something
resembling the golden arches at Micky D’s. This can be caused by several
factors but all can be fixed with the right training. I’ve come across
several solutions to this problem:
1) Know your bench. This is probably the biggest reason most powerlifters miss
a lift at a meet. They train on a bench that’s somewhat higher then the
one they use in competition. So in training they know how to position their
bodies and stay tight on the bench, but when they go to a meet they find their
asses are one inch off the bench. In this case there are several solutions.
First,
get on the bench before the meet and see if it feels lower. If it does, then
tell your coach to remind you to get your feet out in front of you more; this
way, when you go to drive the bar with your legs most of the drive stays lower.
If you find this happens at every meet you go to, then you may also want to
find another bench on which to train. Another solution is to place a one inch
rubber mat under your feet when you train.
2) Know your position. You want to make sure you keep
your body tight throughout the motion. Some people like to use a tight arch
with their feet tucked back. While I don’t agree with this type of benching,
you still need to be tight and squeeze your inner thighs into the bench as
hard as possible. This creates an anchor to lock you down.
If
you bench with your legs out in front of you, you want to make sure you’re
driving your upper back and traps into the bench. You drive off your heals
and through your shoulders. This will give you more power. If you’re
only driving into your mid-back, then a lot of the force will be lost in the
hip when you press, thus your ass comes up.
3) Get the rope. This is a great trick I borrowed from Bill Gillespie. Bill is
the head strength and conditioning coach for the Washington Huskies who also
happens to have a 635 pound bench. He found many of his athletes couldn’t
keep their asses on the bench and had to find an easy and quick way to fix
it. He came up with one of the best ideas I’ve seen in a long time.
What
he does is attach a five or ten pound plate to a rope. He then has the lifter
position himself on the bench and then sticks the rope under his butt so the
plate is suspended in the air under the bench. If the lifter comes up, the
plate falls to the floor. This is a great feedback device that’s worked
very well for many athletes. Give it a shot!
"No matter what I do, I can’t bring up my hamstrings."
As
I’ve written many times, the hamstrings are one of the most important muscle
groups for athletes, if not the most important muscle group. The hamstrings
are what drive the squat and deadlift as well as determining how fast you’ll
run. Any coach you speak to will tell you the same thing, but most go about
training the hams the wrong way. You first need to dump the seated, lying and
standing leg curl machines and start training your hamstrings using movements
that hit the muscle from both the hip and knee joint at the same time. This
is how the hamstrings work in sport, so why not train them the same way? Here’s
how to do it:
1)
Get to know the glute ham raise and the reverse hyper machine. These
movements are the best I’ve found for training the hamstrings, but most
athletes are far too weak on them. I can’t count the number of Division
1 ball players who couldn’t do one single rep properly on the glute ham
raise. Then they wonder why their knees come forward when they squat!
I
see the same thing with the reverse hyper. Most people are afraid to use any
kind of weight on the machine. You should be able to do eight to twelve reps
on the reverse hyper with 55 to 60% of your best squat. Many of the gyms and
schools I go to will only have their athletes use 20 to 50 pounds on the machine.
This has always blown my mind. Our women at Westside use over 300 pounds!
These
movements should be staple items in any training program. I’ve actually
prescribed three to four sets of six to eight reps on the GHR (glute ham raise)
four times a week as a warm-up to many of the lifters and athletes I consult.
These would be performed as part of the general warm-up and then again later
in the workout with heavier weight as a supplemental movement.
2) Bring up the volume! As stated above, you can train the same muscle more then
one to two times a week if done properly (and especially if it’s a weak
point.) Whoever came up with this "one time a week" stuff never had to display
their strength or bring up a weak point. How are you ever going to get better
doing something only one time per week?
There
are many ways to change the parameters of a program to accominadate training
a muscle more than once a week. You can include a "feeder" workout the day
after training a muscle hard to help facilitate recovery. These feeder workouts
are light in intensity and medium in volume. For example, if you did heavy
glute ham raises on Monday and your hamstrings are sore as hell, then you
could do them again on Tuesday with no weight for a few sets of eight reps.
This will help to bring fresh nutrients and blood into the muscle. This is
also known as a form of active restoration.
You
could also try driving the volume of a certain movement up over two weeks.
For example, you could use a resistance band during an extra workout. Sit
on the end of a bench with one end of the band around your heel and the other
anchored to a power rack or other heavy object. Then do seated leg curls by
pulling the band straight in for five reps, off to one side for five more,
then off to the other side for another five. Performing two sets would be
a great place to start. This would be a total of 15 reps per set for a grand
total of 30 reps. Then each day for the next ten to fourteen days you add
one rep to each position. After ten days you’d have 15 reps per position
or a total of 45 per set. This is a great shock method for the hammies!
3) Learn to sit back on your good mornings. Most people don’t realize
a good morning is really a builder of the entire postier chain. When you bend
over, you want to try to keep a neutral back and push the hips back so you
feel the hamstrings stretch. You don’t want to just bend over because
as you work up in weight the movement will turn into more of a quarter squat.
This places too much stress on the spine and not enough on the hamstrings.
The next time you catch yourself stuck in one of the above situations, remember
that a little TNT will go a long way in helping you blast through your plateaus.
For more info on the special equipment mentioned in this article, visit Dave’s
site at EliteFitnessSystems.com
or call toll free at 888-854-8806. Dave can also be reached by e-mail at ElitefTS@email.msn.com.
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