I really have been enjoying benching with a 2 second pause and 3/4 lockout late in my routine (after 3 exercises or so). It really hits the chest hard, especially after it is already fatigued an the risk of injury for those that have a tough time benching is lower since you will be doing the movement much more controlled and will not be able to use as much weight because you are so fatigued at that point.

Also, who incorporates DC stretching into chest (or any bodypart for that matter)? I have been using the dumbbell stretch for about 5 weeks now, and the pump in my chest is insane. Also, I believe my chest has gotten visibly bigger in these past weeks.

To really nail the chest at the subclavian area, Definitely Incline Dbs would probably be one of the best. but, the thing i notice is that a lot of people doing DB movements like these keep their arms stagnate with each other, meaning they simply go straight up and down. I FEEL that with DBS, it's a huge loss to the movement if you dont angle the weight- IE You bring the DBs down to a wide base, and press to 1 point, having them touch at the top, essentially forming a triangle in the movement.

There's also a movement i do sometimes where the DBs are touching the entire time. Think of it like this, clap your hands together in front of you. Now turn your hands into fists. Pinch your shoulder blades, and perform an Incline bench press, constantly pushing your fists into the each other. Now add weight. Good movement.

As mentioned in the shoulder thread, I found DC chest stretching great for shoulder health!

Similar to Delta, I have not found any benefit to overhead pressing prior to bench work.

Recently, similar to Ebomb, I incorporated some paused bench press on my high volume pressing day, working on power out of the bottom of the movement (paused on small plate/block on chest). Has helped me move through bit of a plateau I was having which has been nice. Much preferred this style of modification than the advocated pin-press techniques.

Let me go ahead and try to start a discussion.




Adding a reverse band set up could allow one to overload the chest at the top position, however, there would also be some major triceps overload as well, making it a not very effective exercise for chest. What are you guys opinions on this ? How about traditional banded bench press ? ( there's a video of cutler doing that on an incline somewhere )

Discuss

I will often do HS machines with added band resistance. I like doing them on the machines vs free weights because I feel that they will better allow me to control the weight, while still taking advantage of the different type of resistance the bands have to offer. I'm a big fan of doing them on HS Incline Presses.

Tried that 1-arm HS press variation CT used in the training vids (with the squeeze at the top, slightly angled body) - freakin mean. Really exposed a difference between my right and left sides for strength/endurance during a RP set.

Anyone else try this?