Almost died on the bench today....

[Zeta ascended]

I tried to do 175 lbs for 5x5. Then on the 4th set I failed the last rep and tried to atleast push the bar onto the lowest rack.....Well I failed at that too. In a split second I moved my head and the bar fell on where my head would have been if I didnt move it.

Tlr: I was so close to being dead, disfigured or mentally retarted.

 

[xForgotMyName]

Bench Press — Totally bullshit exercise.

Ideally an exercise should make you better at something, however bench press does not make you better at anything except bench pressing. Bob Cicherillo in an article said the purpose of bench-pressing is to answer the question “how much ya bench?” which is exactly right and exactly why it’s so fucking retarded. The purpose of any exercise should be to develop your body not to write numbers in a diary. Mike Dolce in his podcast also touched on the uselessness of bench press which was refreshing — Dolce correctly pointed out that military press has much better transfer to real world power than bench press does, yet relatively few people do military press and everybody does bench press because people are fucking stupid.

There is simply no way to naturally exert force perpendicular to the force of gravity which is why you need a contraption like bench press to do it. It hurts my brain to contemplate how the ridiculousness of this can be lost on anybody. Bench press is simply absurd — it’s a joke. When I see people bench pressing I can barely contain my disgust at their stupidity. When people ask me to give them a spot on the bench I say no because I refuse to involve myself in such stupidity and I have nothing to gain by associating with people foolish enough to do it.
Granted, this is a little bit extreme, but there are billions of people on earth and I don’t need to be friends with every single one of them.

The problem Bob Cicherillo has with bench press is completely unrelated to my concerns — his problem is the straight bar which puts elbows at an awkward angle which overtime will have you develop elbow pain. My problems with bench press are philosophical in nature whereas Bob’s are practical but either way bench press is fucking bullshit.

If you wonder how you can develop chest muscles without bench pressing you can do dips, Cable Crossovers and for the top part of the chest incline dumbbell press.

 

[BrettyBoy]

That is some crazy shit, man. Best to be careful.

 

[Dogs]

Tbh bench press probably increases a punches power as it's the same exact movement.

 

[Peachy]

Tfw the most I've ever benched was 140 lbs for like 3 reps, meanwhile guys who are twice as small as me bench way more than me

 

[x30001]

i just do dumbbell bench

 

[Deleted member 2486]

i usually know whats my limit during performing the set, the rep before failure i know if im gonna fail, but sometimes i still push through, but it always ends up me just compensating with leg drive and shoulders, isnt worth it tbh. but sometimes i can grind it out and feel like a god after

set up the bar so you can quickly remove 30-40% of the weight and do a drop-set instead, if you feel like you didn't do enough reps. and you do that to failure, so you don't lose any potential muscle stimulation otherwise you wouldn't have lost if you went for the last grinder rep

 

[xForgotMyName]

Tbh bench press probably increases a punches power as it's the same exact movement.

fwiw:

state of the art things you'll learn if you follow NFL prep coaches on insta:
>a lot of them, only train bench press barely for the try outs and say it's a non functional move
>some have started minimizing squat, and replacing it with bulgarian split squats. the classic squats put a lot of weight on the spine instead of the muscles you're trying to hit.

 

[Dogs]

fwiw:

state of the art things you'll learn if you follow NFL prep coaches on insta:
>a lot of them, only train bench press barely for the try outs and say it's a non functional move
>some have started minimizing squat, and replacing it with bulgarian split squats. the classic squats put a lot of weight on the spine instead of the muscles you're trying to hit.

NFL players don't need to throw punches lol

Also doesn't necessarily matter if a movement is natural what matters is the strain you put on yourself from that movement and how does it activate the particular muscle group it concentrates on.

 

[Pietrosiek]

Just 175lbs? Mayby you thought about 175kg with one hand? If not it's over for you.

 

[xForgotMyName]

NFL players don't need to throw punches lol

Also doesn't necessarily matter if a movement is natural what matters is the strain you put on yourself from that movement and how does it activate the particular muscle group it concentrates on.

let's agree to disagree on the BP question.
i don't think i'll ever do it again tbh ngl

it is what it is

Just 175lbs? Mayby you thought about 175kg with one hand? If not it's over for you.

no one with a 175lb has EVER had sex