JEFF: What's up, guys? Jeff Cavaliere, ATHLEANX.com.
Today we're going to talk about the bench-press. We're going to talk, again, about how to increase
the bench-press by, guess what? Not actually doing the bench-press. Not just doing the
standard, traditional bench-press.
You see, a while back – actually, a year ago – K C Mitchell, that one-legged monster,
came into this gym and shared something with me that was very interesting. Things that
we've known about here, at ATHLEANX for quite some time.
That is that his biggest gains on the bench-press came from, not necessarily doing bench-press,
but by doing accessory movements that would help him to perform the bench-press better.
As a matter of fact, he shared that time – as you can see in this video – that he performed
these accessory movements more often in a given training block, than he did the bench-press
itself. There's good reason why these work. They allow us to work through our weak points
to get better at the overall standard performance of the lift.
Now, we had KC come back again, and this time I put a video out a couple of weeks ago about
some main points, and some main tips that you can apply to the bench-press. However,
he brought back some additional accessory movements.
I wanted to cover those with you because I think sharing these, and why we do these,
and why KC did them as well, is going to help you in your lifts. Let's go through those
one by one. First up is a bench-press, but with a variation. That is the pause-bench.
We've talked a lot about the benefits of pause-squats.
In this case, the pause-bench is also providing its own. Namely, the time that you have to
overcome a non-moving object. Overcome the force of inertia to get that object moving
again.
It's going to require a lot of strength to perform it. That's one of the main benefits
you're going to see KC talk about here, but in addition to that, we're also talking about
going back to that video I mentioned, the importance of leg drive.
When you have that weight sitting on your chest, waiting to be lifted off, you'll find
that if you struggle with leg drive you're going to instantly see how easy it is to recruit
everything in your body to get that weight off you, if you incorporate pause-bench.
Now I want to show you how KC does it, and I want him to be able to share with you some
of the finer points that he's thinking about as he performs it.
KC: So, pausing. Everything's the same, you guys. Everything's the same. You get yourself
setup the same. You're setup. One, two, three. And then you come down. Then it's up to you
on how long you want to hold the weight. Some guys do three second pauses, some guys do
five, some guys do seven. Honestly, after seven I feel like you've kind of-
JEFF: Exactly.
KC: You're exhausted. Then, the one thing I was telling Jeff earlier that I've realized
is, when I was doing bench-pauses like this, I realize that what happens is, my brain is
like – right now, this weight is just sitting here for a long period of time. And it's obviously
fatiguing my chest fatiguing my triceps.
So, to get it to move the way I'm wanting it to move, as you can see, leg drive is starting
to move me. I'm going to engage this leg drive really, really hard. Just like that. Do it
again. Five, four, three, two, one. Like that. Again, you can see the legs are really coming
into play. Even more so than when I was just teaching leg drive.
Just because I feel like that weight is just sitting on me and the muscles are getting
tired.
JEFF: Yeah.
KC: So, the legs aren't getting fatigued sitting there.
JEFF: When it comes to – we know that acceleration of the bar is going to be a great tool for
incorporating and recruiting more muscle fibers in that, too.
KC: Absolutely.
JEFF: So, the thing about that is, when you're in that pause, you're going to have to recruit
a lot of power and force to be able to get out of that hole. But you're not necessarily
taking advantage of a stretch reflex.
KC: Right.
JEFF: Right? Which is going to give us that opportunity to do that and accelerate the
bar. This is done from that dead stop. So, because of the fact that it's done as a reaction
to that intimidation of the bar resting on your chest-
KC: Right. Absolutely.
JEFF: To get it off, it almost does it automatically.
KC: It's the intimidation of that weight sitting on you.
JEFF: All right, the second exercise for your bench-press is going to be the dumbbell floor
press. Now, it should look similar to something KC and I covered in that previous video, which
you can see here, which was the barbell version of the floor press.
It does provide us with an opportunity to work that lockout portion of the bench-press
to help with a weak point if triceps are impeding you from getting into a good, full, strong
bench-press. But I'll tell you this: it has some additional benefits when we employ the
dumbbells here. Number one: it's a little bit easier to perform in a gym.
The setup here is going to be much easier to grab some dumbbells and get in position,
than it would be to do it in a rack, like KC was doing. Beyond that, we have a couple
of other things. We know that the adduction benefits of the dumbbell bench-press is always
going to be higher than it is with a barbell.
A barbell is going to require a fixed hand placement on a single bar, whereas a dumbbell
is allowing us to approach more adduction, more activation of the chest as we bring those
dumbbells up to the top. Additionally, we have a good safety net.
Whether we're using the barbell or a dumbbell, the safety net provided to us of the floor
to decrease the risk of any kind of AC joint injury that we could get from a bench-press
that goes too low, or uncontrolled. Finally, we do need to know how to get these dumbbells
into position. That's something that KC went on to show.
Again, the ease of doing this. Something that Jesse struggles with mightily, as you'll see,
and of course, he's going to tell you how the benefit of getting those elbows into the
right position because the floor press demands that to make sure the elbows are supporting
the wrists.
So, I wanted to share those two tips with you here, so you can hear how he feels, or
how he thinks about this as he performs it. So, let's show them how you do it. Some people
don’t even know how to get in.
KC: Right. So, basically-
JEFF: Like Jesse. Jesse?
JESSE: Hey. Come on, now.
KC: I asked Jesse to get these weights for me and he just couldn't do it for me.
JEFF: So, show us.
KC: Basically, I get the dumbbells, I put them right here by my quads, set them up,
and basically just grab one. Go here, right up high on my hip. Grab the other one, set
it up high on my hip. Then all I do is get myself ready.
I get myself tight because once I go back, I'm there. I'm in position. So, I get my lats
nice and tight, I roll back with it, and I twist and set up. It's very simple.
JEFF: Right.
KC: It moves right into motion, once you setup. Once you're here, just press up, just like
a bench-press. Then down. Right here is basically where you want to get. If you watch, it's
right where the cut of your triceps hit.
JEFF: I find that the floor press barbell or dumbbell, it grooves the proper positioning.
KC: Absolutely.
JEFF: Because your elbows stay tucked more naturally than it does any other way.
KC: Absolutely. Yep.
JEFF: Just to support the weights. That's awesome.
KC: Let me tell you, it's a lot harder than the barbell.
JEFF: Yeah.
KC: For sure.
JEFF: So, the loads down here are comparatively – you're a lot lighter.
KC: A lot lighter. Yeah. I can do 300 plus on the floor press barbell here. I can maybe
get up to about 120, 130 each arm. Significantly lower. Again, it's the whole control, and
everything like that as well.
JEFF: Our third, and final accessory lift here for the bench-press is the incline static
dumbbell press. This is something that KC showed me and introduced to me, and you can
see we did it here together. Synchronized, inclined, dumbbell static presses.
It's a new sport in the Olympics. But I'll lose if they judge based on the amount of
weight lifted, if I have to compete against KC all the time. The fact is, here's what
it does provide. You're going to hear him and watch him perform it.
Strength isn't just necessarily about having more concentric strength. Having eccentric
control of a weight and increasing your ability to control a weight eccentrically is an important
part of overall strength development.
Isometric strength and being able to control a weight isometrically is another part of
building the overall strength profile. This exercise combines elements of isometric strength
and concentric strength, and also demands the performance of your concentric strength
in a fatigued state.
So, I want you to see how it plays out in action here. Again, listen to KC as he describes
how it feels and what his mind is thinking as he's going through this.
KC: So I started incorporating these as the heavy lifts that I do, and accessories that
I do. I feel like I just humped out quite a bit.
JEFF: Yep.
KC: It's very hard to do. Again, the strength is – you'll see what I'm talking about here
when I do them.
JEFF: You've got 100s here, right?
KC: We've got 100s. Let's see how they go.
JEFF: All right. And Jesse got these for you again? All right, here we go.
KC: What I do is, I like to go up for one, and then what I do is, I come right here,
and I hold one here while the chest is still engaged. It's not here, guys. It's not here.
It's just here.
Then this one, I'm moving. Then come down, hold.
JEFF: Which is crazy. Guys, do you know how difficult this is?
KC: Then I come down.
JEFF: Yeah. The pecs are constantly being challenged here. Even in that bottom position.
You could have paused at the top.
KC: Yes.
JEFF: When you pause at the top you're literally – it's not even the same-
KC: The muscle's not engaged.
JEFF: Not like it is when it's all the way at the bottom.
KC: Not like it is when I'm holding it right there. So when I first did that, I was like
– that was obviously one of the first things I did. I was like, "Oh, I'm just going to
hold it here."
JEFF: Right.
KC: Then when he had me bring it down and I was squeezing – because when you're here,
to hold this weight here you've got to squeeze that.
JEFF: Right.
KC: That pec.
JEFF: Yeah.
KC: You've got to. So, it's engaged. Now, if it's here, I don’t have – my shoulder,
all this will work it out. There's nothing-
JEFF: We talk about that a lot of times. When gravity is basically acting straight through
that.
KC: Absolutely. The same here. This isn't engaged. The chest is no longer – now, if
I'm here holding the weight, you can see the chest is actually getting engaged. So, it's
challenging.
JEFF: It's interesting that everybody wants to pick a school and stick with one school
of thought. So, if you're a power lifter, body building is not something you can dip
into. I've never been that type.
Especially when you're training an athlete. You need to have a lot of different tools.
KC: Right.
JEFF: It's interesting that you're of that same mindset.
KC: Yeah.
JEFF: You can take from different areas and things that you know are going to work. And
for you, this has helped you. Even with control, I'm sure this carries over to that pause-bench
as well.
KC: Absolutely. There's a lot of control in that right there, if you didn't notice. That
carries over. Period. Anytime you can build some control, it's going to carry over into
the bench-press. Absolutely.
JEFF: So, there you have, guys. There are three accessory lifts here to increase your
main lift. Your bench-press.
Remember, the importance of accessory lifts in that pursuit of a bigger bench can never
be understated.
If you want to increase the weight that you're lifting on your bench-press, you're going
to have to, at some point, start to address the other lifts that help you, not just work
on those weak points, but realize the true strength you have by working through the bench-press,
into its components.
Breaking it down into its individual lifts that target better portions of that lift individually,
to allow you to thrive at every single point in that lift. That is what an accessory lift
will do for you.
If you're looking for programs where we never overlook the value of those accessory lifts
as they relate to the bigger picture, and when it comes to building strength, realizing
that we want to build true strength from the ground up throughout our entire body, so when
we get into those bigger lifts we're strong, confident, and not going to breakdown.
You can find them all in our ATHLEANX programs. If you've found the video helpful, make sure
to leave your comments and thumbs up below. Let us know what else you want me to cover
and I'll do my best to do that for you.
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so you never miss a video when we put one out. All right, guys. See you soon.