Many people bench and don't realize they don't even activate their chest. Really focus on tucking your elbows, getting a medium or closer grip and focus more on contracting with each rep. If your focus is a defined check, the squeeze is key, not just vaulting the weight up.

It might help to have someone record you from above during your bench. Very likely your over-activating your front delts, possibly to the point your chest barely contracts and is doing less work that your biceps and triceps.

Azubuike24;1734287 wrote:Many people bench and don't realize they don't even activate their chest. Really focus on tucking your elbows, getting a medium or closer grip and focus more on contracting with each rep. If your focus is a defined check, the squeeze is key, not just vaulting the weight up.

It might help to have someone record you from above during your bench. Very likely your over-activating your front delts, possibly to the point your chest barely contracts and is doing less work that your biceps and triceps.

This. It's not just easy as "bench." For most people, they'd be better off just doing dumbbell presses because they don't know how to properly bench.

Personally, I'll do a "power" exercise like 5 sets of 5-8 on the bench followed up by 4 sets of 10-12 on incline dumbbell presses and then 3 sets of 12-15 on incline or flat flyes. I'll often use max rep pushups as a "finisher" after this.

For me, this is a blend of power & size because I'm getting the best of both worlds. Bench presses in that 5 rep range are providing the "power" while the higher rep/TUT exercises (10-15 rep ranges) are going to give you the "size."

Sonofanump;1734020 wrote:So if walking is go for you and jogging is bad, what is cycling or swimming laps in excess of a mile?

Can't help you with the last part. The topic of the article was about jogging/distance running.

ernest_t_bass;1734157 wrote:I mean... is this it? Specific set/rep/weight combo? Specific hand placement? There has to be more than this.

Listen to azubike and br. When I started lifting in HS I was bone skinny from the waist up (huge muscular legs, skinny up top).

Proper bench technique in the 5-6ish rep ranges will get the size, then follow up with a different exercise like incline/decline benches with high volume reps to get the definition (push ups to exhaustion works well too).

If you want the 'cut' look (bottom of peck) you need the regular bench 5-6 rep sets for the size and then a decline bench (head lower than feet) at high reps.

ernest_t_bass;1734157 wrote:I mean... is this it? Specific set/rep/weight combo? Specific hand placement? There has to be more than this.

If you're looking for size, i'd do 5 sets of 8 to 15 reps. Might have an easier time getting a good pump with dumbbells over a barbell. Do different angles from flat to incline and finish with flys.

This past week I did:

Monday - Bis/Tris
Wednesday - Chest/Back/Shoulders

Having two other groups with chest maybe limited my time and energy.

ernest_t_bass;1734306 wrote:This past week I did:

Monday - Bis/Tris
Wednesday - Chest/Back/Shoulders

Having two other groups with chest maybe limited my time and energy.

Why do 3 major muscle groups in one day?

Raw Dawgin' it;1734314 wrote:Why do 3 major muscle groups in one day?

I'm open for suggestions. I'm just winging this shit. I'm currently lifting 2 days per week, and playing basketball on Fridays. Reffing 4 games on Tuesdays, and a T25 workout on Thursdays. Suggestions?

Just weighed myself on a proper scale for the first time in months. 193. Building mass boys!!

I personally:
Have not benched in years, I'll do 8-12 sets of push-ups with a back in between.

I usually do shoulders, biceps, & triceps on the same day. Small connected muscle groups.

I weight train 3 days a week, Legs done separately.

ernest_t_bass;1734315 wrote:I'm open for suggestions. I'm just winging this shit. I'm currently lifting 2 days per week, and playing basketball on Fridays. Reffing 4 games on Tuesdays, and a T25 workout on Thursdays. Suggestions?

If you're only going two days, and not training legs, your best bet would be:

Chest/Back

Bi's/Tri's/Delts

BR1986FB;1734333 wrote:If you're only going two days, and not training legs, your best bet would be:

Chest/Back

Bi's/Tri's/Delts

That sounds interesting, I'll try that sometime.

Automatik;1734321 wrote:Just weighed myself on a proper scale for the first time in months. 193. Building mass boys!!

That's dropping fat for me!

Sonofanump;1734343 wrote:That sounds interesting, I'll try that sometime.

Typically I'll superset or, in the case of Bi/Tri/Delt, triset these movements. For chest/back I'll typically superset bench with a rowing type movement.

Pause reps on bench is good too. The other day I did sets of 12 with just 135, pausing for 3-5 seconds about an inch above resting the bar on my chest and exploding up to the top of the rep from the pause position. Talk about a great pump and extreme soreness for a few days. And you can really get the same effect with really minimal weight, which would be ideal when trying to just grow the chest and not as concerned with the weight on the bar.

Figured I'd add, I've been teetering on overtraining (or under recovery, more along what I believe) and even though I had the day off from work today and would be able to sleep in and train later in the day, I just wasn't feeling it. Went in and ended up just doing about 40 sets of biceps, traps and forearms. Very limiting on the central nervous system and felt great.

Azubuike24;1734379 wrote:Pause reps on bench is good too. The other day I did sets of 12 with just 135, pausing for 3-5 seconds about an inch above resting the bar on my chest and exploding up to the top of the rep from the pause position. Talk about a great pump and extreme soreness for a few days. And you can really get the same effect with really minimal weight, which would be ideal when trying to just grow the chest and not as concerned with the weight on the bar.

This is the mindset of a bodybuilder. People look at how big those guys are and think "man, that dude must lift some heavy weights." Not the case, really. Sure, you'll see a bodybuilder benching 315 but he's doing it for 10-12 reps, or more. They will often grab a 20 lb dumbbell and do dumbbell curls with it. To the bodybuilder, it's all about "feel", "contraction" and "TUT-time under tension." For a powerlifter/competitive lifter it's all about explosion and hoisting as much weight as possible.

Interesting read...

http://www.brinkzone.com/articles/a-neat-way-to-fat-loss/

Definitely book marking this article. 22 different set and rep schemes.

https://www.t-nation.com/training/22-proven-rep-schemes

Raw Dawgin' it;1735665 wrote:Definitely book marking this article. 22 different set and rep schemes.

https://www.t-nation.com/training/22-proven-rep-schemes

Read this earlier. I've been doing 5 x 5 for my major compound exercises followed by 4 x 10 and 3 x 12-20 on my two assistance exercises. So far, so good.

BR1986FB;1735673 wrote:Read this earlier. I've been doing 5 x 5 for my major compound exercises followed by 4 x 10 and 3 x 12-20 on my two assistance exercises. So far, so good.

I've wanted to switch to a volume cycle, been doing low reps on the major compounds for a while. So i think I'm going to try the 10/8/6/15-20 for 6 to 8 weeks.

Raw Dawgin' it;1735676 wrote:I've wanted to switch to a volume cycle, been doing low reps on the major compounds for a while. So i think I'm going to try the 10/8/6/15-20 for 6 to 8 weeks.

I have to have a lower 5-8 rep scheme for my "meat & potatoes" (compound) exercises. I'm not good with the high rep bench presses, deadlifts, overhead presses, etc. I keep the high reps for assistance work. Best of both worlds for me. I'm more explosive than endurance oriented.

As a side note, I'm really thinking about trying the Biotest products they have on T-Nation's site. Anybody have any experience with them?

Been walk/jogging 6x a week 3+ miles a day since school let out. This Sunday with about 1/2 mile left my right knee started feeling weird a bit, not hurting. Monday jogged the majority of that distance and knee felt a touch worse. Didn't go yesterday or today and it is worse now than it was after Monday's run. Still not much pain but I'm trying to stay off of it for a few days. Is this a runner's knee type thing a few days rest will heal?

I'm getting old.

Ironman92;1735683 wrote:Been walk/jogging 6x a week 3+ miles a day since school let out. This Sunday with about 1/2 mile left my right knee started feeling weird a bit, not hurting. Monday jogged the majority of that distance and knee felt a touch worse. Didn't go yesterday or today and it is worse now than it was after Monday's run. Still not much pain but I'm trying to stay off of it for a few days. Is this a runner's knee type thing a few days rest will heal?

I'm getting old.

Go back to walking for distance. Your body will thank you in the end.

BR1986FB;1735705 wrote:Go back to walking for distance. Your body will thank you in the end.

Still want to know about distance cycling and swimming.

Sonofanump;1735706 wrote:Still want to know about distance cycling and swimming.

I'd go swimming over cycling - one of the best low impact conditioning workouts for your entire body. I'd do it over cycling, you back will thank you later.