How to do the perfect set...

C

cusimar9

0
Peculiar question but I'm sure its one everyone's thought about at some point. I'll take the bench press as an example.

Whats the difference between me trying to do a set at maximum range (ie down to touching the bar on your chest) but with a lower weight, or me using a higher weight but not being able to do the full range?

I've noticed I'm doing my first 2 sets at full range, but on my last set I just go for maximum weight and I fear the quality of the set may be suffering.

If I'm going for muscle appearance rather than outright strength, would it be fair to say that all sets should be done at maximum range? Or is my current technique (ie first 2 sets at maximum) fine?
 
cusimar9 said:
If I'm going for muscle appearance rather than outright strength, would it be fair to say that all sets should be done at maximum range? Or is my current technique (ie first 2 sets at maximum) fine?
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Hey i noticed that for "muscle appearance", the best way to get this is by first doing a heavy compound exercise, such as the benchpress, then doing another EASIER compound exercise, and then finishing it off with a auxilary exercise, such as a PEC DEC FLY.

oh, and yes the range should be at maximum. Don't cheat on your form.
 
there are times where working part of the range of motion cna help break through sticking points.
but, they are few and far between, and should be considered 'advanced' training techniques.
 
In general the fullest range of motion is best, but Bench Press is a good example of one exception to that rule. When the elbow goes below the shoulder (as in the lower 1/3 of the bench press range of motion for a person of average chest girth) the shoulder joint is placed in a very unstable position and you can damage your rotator cuff if you are using significant weight. Be careful! I damaged both shoulder joints before I finally figured that out (OK I was a little slow, but the info on this problem is scarce!).
 
Dswithers,

I've heard that about the shoulders too. I find as long as I don't force my upper arms to be perpendicular to the body, i feel a lot less in the shoulders when I bench.
also helps a ton to pin your shoulderblades back into the bench to de-emphasize shoulders. for a long time, i used a lot of shoulder and tricep to push my bench press and not nearly enough pec. the shoulder blade thing was lliek night and day.

But, I will agree...if you feel a lot of strain in yoru shoulders when benching, even if form is just friggin perfect, then you might wanna stop an inch short of touching the bar to the chest.
After all, huge body builders have thicker chests that end up limiting range of motion at the bottom...and they stay huge :)
 
There are positive effects for both sides of the arguement. Using full range of motion keeps your flexibility up and forces you to use all of the muscles incorporated with the movement. For bench, it's chest, shoulders, tris, lats.
At the same time, doing a limited range of motion is often suggested for breaking through training plateaus. I believe that no matter what, you gotta keep your routine fresh...when one thing stops working, then do another.
 
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