DITCH THE LOCKOUT WORK! 3 Bench Variations to Fix Weakness Off the Chest (Pin, Spoto, Larsen Press)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ต.ค. 2024
- Many lifters prioritize overload and lockout work on their bench days. What misses from most workouts is work dedicated to increasing strength and stability right at the start. These are 3 of my favorite bench press variations for increasing starting speed and fixing lifters who are weak off the chest.
1. Bench Press Off the Pins (Dead Press)
2. Spoto Bench Press (w/ a pause)
3. Feet Up Bench Press (or Larsen Press)
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When Bromley talks. I listen. Knowledge is Power.
Lifting with Grandpa Charlie keep up the good work
Knowledge was never power. Applied Knowledge is.
LOVEEEE the videos, please keep them coming. So nice listening to someone heavily educated in the fitness industry
I know that you said that you don't like deficit work but I've found (extreme) fat gripz bench to help immensely. Because it makes it harder to grip, it reduces how much internal torque you can generate which limits how much shoulder you can use while giving more chest ROM.
Makes sense. If your shoulders can handle it, I think its a great addition.
I'll also add that, if you have shoulder issues from the extra ROM, then you could potentially mitigate this using accommodating resistance. During the extended ROM, the load will be lighter than the rest of the ROM so you get some extra work through the extended ROM but it is easier, relatively speaking.
I promise when I was younger we always benched with our legs in the air and pin pressed a lot , my bench sky rocketed I always knew that was why as I got older I started hearing that benching with your feet off the ground was dangerous and I got away from it. Lately I’ve been back training and it’s really hard to get back in the 300’s I think I’m going back to what I know works, And that’s the pin press, pause press, and feet off the ground. I really needed to here this.
More TH-cam gold, from the most underrated guy in the online strength community. My bench is currently toilet compared to every other lift, so I'll be looking to incorporate some of these movements in my next mesocycle 💪
Love this channel and I love how casual they are. Just talking in the gym about training. Great format and great info.
Man its awesome to see the channel growing, I subbed at 612 subscribers, definitely some of the best content out there
Very humbling how fast it's grown. Thanks for being along for the ride!
Yeah man, your content is outstanding, I like your point of view and the no nonsense way you deliver it. Send this cat's content out to your friends, tag him where ever you can, I want this content to keep coming, I'm selfish that way!
Much respect for the many knowledge drops,been training for years and get geeked every time something new is presented....thank you
I appreciate that!
For the Larsen Press, do you still retract scapula and do everything as you normally would for a regular bench press, or do you employ a flat back with minimal retraction?
I do pin presses all the time with a close grip and use up to 5 pairs of chains. Nothing has ever worked my triceps harder. Insane triceps and chest pump too.
how much has it increased your max bench press?
have you read anything from josh bryant?Since i started incorporating his methods my bench flew up.
Yes. One of the few well known names I strive to be like.
How long have you been lifting and how much have you increased it? I bought his book and I love it. I’m hesitant to implement some of his methods because I’m progressing well even with a somewhat decent bench. 240, comp standards at 160lbs. Less than 2 years of lifting.
I really want to throw them in but I’m not sure if it’s a good idea yet.
@@nicodiaz508 why fix what isnt broken? However his information would be top notch and theyd be some tips you could implement or consider
Le Bumbcrack yeah you are right. It’s working well so far. I guess I’m just wondering “what if” I can progress a bit faster but also safely too. I do want to try out Josh Bryant’s isometric guidelines for a 3 week cycle and see how my bench feels. I already use the variations recommended by this guy in regular training. I love the Larsen press so much
@@AlexanderBromley Hi Alex. It will be very interesting if you create a free high frequency squat program (Like the bench press one you made)
Okay so I am about 5 years into my lifting journey, 40 years old. Done a lot of random drunken lifting with mates as a young bloke, but I'm now 5 years deep in what I would call my habit/hobby.
In those 5 years, the only thing I have become ELITE at is, watching TH-cam for those little gems that take you to the next strength level. I know whose good, whose full of shit (PRIMALS WANNA KNOW!) and as things slowly take shape...who has walked the walk.
Great bloke, delivering what I need to hear free of charge. Each to thier own but you sir are the real deal. Thank you.
can you please make a video about deadlift peaking and tapering ??
Id love to see strongman training footage
I like the second one and for the pin press since my gym don’t have the pin stops I’ll just sub them for floor presses I also do close grip bench press and JM Press thanks to you!
All good subs!
Just subbed as I appreciate real, useful information. Happy to support even if a little bit.
Much appreciated brother.
Best TH-camr when it comes to strongman, powerlifting and bodybuilding. So much knowledge
My dude, I love your channel. More content won't hurt my feelings at all :)
What is your opinion on weighted dips?
I personally love weighted dips, but I have durable shoulders, it’s not always a great idea.
Also not that specific, probably don’t use it for peaking
How are your shoulders?
If you have healthy shoulders, weighted dips and BTN press are great exercises for general pressing muscles.
@@jamesbedwell8793 I feel like a weird feeling in my chest and shoulders almost a insane amount of tension not sure if that's a good thing
I personally think that bodyweight dips with a bit of a reverse grip are great when done very controlled and explosively, not really a huge fan of weighted dips because of the injury risk and discomfort in the shoulder. Machine dips are great though, never had a problem with those.
Great stuff. My incline BB has become a Spoto Press due to my ROM limitations 😂 I basically get to my chin hold then press. My shoulders are very happy and I get decent pressing stimulus carryover
Last year's max was 385. Barely failing 405 at lockout. Sticking 2" below lock out. May give these accessories a try. I have long arms. Thanks for the vid
Spoto presses scare me now. Last time I was training with it. I heard a Velcro sound coming from my Pec tendon. Took me out for a bit. I knew I was starting to tear it.
Yikes. Pec tears are ugly. Fwiw, if it went with a spoto press, it was probably going to go anyways.
You better mention floor presses
Or else...
Please say something about Biceps
Do you find adequate pec stimulation with the low pin press??? I have rotator cuff issues and going full range of motion isn’t cutting it on the flat bench. I Was thinking of using deadstop bench press as a total replacement for the bench press altogether, but I’m also a novice. In this case what would be ideal? Deadstop? Dumbbells? Football bar? Low incline? Which have you found to be the most bang for ur buck exercise that also isn’t too tricep dominant. I don’t plan on competing, just want to gain general strength while still getting an adequate burn on the chest.
Love the quality and density of information without the drama.
Thank you, I appreciate it!
BUT WESTSIDE SAYS THAT AND THIS
Write a book on programming
Dont ditch the lockout work do it also with this together also lockout means alot of trisep work
Trisep
I've been struggling with a narrow bench at my gym. But now I wonder if that instability is actually a plus. I'm gonna work pin presses, just realized that I can move another wider bench under a rack and get the work in there
Awesome video with a ton of information that I've been looking for.
Great video! I was aware of these variations and have played with them a little, but I always side-lined them in favor for grip-width changes (you mentioned) and pause/tempo work. To be quite honest, this was mostly because I never had a good explanation about how to think about these lifts with respect to my training/programming.
The Spoto press for instance seems quite obvious in hindsight. The idea of forcing yourself to bring the weight to a dead stop without using your chest at all, even if you are trying extremely hard only to feather touch the bar to your shirt, is a solid one. Literally no way you can cheat it, particularly as the set progresses and you become increasingly fatigued. Definitely going to try to work this particular variation into my heavy bench day as a light accessory for rep work to see how it goes. Touch-n-go is touch-n-gone! (I still like longer pause work or pin bench myself on the lighter day!)
Thanks for the tips!
Thanks for the awesome content. Love the tips on programing. Could you please do one where you go over how to program the accessory work as one get deeper into their program?
Thanks! I'll make a note of it
Reply and heart/pin comments for engagement for TH-cam algorithm, BIG BROM. Seriously, great content
What about JM Presses (mix between skullcrushers and close grip bench)?
A great assistance exercise, but I think hes just covering bench variations on this vid
I have a video on them, I'm a fan. A cookie cutter workout would have bench presses, one or two variations (like the ones outlined here), followed by isolation accessory, like skull crushers, JM presses, dips, dumbbells, etc.
@@AlexanderBromley I probably got them from you then, since I started messing around with them around the time I found this channel lmao.
@@AlexanderBromley I would like to recommend a topic: when should you add accesory work in the form of different moves? Because sometimes I feel that adding an extra set of, say, deadlifts, is better than adding an extra lift. I would love hearing your reasoning on this.
Kevin from office
I love dead bench/pin presses but they kill my shoulders after like 2 weeks :(
I've also struggled finding consistent variations that don't tear my shoulders up. Trial and error!
I had the same issue and started just doing them every other week leading up to a meet. I leave them alone in the off-season
Recently I took out pin presses, eased up a bit on my close grip work,(feels like it builds my front delts really fast) and added some tempo to my benching along with removing side laterals and more OHP and scaptions and now my shoulders feel about 80% better. Guess its just about managing fatigue, maintaining mobility and ice when needed.
I’ve always been a believer that lock out work is counter productive in raw benching. If you’re faster off the chest you can use momentum to lock out. Also more range of motion means more work for the triceps.
I believe this too.
I believe this three, but I'm currently experimenting with floor presses for a 12 week cycle to see if it has any observable impact on my bench press strength because I haven't ever really experimented with lockout training
Believe this four. What complimentary work do you use for squats?
Atm im stwitching berween "pause at the bottom" and "pause at half way up" variations.
Is it worth doing front squats or pin squats or should i stick what i'm doing currently?
ilker pause squats at the bottom are great for eliminating the stretch reflex and forcing you to generate power out of the hole. I use them on the Safety Squat Bar and just good ole SSB squats regularly. Front squats are great if you can get in a comfortable front rack or alternative position. Pin squats require some skill in that it is very difficult to stay tight and balanced in between reps, but if you can do them with solid form they are probably a great alternative movement.
ilker I wouldn’t even fuck with pin squats, it’s just not necessary when there are other movements you can do that are just as effective without much learning curve. Like you can fuck up a pin squat pretty easy. Honestly just paused squats and a good periodized program should work, you don’t need much variation for squats if you’re deadlifting too
I believe this is an accessory excercise to imptove explosiveness in the last portion of the concentric part of the movement. By sitting'on the box you eliminate the stretch reflex in tje the muscles which makes it harder to go bacl up. He's doing this to improve his regular squat, just in case you were worried about him not training with full range of motion lol
Honestly working on my chest and shoulders helped my lockout. My triceps are extremely well developed compared to the rest of the main movers in the bench
Chest work has become a dirty word for developing a big bench. Silly, because many report exactly what you did.
Incredible info, thank you, I will use it
Was the “500 pound raw benchers board pressing 900 pounds” comment referring to board pressing with a shirt?
The bench press is actually my weakest performing exercise of the three basic powerlifting exercises at the moment (being still somewhat of a novice lifter myself). I will try these variations right away on my next gym session.
I need help. I am training squat and deadlifts in one day twice a week. in the light days like 70% it is fine. but on the heavy days like 85% or 90% it is hard because i need to do assecories for both lifts. Any suggestions on how to fix this problem? Thank you in advance
Love the zero bullshit approach to training. Don’t get me wrong I love the bullshit for fun stuff to do when I’m bored, but too many people have some complex ideas on how to get stronger.
The bench press set-up at my gym doesn't have the pin stops, and I don't like bench pressing in a smith machine for obvious reasons. Do you think mimicking a pin press in a smith machine with moderate weight could work too as an accessory ? Top channel by the way.
Good stuff! I am a "poverty" bencher who struggles more off the chest, and these are helpful. With longer than average arms, I already grip closer than many benchers. Maybe I'll throw in some wider work too. Lockouts are not really the issue once I get it far enough off of my chest.
I'm very weak off the chest (if I can get it past that point, I can lock it), and have already been doing spoto presses, but will certainly try the other options too.
2-3 back off sets with Larsen press 3x a week at rpe 7 for like 4-8 reps and Floor flies for 3x20 really helped my chest and bench press
@@alexwilliams5587 Because I'm injured at the moment, I can't do my normal 5/3/1 training, and have been doing a lot of light weight, higher rep dumbbell work, like flyes and floor presses. I normally don't care for flyes, so it will be interesting to see if they help.
Posterior Chain Sis i would address the injury first
Alex Williams thanks i will try this 👋🏻
Love the channel man so underrated keep up the good info 👍🏽
Thanks, will do!
Fantastic! Thanks a lot
you blow my fucking mind dude. you gotta get a time machine and hit me with this information ten years ago
Thanks for putting out content like this Alex. Good shit! 👍
Exactly what I needed! Thx brother and keep up the good work!
Thanks, will do!
Personally, from what I've seen looking back into the history of powerlifting, the tricep-dominant training methodology doesn't seem to have a lot of overlap with gear; especially gear as we know it today. A lot of American Powerlifting principles and athletes came from bodybuilding backgrounds so they already had massive pecs and shoulders just to look good; and of course back then drugs in powerlifting were more the norm and less illegal so they had massive torsos that also shortened their RoM. It seems to me like a lot of the "hit the triceps hard, they're the most important" was just an exaggerated cue to overcompensate for Beach Bodies and Heavyweight+ lifters that had spent too much time working the muscles that would leave them too internally rotated.
That's just my thoughts on the matter and my attempt to try and add some possible context for training methodology though, not sure what you think about all of that
Quickly becoming my favorite channel
Appreciated. More to come!
larsen is freakieD #1 bench variation and that guy is a monster on the bench
Excellent info there.
I would like to ask,about the pin press and the paused reps. What percentage of the 1rep.max should I use,for these exercises. 80-85% of 1 rep max?
First
Difference between them is the pelvic position resulting in lowering the highest touch point on the arch (change in shoulder to chest orientation as a byproduct). You can still have a sizable arch from legs hanging off the bench, just takes out leg drive reinforcing the setup position. Legs flexed & hips flexed (feet raised up) you take out the greatest portion of the arch & leg drive, but lack of lower body stability makes you tap into your back/lats to stabilize the weight or else your arms will tire out if they are forced to stabilize. Legs straight & propped up on a bench (Larson Press or Paralympic Bench) you can still get lower body stability flexing glutes and have an even less effective arch than legs hanging off bench variation, but as less back stability demands compared to flexed legs & hips. I like these feet up variations for giving lumbar region a rest and address upper body force production and control (starting strength). Punishes faulty leg drive patterns of loading the quads only & heaving/lifting head style, but also can reap benefits with progression and then incorporating legs back in after hypertrophy uses. They also address over protracting scapula aggressively because you get feedback of a surge in instability rep to rep if you rely on controlling with the arms and "bend the bar" with anything other than your back. Sic channel my man.
yooo
Can you do a video of you showing off your huge strength related t shirt collection?
do strong men do dips for chest training? was just wondering
Great content, but please invest on a good mic.
The GOAT
I must say, this onenofmyhe best bench videos out there! Clear, to the point and applicable!
Great video. Huge kudos to whatever it is you've done differently for the sound. Can hear clearly regardless of how your facing the camera. And no mic rubbing when you move. Whatever it was you did. Keep doing it
Nice video. What do you think about training that mid range of the lift? I believe I'm very fast off the chest, but once the lift slows down I have trouble getting to that lockout portion
Fucking love this channel
You are the go to man .salute from England
Thank you Bromley, very sound advice!
Great info. Very well explained and easy for everyone to understand. Keep them coming
Sets and reps recommended for Spoto press?
I'm so lucky to have found this channel
So is a spoto press just a pause bench? 🤔. Seriously I don’t understand the difference. TIA
Spoto = bar stops an inch or two off the chest
Feet up/larsen press is king
golden infos man
Please help me increase my deadlift!!!
I have a deadlift playlist with a lot of technical tips and programming advice. Check it out!
@@AlexanderBromley thanks man! I have already watched most of them and they do help a ton!
great tips ill try these next time
legend
you're the best big dog
12:54 "I believe he had some issues where he can't put his feet on the ground". He literally "was born with dislocated hips and club feet, and spent much of his childhood wearing supportive leg braces" -Google🙄
Neat
@@AlexanderBromley 😂😂😂
Love your videos Bromley
around 13:00 .. why is your head moving up and down when you press?
Don't really know. I dont compete in the 1 powerlifting federation out of 20 that forbids it, so its not much of a concern.
This guy so good
Your videos are solid!
perfect 🌹
Another great video bro!
Appreciate it!
What do you think about the floor press? seems like similar power work like the pin press? Just curious
I think it depends on the lengths of your forearm. Mine is so long that the bar stops 15-20cm above my chest. The ROM is to short imho.
That's a good point. Mine are..... very short lol. Bar stops about an inch above my chest. I don't think the upper arm resting on the ground is such an important piece that it sets it apart from board or pin presses. I prefer the pins because I'm not stuck with an arbitrary height.
I did exclusively floor press during lockdown. Thought it was great.
Then lockdown ended & I found out a had no power left in the bottom 3 inches of my bench.
So, I would say it fits into all that "lockout work" that are mentioned at the start of this video, but are decidedly not the point of this video
@@daveymccrazy2977 Good points
@@AlexanderBromley Makes sense. Always viewed the pin press as gimmicky because I could just do floor presses. I may have to actually give pin presses a fair shake in a training cycle soon and see if they help. Thx for the feedback.
Commenting for the algorithm 💪🏼