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post #31 of 37
12/2/11 at 12:39pm
Squats just increase overall muscle synergy, anabolism, and neural excitation. They help strengthen the lower back (deadlifts even more so, which you should be doing as well) and having a strong lower back means that you have a rigid platform for which to [bench] press off of. It's not just about putting mass on your legs (which do help with the bench press a little, since the force transmission goes through the arms, down the back, through the legs and onto the floor). Deadlifts working out the upper back? sigh.

If you are concerned with overall upper body strength, do weighted dips.

With a 200 lb 1RM, your joints are probably not strong enough to handle the rigors of the smolov jr.
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post #32 of 37
12/2/11 at 1:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by TrH View Post

This is news to me.

I meant directly below as in like rear delts, obviously it is below.
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post #33 of 37
12/2/11 at 1:38pm
Deadlifts are gonna work upper back more so then squats. They get your traps involved for the entire pull and your lats for the lockout. Hence why the deadlift is often put on back days. Your lower back is off the bench during a bench press, your upper back is the platform. Squats are not a magic exercise if he wants to "increase overall muscle synergy, anabolism, and neural excitation" in the muscles he uses to bench press then he should bench press. I have a weak bench press and a high squat and deadlift, for the last month or so all I've done is squats and my bench press has not increased at all. What has increased is my squat, deadlift and good morning. What increases my bench press making my upper back and chest stronger. I suppose if someone had never squatted before and there bench was like double or even equal to there squat then yeah getting there squat up would probably put a bit of extra mass on there upper back and strengthen there lower back so they could get a stronger curve when they bench and maybe stronger leg drive. Globe trotter is squatting 300lb and benching 200lb, raising his squat is not gonna do as much for his bench as building stronger bench press muscles will.
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post #34 of 37
12/2/11 at 1:52pm
Ultimately what it comes down to is your personal body type and how YOU respond to a particular exercise scheme. Feel free to try things out, but from what it sounds like, the logical "lift intense, heavy weights low reps" doesn't look like it has worked out for the best. And having a rigid lower back helps prevent the upper back from arching upward which is what plagues many bench pressers from maintaining proper form. I'm not saying to neglect your upper back and shoulders, but honestly I don't feel them that much during a bench press movement (coming from a guy who bench presses 1.8x his body weight, but obviously everyone may feel differently).

What I would do is lift at a moderate intensity at 6-10 reps/set for a few weeks, then cycle and do high intensity/low rep sets for a few weeks. This has the added benefit of allowing your joints to strengthen before going all out.
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post #35 of 37
12/2/11 at 2:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by stickshift View Post

Ultimately what it comes down to is your personal body type and how YOU respond to a particular exercise scheme. Feel free to try things out, but from what it sounds like, the logical "lift intense, heavy weights low reps" doesn't look like it has worked out for the best. And having a rigid lower back helps prevent the upper back from arching upward which is what plagues many bench pressers from maintaining proper form. I'm not saying to neglect your upper back and shoulders, but honestly I don't feel them that much during a bench press movement (coming from a guy who bench presses 1.8x his body weight, but obviously everyone may feel differently).
What I would do is lift at a moderate intensity at 6-10 reps/set for a few weeks, then cycle and do high intensity/low rep sets for a few weeks. This has the added benefit of allowing your joints to strengthen before going all out.

You bench more then me so I won't argue with you, but in my experience posterior chain movements have not increased my bench significantly where as pulling and pushing motions as well as tricep work has. But your right, he should train whatever movements raise his bench.
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post #36 of 37
12/2/11 at 7:48pm
Thread Starter 
I don't want to work on my squat - actually, I could increase my squat if I wanted to without much effort, I've been doing the same for almost a year now, but frankly I don't see any good reason for me to be squating more than that.

what I am trying to do is get my press up to a certain point. some of the suggestions have been helpful. thanks
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post #37 of 37
1/30/12 at 11:31am
Thread Starter 
started a program today, I've been waiting to have 2 weeks at home until now. for the past few months I've added a lot of tricep and fly work, so we'll see how it goes with a smolov jr.
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