I did a search and very little came back on this, but I was doing bench press this morning in a ‘body builders’ gym and I asked the owner to spot me, which he did, but he was telling me not to lock out at the top of the movement. I have never considered bench press technique too much, but I wondered what people thought of this??? He said I would get a stronger chest without locking out, but with the goal for a sprinter not specifically being a stronger chest but to activate the CNS I am not really sure to follow his advice or not, or whether it even matters!
people have told me this too. i have a tendency to not lock out. but i don’t do it intentionally. i just don’t think about it too much. i really don’t think it matters too much because it doesn’t seem to have affected me. i bench 320 @ a BW of 180 at age 18. the bottom part of the motion provides most of the stimulus anyways
The lockout is primarily a tricep issue and not locking out saves a little energy. This allow you to either use a heavier load or do a rep or two more each set, either of which would result in a higher CNS stimulus. I usually lock out twice, one about halfway through the set, and again on the last rep.
Some people do a series of heaves and then may or may not be able to lock out the last rep.
I don’t like this. They say that they are working the sticking point etc, but I argue that they are generally in a different position while doing this. I think it is better to train exploding through and coordinating the chain of movements necessary to finish a rep.
If you want to do separate partial reps in a rack, great!
So you’re saying extend fully??? And that not locking out is in essence a partial rep?
yes, personally I believe in finishing each rep for standard benchpress.
When in power mode (powerlifting) I fully agree. But for hypertrophy, the bench is essentially a pec exercise for me and I feel I can work the pecs harder if I don’t lock everytime. I do closegrips, dips, and isolation moves for the triceps.
I agree that it depends on the person and the desired training effect. I’m surprised that someone would tell the OP to switch (from which ever way he was doing it) without knowing what he was trying to do.
It’s a meat head gym! They just assume I’m trying to get huge.