When you do a typical bench press
rep, it's a little known fact that a good percentage of the
last part of the movement (as you come to lockout) is used by
the body to decelerate the bar. The lighter the weight you use,
the greater this percentage is. The heavier you go, the lower
this percentage is.
This is a safety mechanism used
by the body to prevent joint injury. It sense the load on the
muscles and joints and will actively work against the movement
in order to slow down the resistance and protect the joints!
This nervous system inhibition,
while useful for not wrecking your joints, will actually reduce
your strength in heavier lifts. Even though the weight is heavy
and basically slows itself down, your body still tries to actively
work against the movement as you come to the top.
This means as you get to the lockout
in a powerful bench press attempt, your body is trying to slow
the bar down and you may not be able to lock it out!
There are a number of ways to
train the nervous system to stop doing that...bands, chains,
plymetrics, etc. But this particular method is something you
can use in your warm-ups to help get your body out of the inhibition
pattern.
It's basically an explosive push-up
type of movement but you don't do it on the floor...you do it
kneeling on the bench, and you pop up off the bench press bar.
I use it every time I do barbell
bench press and find it really helps "train up" the
nervous system to perform the movement more effectively.
The setup is simple - the bench
with the barbell means you're already set up and ready to go!
Just kneel on the end of the bench
facing the bar.
Then let yourself fall forward,
catching yourself on the bar.
Let your chest come all the way
down to the bar then explode up, popping yourself right back
to vertical with your hands fully off the bar.
By popping off the bar, the nervous
is tuned to NOT slow down. The nice thing is, it's an easy movement
- you can do about 8 to 10 reps of it and get some blood into
the muscles without taxing your body at all.
I find it to be a very effective
warm-up for benching.
