Earn Your Bench Press

Mondays are usually reserved for national holidays.  We have Labor Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day is coming up in two days, and Bench Press Monday is held on a weekly basis.  Bench Press Monday is the start of the most common training program ever.  No, it’s not a Smolov Squat Cycle, or Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1.  It’s the most common training split ever:  Bench press and Curls, all day ‘ery day.

I’ve had a love/hate relationship with bench pressing since I began training; I avoided it for years because I didn’t want to be weak, finally trained it to a semi-respectable point, and have rotated it into my programming on-and-off for the past two years simply to avoid sucking at it.  I’m currently in the middle of a let’s-not-suck phase, and have been pressing regularly for the past 6 weeks. I was benching off of a 4″ PVC pipe at a recent training session, and one of my clients asked me about incorporating it into his own training.  I explained to him that there are far safer and effective exercises I could select for him to make progress, and that bench pressing isn’t necessary at 12 years old.  He seemed satisfied at the moment, and went on his merry way.

While I’m definitely a fan of developing strength, I seldom program the conventional barbell bench press for people.  It’s not particularly conducive to most goals, and there are infinite variations of dumbbell presses and push-ups that provide great neural and metabolic stimulus with reduced injury risk.  Despite the questionable need for benching, there are still people that want to bench, that take the red pill instead of blue.

When this happens, we begin to look at the bench press as a lift instead of an exercise.  Just as with the other big lifts, bench pressing is limited by technique.  Benching for the sake of benching is probably not the best idea, but benching to get a stronger bench, I’m okay with that.  Here’s are several things I like to see from people when they’re focusing on their bench press:

A strong upper back.  It’s probably safe to say that everybody can use additional upper back work.  This includes a variety of horizontal and vertical pulling variations.  My preferences include inverted rows, chin-ups, cable/TRX facepulls, band pull-aparts.  dumbbell rows, and chest-supported rows.  Any pattern that trains the upper back musculature to retract and depress the scapulae is good in my book.

Thoracic Extension.  Upper back strength (and shoulder health) is going to be limited by your ability extended the thoracic spine.  if you walk around like Quasimodo all day, you’re probably going to struggle in this area.  There are a number of factors to address in any individual case, but as a blanket approach, I’d combine a mobilization strategy with one of the exercises listed above.  For example, here’s a thoracic extension on a foal roller followed by a tripod row:

Use your legs.  After we address thoracic extension, scapular mechanics, and upper back strength, I like to see lifters properly applying leg drive to their lifts.  It’s horrendously underused in commercial settings, but is an important component of a strong bench press.  It allows for a stronger set up, due to a more effective pressing angle (biomechanical advantage) and the development of full-body tension.  Tension elicits strength.

As much as I love the Bret Contreras’ fueled hip-thrust campaign, there shouldn’t be a glute-bridge/bench press combination lift.  Leg drive is used to drive the traps into the bench, not to simply lift your hips in there air.  This is no bueno:

If your bench press set could be confused for one of Madonna’s Like  A Virgin performances, you need to address your use of leg drivein  the bench press.  Your feet should be set steadily for the duration of your set, and I hate seeing feet come up in the air when p someone begins to struggle with a lift.  Tap dancing may be good for developing agility, but I promise you it will make your bench press totally suck.  Applying leg drive provides you with a better upper body position and greater tension throughout the body, which translates into better lifts.

As you can see, the factors that I find have the biggest impact on the bench press are not related to the chest, triceps, or shoulders.  In fact, they are the same things that need to be considered for most other aspects of training that people neglect:  upper back strength, thoracic extension, and lower body strength.  When these 3 factors are properly addressed, I’m sure you’ll see improvements in not only your bench press, but your other lifts as well.

Start with the Trap Bar

In the world of commercial exercise, training the lower body is typically limited to leg presses, knee extensions, and calve raises. An adventurous person may half squats.  Sometimes, a young, ‘fit’ guy will tell me that they’re scared to get hurt, so they run to make their legs stronger.  A similar response from the ladies is that yoga takes care of the toning for them.  There are usually puzzled or fearful looks when the topic turns towards lifting,  and when it comes to deadlift, I sometimes get this response:

In competitive circles, there’s plenty of debate over which deadlift is better:Conventional vs. Sumo.  A biomechanics lab may say that the sumo position may be more advantageous,  but the big world records are set conventional.  Some powerlifters will say that sumo is for sissies, and conventional stance is the way to go.  Regardless of your biases, or your preferred pulling style, you’ll probably agree: Deadlifting is awesome.

What about for the average person, the one that the fitness industry classifies as “general population”?  The person that wants to be healthier, move better, and feel more comfortable when they get naked.  These folks don’t care about what they’re doing at the gym, they just want to do something that works.  For them, it’s not about progress, and success, and that’s why I prefer the trap bar deadlift over barbell variations when people are learning the deadlift.

The trap bar deadlift offers several advantages to deadlift n00bz when they’re learning the lift, allowing for easier set up and execution.  Implementing the trap bar deadlift into a program allows most people to learn a full-body compound movement in a relatively short time frame, which translates to more effective workouts and training success.  Barbell deadlift variations call for more mobility than the trap var variety, which most people will develop as they progress through a program.  The trap bar allows them to develop confidence pulling off the floor while they address ankle, hip, and thoracic spine mobility limitations.

It’s common to see either spinal flexion or ankle dorsiflexion when untrained people address a barbell, which can lead to a variety of spinal injuries and awkward lifting.  The  trap bar allows for forward knee movement, a lower hip position, and ultimately makes it easier to maintain a neutral spine throughout the exercise.  Hip-hinge purists may argue that this isn’t a true deadlift, that this is instead a quarter squat;  there is dorsiflexion and no posterior weight shift.  Can we bastardize the deadlift like that?  Sure, who the hell cares.

They’re deadlifting, and they feel like a boss.  If transitioning to a straight bar is important to them, then include mobility work and exercise progressions to move from the trap bar to a straight bar.  Perhaps they’ll use a sumo stance, then transition to a conventional stance.  Maybe they’ll stick with the trap bar forever.  This depends on their biomechanics, physical limitations, and overall goals.  If you’re training yourself or others, it’s important to not marry an exercise over a strategy or idea.  There should be  specific reasoning and logic for using a specific lift into a program, and it’s important to not pick deadlift variations and progressions all willynilly with no respect for the human body.

Regardless of the implement being used, one should focus on pushing their hips back when they deadlift, which allows the lifter to use their posterior chain musculature.  While the mirror monkeys are busy staring at their abz, pecs, and biceps, the smart lifters are training the backside of their body.  In the video below, Eric Cressey demonstrates trap bar deadlift technique:

If you’ve been one to let basketball or Bikram count as your lower body training, you’re missing out on a few things.  Strength training will not only provide a better bang for your training buck, but it will also make those activities seem a lot easier.  The trap bar deadlift is one of the most effective exercises you can use, and it’s my go-to variation to introduce people to the deadlift.  Grab yourself a trap bar, sit your hips back, pull your chest nice and tall, and push your heels into the ground.  Happy deadlifting!

Please Abuse Your Body

Last Sunday, the good folks at EliteFTS celebrated Mother’s Day with a post called “This Lift’s For You Mom…”, which included 35 mom-inspired workouts from readers.  I perused the list on Sunday morning as I got ready to go train, debating on which idea I could use in my own training.  I was inspired by Pete Price’s “The twenty-rep trap bar deadlift set that I’m doing tomorrow to replicate the difficulty of labor.” I thought this was rather funny, and while I had squatted and pulled heavy singles on Saturday, I decided that some light high(er) rep deadlifts on Sunday wouldn’t hurt.  After my usual upper body strength work, I moved on to a finisher than consisted of 8 chin-ups, 10 trap bar deadlifts with 225lbs, 30 seconds of battling ropes, and 15 push-ups.  It felt like this:

In the middle of round 2, I decided that I’d rather get kicked down a well than bear a child.  I also decided that this finisher was a terrible idea.  Once it was over, I peeled myself off the floor, and began that awkward gasping-for-air walk, where you make fish faces as if they make oxygen enter your body faster.  No, they just make you look stupid.  The awkward fish-gasps led to a wry smile; I felt great.

Later in the day, I was discussing my joy with the fish faces and inadequate supply of oxygen with a friend.  I was obviously excited, but her response was “You abuse your body.”  It took a while for the words to come to me, but I replied with a poorly contrived philosophical attempt of “No, not doing this is abuse.”  This lead to think of the following question:

What is more abusive, training hard or not training at all?

Sure, there are populations that train their body beyond its ability to recover, and develop short and long term injuries.  Cue discussion of powerlifters, endurance athletes, and CrossFitters.  Before we get Lucifer’s Legal Liasons up in here, let me downplay these competitors.  Why?  Because it’s unlikely that you’re one of them, and it’s unlikely that you’re ever going to be one of them.  No need for the Devil’s Advocate response.

Considering most exercise programs, I have to say that I don’t think we’re intentionally abusive enough.  I say intentionally because most folks that seem to get hurt do so as a result of well-intentioned but ill-fated programming.  Eventually, they’ll join the truly abusive:  The sedentary.

If we were to weigh the effects of a “typical” Westernized lifestyle against that of someone eats whole foods and exercise regularly, you have a strong case for abuse.  The hypercaloric, hypokinetic life style is one of the worst things that we subject ourselves to, but it’s seldom seen as abusive.  Why?

Socially, we define abuse as something offensive or aggressive,  but we really ought to consider the lack of effort exhibited by most who are casually active.  I’m not a big fan of the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, as I find them to be too lax; we’re more than capable of doing more.  Unfortunately, most people don’t even reach the minimum numbers; how effective are these guidelines at producing active Americans?  The “every little bit counts”  approach isn’t very effective.

Perhaps we need a “Please abuse your body” approach.  We need more people making awkward fish-faces while they’re working out, more people scared of stairs the day after they squat, and more people who think about ‘fitness’ as heart rate recovery and not mile time.

I ask you; Please abuse your body.  Not to feel worn down, tired, and hurt.  I mean to feel energized, accomplished, and healthy.  Let your muscles feel soreness.  Let your heart pound in your chest.  Let your lungs burn.  Eat well, sleep well, and do it again the next day.  Move better, perform better, get stronger. Demand more from yourself.  As you do, ask yourself: Is training hard more abusive than settling for what you already have?

Squats, Deadlifts…and a 5k?

I ventured to the University of Delaware last weekend to visit my brothers in the Xi Mu chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.  Since leaving UD I’ve upheld my promise of attending the initiation of each probationary class, and was excited to see my friends and family.  In addition to the fraternity events planned for the weekend, I was also prepared or some physically and mentally hard training.

On the way to Newark I stopped in Glenolden, Pennsylvania to visit Iron Sport Gym.  I had the chance to lift there in the fall, and fully plan on making any trip in the Philly area include a detour to this facility.  Since you’re likely to ask ‘Why?’, check this out:

 

How awesome does this place look?!  They have plenty of the gear that’s on my wish-list of equipment, and I went in knowing I wanted to use some of the items that I won’t be seeing at home any time soon.  My training followed the template which I’ve been using for my ‘heavy’ lower body days for the past 3 weeks, and which made choosing specific lifts much easier.

After a solid 15-20 minutes of foam rolling, mobility and activation drills, a series or kettlebell swings and prying, I moved on to my lifting.  I used a safety squat bar for my squat variation, and sumo deadlifted with chains for my deadlift variation.  After that I moved on to giant cambered bar reverse lunges, then paired glute ham raises with a leg raise variation.  While I haven’t used any of these specific bars or variations before, it provided a needed variation to my training at home.  Here are two videos of my top-end sets:

 

 

I have mixed feelings about each variation.  The safety squat bar squats were deceptively difficult, and kicked my ass.  That bar is evil.  As for the chained deadlifts, that has got to be the most fun I’ve had lifting in a really long time.  They weren’t very heavy, but it was great fun.  I don’t have clips of the last three exercises, but did manage a screenshot of the lunges before my phone flipped over.  Let me just say that 185 on the GC Bar felt a lot heavier than 225 on the Olympic bar.

I’ve been rather religious about ending each of my training sessions with a 7-15 minute finisher that makes me gasp for air, but opted out of it on Friday night.  Why?  Well, I had registered for a 5k on Saturday morning.

Wait. What? A 5k?

Yes, you read that correctly.  One of my brothers in Delaware was planning on running in the Best Buddies Delaware Friendship Walk/Run in Wilmington, and asked me to join him.  I As much as I dislike traditional endurance training, it can’t be that bad once in a blue moon, can it?  Plus, it was with good people, for a good cause.  After sending some e-mails over the alumni and active list-servs, we had a total of 9 gentlemen participate in the event:

After completing the Delaware Best Buddies Friendship 5k in Wilmington’s Rockford Park with James, Colin, Andrew, Yours Truly, Jason, Tim, Alex, Liam, and Cameron.

I experienced several thoughts during the event, and I’ll list them in chronological order for you:

• 0:00 – 0:30 “Gosh these people are slow!  Wait, this isn’t a sprint?  Oh, okay.”
• 0:31 – 1:00 “It sure is a beautiful day out.  This can’t be that bad!”
• 1:00 – 1:45 “How much longer is this course?  When do I get to sprint?”
• 1:46 – 12:00 “Man, how many yellow cones do I need to run past? How do people find this enjoyable?”
• 12:01 – 12:30 “Wait, this isn’t a loop?  We have to go back the same way?!  WHAT THE HELL?!”
• 12:31 – 22:00 “Running on cement sucks.  Why would somebody voluntarily do this to themselves?  Did Andrew just pass me?  Screw him.  ‘Good work bro!’
• 22:01 – 25:30  “Do I still have calves?  ::Checks feet:: Okay, we’re good.  Where’s the finish line?  I want to sprint already.”
• 25:31 – 25:43 – “THAT’S THE FINISH LINE?! Where was my warning?!  To infinity and beyond!”

• 25:44 – 29:00  “Seriously, that sucked.  Why do people like running?
• 29:01 – 32:00   “Does anybody want to run hill sprints?  (Cameron wants to!)  Okay, let’s go run sprints!”
• 32:00 – 37:00 “Finally, some real training.”
• 37:01+ “Who wants to go to Moe’s for Cinco de Moe’s?”

As you can see, I settled for Chipotle.  More importantly than that though, the 5k reinforced some ideas that I have about running.  I ‘m convinced that enjoying steady state running is a defense mechanism.  Seriously, it’s a learned behavior, and we trick ourselves into enjoying it.  Why?  Go find me a small child that enjoys running at a steady pace in a straight line for an extended period of time.  You can’t.  These children don’t exist.  Real children run in odd patterns, at a variety of speeds, using an assortment of locomotor patterns.  They skip, they hop, they gallop, they jump.  They don’t run.

Perhaps you can argue that enjoying running is something that comes with time, just as we develop a palette for coffee or wine.  A valiant counter, yes, but there is a considerable scope to consider.   Would you compare instant coffee to fine fair-trade organic coffee recommended by a Seattle native?  Surely not.  When paring wine with liver and fava beans,  would you choose Franzia or a nice Chianti?  Running may require the same palette development, but I hope it draws you to trail runs through the mountains instead of treadmills and asphalt.  At least you’ll need to watch your footing and can enjoy nature a bit.

With that being said, I still stand behind an idea I’ve stated before, that you shouldn’t need to train for a 5k.  The concept of an aerobic base is bunk; it’s unnecessary for most our activities.  If you’re looking for a competitive 5k time, surely incorporate some dedicated training, but the high volume endurance training approach is beaten out by dedicated strength training and carefully planned conditioning.

Unless a large number of friends is planning an upcoming race, or I’m convinced to run the reservoir in Central Park, I’ll keep my running limited sprints in training, and pick up games of whatever sport you wish.  I’d rather play 4 hours of Ultimate or football than ponder my 5k pace.  I’d also rather squat, and that’s what I’m about to go do.  Happy Squaturday!

But How Much?

I stumbled across this picture sometime last week during one of my weekly “find cool pictures to use in blog-post” sessions, and it pissed me off.  The cluttered text is aesthetically displeasing, and that bothers me.  This clearly isn’t a good example of graphic design.

If I get nitpicky about squat technique, I’d like to see her sit back more.  In regards to depth, this better be mid-range and not the bottom.

Most importantly though, it plays into female/strength training stereotypes: The idea that women women would be lifting just “to make them stare”, and that women can’t lift “that much”.

Training for the sake of gaining people’s attention at the gym is asinine.  Unless you have a training partner who provides form feedback, it really doesn’t matter what other people are looking at while you train.  As for the “that much” comment, a 200lb squat isn’t all that impressive.  It’s not very common, but it’s also not very heavy.

Our media-fueled culture is full of 9 Minute Abs, Yogalates, Brazilian Booty Blast, and a host of related exercise programs that confuse sweating with effective strength training.  We hear about high rep, light weight sets that ‘”tone” and “sculpt”, and after weeks and months most look exactly the same.   If you’re strength training, you should probably get strong in the process, right?

Consider the question, “How much should I be lifting?”

Simple:  As much as you can.

The most important word there is you.  It’s not about gender, or size, or a self-limiting ceiling you put on your strength levels when you decide a weight is too much.  Pick up something heavy, and then improve upon that the next time you feel ready.

Progressive Overload has long ruled as an important factor in strength training.  It’s a simple increase in training stress over a period of time, and there are nearly infinite ways to do to this: manipulating training volume,  relative intensity, tempo of a lift.  These are all important factors to consider with a well structured training program, but we can’t forget that strength training is about getting strong(er).  Pick up heavy shit.

Obviously, ‘heavy’ is relative.  What’s heavy for me is speed weight for elite level powerlifters.  Then again, around some of the 10 x 10 bicep curls crowd at school, I might actually look strong.  Regardless of how much is on the bar though, you should feel like you’re working hard.

In the past few weeks I’ve had several people, both male and female, asking me about how much they should put on the bar.  If I create my own stereotypes, I usually find myself encouraging women to add weight to the bar, and insisting that men take weight off and correct technique.  I’m all about getting strong, but when it’s health enhancing, not debilitating.  Do it the right way.

Once someone can replicate good form on any given exercise, I’m all about training for strength.  Male or female, 16 or 60, blue collar job or white collar job.  Wherever you are in your life, getting stronger can help you live a happier and healthier life.  There are obviously benefits to each and every type of exercise, but if we’re looking at the most effective ways to train, getting stronger is always going to help.