Posted by J.T. HALL on 11/14/2003, 2:51 pm
Board Administrator

BENCH PRESS SHIRT TRAINING By J.T. HALL, AA, BS, CPT N.A.S.A. KY POWERLIFTING CHAIRMAN nasa4life@hotmail.com www.nasa-sports.com I have seen and read about a lot about training advice for using bench press equipment. Some people feel you should train with the shirt every week or as much as possible. Others feel you should train with the shirt @ least once a month. All this advice never addressed the true issue; it抯 going to take time to get use to the bench press shirt. When I first started training with a bench press shirt a lot in 2000, my lifts went down. I couldn抰 figure the reason why! After a while, I realized that a lot of shirt training is a serious overload for the neuromuscular system because you are probably using a lot more weight than your normal raw max. Some lifters are using 25-225pds over their max with a bench press shirt. Also, a shirt can be so tight, that the weight doesn抰 touch and the weight comes down to your chest very slowly. So, you are doing a lot of negatives sometimes when you train with a bench press shirt. This can lead to a lot of overtraining and delayed on-set muscle soreness. Another huge mistake lifters make is that they try to get stronger in the bench press shirt! This is a major problem in the powerlifting community because the number one way to get stronger bench press is without the bench press shirt. Trying to get stronger with the bench press shirt doesn抰 allow your muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints to get strong on their on. This is setting lifters up for serious physical damage or chronic injuries. Your body has to get stronger over time to handle extreme heavy weights. Don抰 shortchange it or else! I believe one of the best ways to get use to a bench press shirt is to use the shirt 1-2 times 6-8 weeks before a meet and that抯 all. This will allow plenty of time for the body to recuperate. Also, if you use it too many times, it can teach bad form. It doesn抰 matter what you do in the gym, until you compete on the platform! You will get plenty of quality time with a bench shirt in competition. So, once I stopped training a lot with the bench press shirts, my competition lifts took off. I抦 getting almost 100pds out of a single-ply I.A.D. denim. The answer wasn抰 training with the bench press shirt every week or month, the answer was time! BENCH PRESS STICKING POINTS By J.T. HALL, AA, BS, CPT N.A.S.A. KY POWERLIFTING CHAIRMAN nasa4life@hotmail.com www.nasa-sports.com Since 1994, I have been competing in bench press competitions and have seen many lifters fail because of bench press sticking points. In simple terms, a bench press sticking point occurs when the concentric muscles doesn抰 exert enough force to overcome the load and the bench press attempt fails. Lifters usually have a bench press sticking point @ the beginning of the lift or @ the top portion of the lift. There are several ways to overcome this problem. BEGINNING BENCH PRESS STICKING POINT To overcome this problem, the lifter should do exercises that simulate the beginning bench press. Here is a list of my favorite exercises for this problem: Pause Barbell Floor Press, Pause 3-Board Press, Pause Dumbbell Floor Press, Pause Band 3-Board Press and Cambered Bench Press. Another problem could be bench press technique and speed. A lifter should always use their legs for optimal bench press drive off your chest. Also, a lifter should always try to press the bar as fast as possible because the faster the bar moves, the faster it gets to the top. This is called start-strength. TOP BENCH PRESS STICKING POINT To overcome this problem, the lifter should do exercises that simulate the top or the lockout of the bench press. Here is a list of my favorite exercises: Pause 5-Board Press, Barbell Rack-lockouts, Pause 5-Board Band Press, Pause 5-Board Chain Press, Close-Grip 5-Board Press and Close-Grip 5-Board Band Press. Another problem is that a lifter must try to keep focusing on exploding through the bench press lift. This is called explosive strength. I have listed several exercises that can help a lifter to overcome the start and top sticking points. One key factor to remember is that it抯 going to take time! So, be patient because good things come to those who wait. J.T. HALL, AA, BS, CPT NASA KENTUCKY POWERLIFTING CHAIRMAN www.nasa-sports.com http://www.geocities.com/nasakentuckystatechairman/NASA.html

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