Edited by. Gabriele Baccaglini
Technique
Last but not least important point to examine concerns the movement technique: the push on a flat bench must make the balance perform a trajectory that is not rectilinear, it cannot be. If you started from the line of the nipples and pushed in perfect vertical with respect to the ground, you would reach the point of maximum extension with the arms inclined towards the feet of 20-30 ° with respect to the perpendicular passing through the shoulder, finding yourself having to keep the load from falling towards your stomach, when ideally at the highest point you should discharge the force vector through the fulcrum of the lever (shoulders).
Summing up the perfect lift is accomplished by removing the barbell from the stops, which must neither be too high (in the event of an incomplete repetition you must be able to hang it up anyway without extending it completely) or too low (to force you to an effort equal to the lift to detach it) and position yourself approximately on the line that passes over your forehead (too far back you would unbalance it in the opposite way to what was said before and you would stretch the shoulder stabilizers). Bring the barbell in line with the shoulder-elbow-wrist line, now while inhaling deeply, following a parabolic curve with a natural movement that slowly brings you to rest the rod on the chest. As soon as you feel the contact, keep your shoulder blades closed backwards, your shoulders outstretched (do not "shrug") and push upwards with strength and ferocity keeping your elbows under the projection on the ground of your wrists, while exhaling vigorously the air from the lungs until you reach the apex of the rise, where the bar will be aligned with the line passing between your shoulders. Congratulations! You have just made a good show on the flat bench! From today on, repeat it until you feel sick and always with this form!
Any advice for perfect lifting:
Put the ego aside: if you follow the advice given in this article to the letter, your usual flatbed loads will probably undergo a drastic downsizing: better this way. Get used to working properly and only after acquiring perfect familiarity will you be able to handle super-weights in safety Don't worry about the bully laughing at you and your barbell with 30 Kg, because his 100 Kg flat bench with his bottom just a foot from the floor, 5 cm of balance and rebound on the sternum will take him only one part: the study of the physiotherapist. Maintaining tension: when you lift the barbell and you are almost at the apex, do not totally stretch until you release all the weight on the elbow (the so-called joint block) but stop 1-2 centimeters before. This technique is strictly pertinent to bodybuilding and has the dual function of maintaining a continuous tension on the target muscle (he will keep the load up now) and at the same time safeguard the joints of the elbows. If you try you will feel a strong involvement of the pectorals, when they first came to the "peak" they were practically excluded. Strengthen your grip: it has been shown that a strong and tenacious grip improves strength in many exercises, including this one. A powerful hand, in addition to an excellent business card, is essential to grab large loads and not wobble. "Feel" the muscle: with time and the ease of execution you can concentrate not so much on "pushing" as on contracting the breastplate voluntarily and with determination. In the flat bench they give a strong contribution to the triceps that perform the bulk of the work for beginners. However, being small, they quickly give up leaving the bibs in the middle of the work because, being much larger, at the end of the exercise they have not yet given their maximum. So get used to pulling powerfully from the chest and leave the "leftovers" of our iron meal to the triceps. To give an idea of how to do think instead of pushing upwards, as if you were to fold the barbell in two, bringing the two hands together: focusing this thought will cause the chest to close like steel mesh, dragging the elbows with it which will extend due to its merit and not due to the triceps. Gradually increase: now that you have learned do not foolishly add 10 kg from one session to another. Proceed slowly and steadily and you will reach far, if instead you want to proceed to jumps and sooner or later you will stumble ... in some accident. Stretch: between the flat bench series, stretch the breastplate and the triceps for no more than 15 seconds: you will favor recovery and stretch the stretched fibers. At the end of the session do not forget to perform a more extensive stretching (3-4 progressive stretches of at least 20-30 seconds) to improve the blood supply and relax your hard-worked pectoral muscles. Remember that an elastic muscle (with a greater excursion) develops more strength and can grow more than a contracted and blocked muscle. Train the external rotators: important to stabilize the load and not to incur injuries is to train the chain of shoulder rotators with small and fast targeted exercises. This will stabilize the humeral site preventing dangerous injuries. Train the ridges: it may seem misleading but a massive and powerful ridge contributes, by balance, to give more strength to the flat bench. If you want a steel chest, don't just train ... |
