How Much Ya Bench? Part 2

Yesterday we discussed the importance of the bench press in football and how it transfers to improving on-Field performance.

Today we'll discuss the bench press from a physiological stand point.

The main muscles used during a bench press are the pectorals, the anterior deltoids and the triceps. I think we all know that.

The supporting (and most important) muscles are your rotator cuffs and upper back muscles.

Why?

Because the strength of those supporting muscles will determine how much you can lift, not the strength of the prime movers (pecs, anterior delts, tri's).

You're only as strong as your weakness link. An age old quote but one that could not be any more true in this case.

The prominent upper back muscles used for shoulder stabilisation purposes in the bench press are your latissimus dorsi, rhomboids and posterior deltoids. There are also 4 tiny rotator cuff muscles that surround the shoulder that also act as in a stabilising role.

How are these muscles going to determine my bench press you're thinking?

When the body is doing a bench press (or anything really), it does a quick assessment of the muscles being used to see if there are any weak links or a lack of stability. If there is a perceived lack of stability, which usually comes from the upper back and rotator cuff muscles, then the nervous system will shut down the prime movers and not allow the lift to happen for a fear of suffering an injury.

I have not come along any clients or fellow lifters whose stabilising muscles out perform their prime movers, it just doesn't happen. You can also have a weakness during the lift that may be attributed to one or several of the prime movers but until the stabilising issue is corrected, this is not a priority.

Moving to the upper back, it provides a platform of which to stabilise the weight and then to lift from. Think about jumping off a mattress and jumping off concrete. You put the same amount of force 'in" but less force 'comes" from the weaker foundation.

To program for the rotator cuffs, unless there is an actual injury to the area you won't need to isolate them in most cases. Your best option here is to perform push ups of which where there are far too many variations of to go into now. Any exercise performed from a push up position will train the stabilising muscles of the shoulder. Moving your arms and / or your bodyweight in this position will train them harder by shifting more weight and increasing stability demands.

To program for the upper back, rowing variations is where it's at. DB rows, chest supported rows, cable rows, seated rows, t bar rows and inverted rows are your best choices and mix these in with pull ups and chin ups.

In the next installment of "How Much Ya Bench?", we'll discuss different training methods to increase the bench press itself.