I know it sounds ludicrous to many athletes as the flat benchpress is the “perceived” indicator of strength in the fitness world. (I call it the ultimate ego lift)
However in terms of pure applicability/crossover to the muscles involved in sprinting would you say the standing overhead barbell press (standing shoulder press/pushpress) is a more sprint specific movement?
I have been performing the following three main exercises for my strength/plyo workouts and have found my ROM and flexibility through my shoulders and arms has increased tremendously compared to when I was benching.
Not nearly as tight and I actually feel lighter, stronger and more explosive.
The three main weightroom lifts I perform on my strength/plyo days are:
deadlifts (4 x 3-5 reps)
various squats (mostly weighted jumpsquats (for example 185 for 15 reps)
standing shoulder barbell press
core work
Just curious as to your thoughts on the merits of bench compared to standing shoulder press. I also find the standing shoulder press hits your core very well.
I can see benchpress having a non specific CNS arousal component but aside from that what are the real benefits of it over standing shoulder press?
This is the real benefit. More MU recruited = larger CNS component = greater CNS stimulus. The point of upper body training is not to improve muscles specific to sprinting - it’s to diversify the CNS stimulus. The strength of your shoulders will have little to do with how fast you run anyway so no point in trying to be specific.
Also check out what Coach X at Elite has to say about overhead pressing and impingement.
:rolleyes:
YOUR DEAD WRONG, THE CHEST MUSCLE IS THE FIRST MUSCLE THAT IS ACTIVATED FOR SWINGING OF THE ARMS. FIRST THE CHEST, THEN THE FRONT SHOULDER AND SO ON AND SO FORTH. THIS OCCURS ON THE FORWARD SWING OF THE ARMS FOR THE FIRST 3 STRIDES OF THE 100M. NOTICE THE FIRST THING THAT TWITCHES DURING THE VERTICAL JUMP IS THE CHEST MUSCLE AND ALSO WHEN GETTING OUT OF THE BLOCKS; FOR EXAMPLE, LOOK AT BEN JOHNSON’S ARM MOVEMENT GETTING OUT OF THE BLOCKS.
The bench press is included in Charlie’s program for the above reasons and for good reason too. I have severely overtrained my chest when I was younger yet I never tore a pec. The military press is also featured in Charlie’s program for good reason too; for example, working the anterior deltoid (front) shoulder muscle as this is the key muscle in swinging the arms. To exclude one or the other or both is just pure LUNACY. LOL
Where are you getting this from?
Looking at Ben’s start out of the blocks I don’t see any chest. One arm went back, the other abducted.
Are you saying a stronger bench press for a better vertical?!
Charlie has mentioned before the prime benefit of benching is for CNS stimulation. hypertrophy of the chest will not yield tenths off your sprint time I gurantee it.
I still do bench just not as much as I did before. I find focusing on the standing shoulder press has given me greater core stability plus much greater ROM through the shoulder girdle.
The point was raised as a topic for discussion not as a statement of fact
Chest development has nothing to do with sprinting or vj. To think otherwise is just pure BULLSHIT. Provide evidence that it is the first muscle activated in arm swing/vj. Aren’t you the same guy that thinks doing heavy calf raises= faster sprinting/better vertical.
Back to the discussion, could weighted pullups take the place of bench as CNS stimulation? The loads are similar (at least for me) and They seems to involve just as many muscle groups as benching or overhead presses. (I have no evidence of this, just supposition. If anyone has any real evidence of this that would be cool). Why the concentration on presses?
CNS stim maybe but what the horribly dispraportionate lats to chest! You would have the chest of a 12 year old girl and lats the size of Nasser El Sonbaty (Huge Lats in case you didn’t figure out who I was talking about). I do not mean to attack you so please don’t respond in that manner. I am simply stating that you need muscle balance as well as CNS stimulation.
Also I never made a fact that heavy calf raises would lead to faster sprinting I see the cons and benefits of doing such and was mearly trying to get some more insight. I haven’t made up mind whether you should or shouldn’t I just took one side and tried to argue for that side. If you read all the posts in that thread you would have seen that in stead of being so judgemental so quickly.
How can you see what Ben’s chest was doing if he has his uni/tank top on? Unless you have exray vision or something like that. The Ben Johnson was a bad example you can’t see his chest flex because he has his tank top on unless you see him doing starts without his shirt. Just do a vertical jump without your shirt on and see which muscle flexes first on the upward motion or concentric contraction of the legs. A better way to see this is just to do the arm movement of the vertical jump and don’t use your legs at all, if you do this in front of a mirror you’ll see that it is your chest muscle being activated first then so on and so forth!
I never said the front delts weren’t involved. In fact they play a major role, just no the chest. By the way you spelled genius wrong . I would probably get higher than most people, especially those who think doing cable crossovers is the key to getting that extra inch.
