Finally hit a 100kg/225lb bench press - I feel like this is a landmark moment for a lot of natural lifters and my time was today
Side note - it doesn’t matter if it takes 6 weeks, 6 months, 6 years or even longer - it took me about 7/8 years of intermittent lifting to get to this.
Although I have no doubt I could’ve done it sooner had I been brave enough to try!
@prinsess27 Same. As much as I love being a ‘small guy’ in the gym throwing up 250lbs, it’s been killing my shoulders and I can get a better pump with dumbbells and incline bench.
@aeri20 Both of you should do some rehab/prehab work. Rotators cuffs especially. The issues not the number and you would probably benefit form it in a lot of ways
@christianmom21 This is something I've been trying to work on the past 3 months. Anything specific that's really helped you? External rotation has gotten much better since I started working on it. Been experimenting with waiters walks most recently
@jidalbc ER focusing on the eccentric, sleepers stretches if they are tight, Y raises are good for the lower traps which can often contribute to shoulder issues
@aeri20 Dumbbells are superior. Your hand position can move and isn't locked into a specific location throughout the movement. (Among a couple other reasons)
@dontreallyknow I've found this to be the case to as I don't have a spotter and my gym doesn't have safety bars on the bench. I find knowing how to safely bail on a lift makes a huge difference to how much I can lift.
@dontreallyknow I'm considering switching completely to smith bench and dumbbells for this reason. My bench has completely plateaued while my dumbbell bench increases, and I think its 100% mental after I saw someone get hurt at my gym.
@greyowl That’s what I did, I started using dumbells only (I used a mix of DBS and machines before) and focused on going up the pairs. Started on 22.5kg dumbells at the start of this year, can do 35x5 now, or a set of 10 with 30s
@prinsess27 I'm just gonna say I think due to how some people are anatomically built. For some people it'll always be an uphill battle and at some point some of us just get really sick and tired of it.
My best bench is 285x2. I don't think I'll ever do that again. Nor would my shoulders tolerate that process again. Nor would I be happy spending all this extra time and work trying to convince my shoulders it'll be okay and to try and make it work.
Much happier hitting all the same muscles in isolation or machine or dumbell/cables across a few different exercises.
I'm 6'3 my arms are long lol I have no mechanical advantages for bench. Just a joint grinding disadvantage.
@dontreallyknow Cheers, I suppose I'm about 6 years in of intermittent lifting like you said, and still chasing the 2 plate bench. I can only blame these long ass arms of mine, but at least I know I can keep grinding!
