Bench Assisting Hypertrophy

[MarkKO]

TLDR: I'm going on a 10-15 lbs bulk this spring, that I'd like to bias towards supporting a bigger bench. Other than benching a lot, anything I should target?

For pec hypertrophy, I really like partial ROM bench. I do only about a 1/3 - 1/2 rep off the chest.

I use like
- 40-50ish% e1rm
- for 3-4 variable rep sets (very high rep counts)
- to qualitative RPE "my pecs are going to blow apart"

Any value in partial range benches at the lockout/end of ROM for tricep strength/hypertrophy? Unnecessarily risky with heavy weights? particularly with no power rack, just wooden blocks/stands, Maybe dips would be safer but no setup for them as yet, would higher rep lockouts work or is the whole idea to use loads in excess of 100% 1rm

I know some people reckon they are great for the lockout, but I've seen tons of people use them and still keep missing at lockout so I guess it's like a lot of things where it works for some and not others.

Intuitively I think if I was going to use a partial ROM bench for triceps I'd just do the middle third so the triceps would be under constant tension.

I like JM presses for triceps, just as a by the by. I like them enough after my meet I'm going to make them the main lift for my second upper day.

[MatthewR]

I realize that flat bench gives different results for different people in terms of pec hypertrophy, but sometimes I wonder if that has at least something to do with correctly retracting your shoulders so that there is more stretch across the pecs at the bottom of the movement. Maybe some people just can’t get that stretch due to reasons and that’s why their moobs don’t grow.

This seems to fit my experience. I picked up a cambered multi-grip bar late last year and have been using it for all of my volume work, and the extra stretch at the bottom has been noticeable in my pecs. The downside is that I have pec DOMS that I never had before lol.

[KarlM]

I realize that flat bench gives different results for different people in terms of pec hypertrophy, but sometimes I wonder if that has at least something to do with correctly retracting your shoulders so that there is more stretch across the pecs at the bottom of the movement. Maybe some people just can’t get that stretch due to reasons and that’s why their moobs don’t grow.

This seems to fit my experience. I picked up a cambered multi-grip bar late last year and have been using it for all of my volume work, and the extra stretch at the bottom has been noticeable in my pecs. The downside is that I have pec DOMS that I never had before lol.

I've never tried a cambered bar for bench, but yeah, you'd think you'd get a real nice stretch at the bottom. If it were me I suppose I'd use it for higher reps for hypertrophy work. I'd want to stay away from heavy work with it because my shoulders like to complain if push too close to failure too often on bench. My bench started climbing again after about a year stalled when I dropped all my "RPEs".

[KarlM]

I thought this was a well done video that's also relevant to this topic.

[cole]

For reference in July I was 190 benching 340, now 160 benching 315. Approximately 2 years of consistent training.

Just looking for ideas.

That is a big bench especially at your weight. I would say keep doing whatever is is you were doing before to get there. If you lose weight just expect to lose a little strength (unless you are starting as a tub, which is not the case for you)

[adamv]

TLDR: I'm going on a 10-15 lbs bulk this spring, that I'd like to bias towards supporting a bigger bench.

I think this is where I'll end up. Something power building like, 4 days a week, maybe 5 slots a day. Use the first 2 slots for strength work and move towards higher rep work in the later slots.

Thought I'd make a 10-12 week follow up post. I basically ran a 4-day a week, high volume, strength program and added some upper body pump work to the end of every session. I also gained 10lbs.

TLDR: Hypertrophy is harder to actually achieve than I thought. Strength is way up across the board, but the only thing that's measurably bigger is my waist.

Maybe I've strength trained enough to get the beginner hypertrophy gains incidentally, and need a bigger stimulus than 2 sets of pump work if I want to get swole. That's my guess anyway. I'm going to keep running with this until I can't.

[hector]

I realize that flat bench gives different results for different people in terms of pec hypertrophy, but sometimes I wonder if that has at least something to do with correctly retracting your shoulders so that there is more stretch across the pecs at the bottom of the movement. Maybe some people just can’t get that stretch due to reasons and that’s why their moobs don’t grow.

This seems to fit my experience. I picked up a cambered multi-grip bar late last year and have been using it for all of my volume work, and the extra stretch at the bottom has been noticeable in my pecs. The downside is that I have pec DOMS that I never had before lol.

Did you have to go a lot lighter when benching the longer ROM with the cambered bar?
Did the extra range mess with your shoulders at all?