Bench Press and Squat

C

Champr23

0
Ok heres the story.
I went to see a personal trainer to help me get buff and I asked him why can't I squat much weight and he responded " Your long and lengthy and you have a further distance to travel". "Same with bench press".
For example with bench press, I have small chest and long arms. Making the bar travel longer for every rep. I think my max bench would be better if not for these 2 things. I just got up 145 for 1 rep 2day and I weigh 140!

I was wondering what everything translates to?
 
It's just a basic physics equation.... Work = Force x Distance

If person A and B puts lifts the same weight (force applied), but lets say person A has 2 feet more to travel, he has to WORK harder to move the same weight as person B.

If you wanted to get technical, yes it will be a little 'harder' for you to get big and bulky. But don't worry about it too much and just keep at it...
 
It's true that with your long levers you'll be at a disadvantage somewhat. I don't think it's anything to stress about. My strength and conditioning professor was 6'5" and he pulled off squating ass to grass (of course he was trained by Shane Hammon).

Do you know where you're having the most trouble in your squat (coming out of the bottom, locking out, etc)? Realizing your weakpoints and nailing them will help you in a big way. You might also try the wonderful box squats.

Your bench-where are you having trouble? I think floor pressing and lockouts will help you quite a bit because of your long arms.

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do;jsessionid=2DF3169A76D496117F173A135294920C.hydra?id=739197

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do;jsessionid=2DF3169A76D496117F173A135294920C.hydra?id=740326
 
For benching, midpoint is my weakness. I stall out usually.
For Squating, im just starting to work up and get better b.c. I had low back problems. I have done alot of leg sled, hack squat, leg presses.
I read through the articles evo. they seemed gOoD!

A few questions.

The first thing they list on both is for me to do band resistance and chain resistance. I have no bands or chains. How would they even be used?

Its recommended to do lockouts. I know what a lockout is but how this would even help?

Here are the ones they recommend for squats which would be most effective? I can't do all of them!
Lunges, step-ups, glute-ham raises, pull-throughs (arched back for glute emphasis), stiff-leg deadlifts, kneeling squats.
Landon Evans, who squatted 611 in the 198 pound class as a teen, cites Bulgarian squats as a great exercise for building his squat to mammoth levels.
 
Last edited:
Ahh, evo has spoken again! I was gonna cite the two links also. The best articles ever for the long-limbed ppl! As a sidenote, I think that long-limbed lifters are better at full squatting than parallel. Just a thesis though.

Champr, as you're a beginner such as myself, for squatting I wouldn't recommend anything too special. Lots of full squatting with the technique I gave you (with emphasis on trying to dive between the legs and exploding from the bottom with your glutes, like trying to crack a nut with your butt-cheeks), some step-ups, and maybe some overhead squatting if you don't have any shoulder problems, you can also try box squatting, zercher squats and 1-legged squats. But the two first movements are the only ones you really need.

As for benching, read on the right form and work on moderate/close grip benching, with maybe some fat grip benching also (e.g. roll a small towel around the bar) to strengthen the grip and to learn the right gripping style.
 
Last edited:
Champr23 said:
A few questions.

The first thing they list on both is for me to do band resistance and chain resistance. I have no bands or chains. How would they even be used?

Its recommended to do lockouts. I know what a lockout is but how this would even help?

Here are the ones they recommend for squats which would be most effective? I can't do all of them!
Lunges, step-ups, glute-ham raises, pull-throughs (arched back for glute emphasis), stiff-leg deadlifts, kneeling squats.
Landon Evans, who squatted 611 in the 198 pound class as a teen, cites Bulgarian squats as a great exercise for building his squat to mammoth levels.
Click to expand...

Don't worry about bands and chains. You can purchase them at but they're not a necessity. Westside barbell club made them famous and use them a lot but lifters have been getting strong before bands and chains have been around.

Lockouts help because you can do more weight with the limited range of motion....so, you can use "overload" percentages. The same goes for deadlifts (i.e. rack pulls) and squats.

For bench, it sounds like your your triceps, shoulders, or lats might be week.
read this-->
You would do well to include lockouts, floor presses, and 1 arm db pressing for higher reps.
Read this-->

Some guys journey using Westside methods, read his setup---->



For squats-
I'm a big fan of Bulgarian squats and pullthroughs.
I also like to change back squats, deadlifts, good mornings, and front squats in and out with each other.


Spend some time over at elitefts.com, they ahve some great articles
 
Evolution I have a pic. if you want to see? To show you what level im at.
I'll take a look at this stuff. Thanks for the info. ;)
 
Sure, I'll take a look at the pic. You know, you might even take a look through my past journal and the one I'm recording in right now to give you an idea of how I set things up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top