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Sunday, May 26, 2013

Bench press plateau and how the cambered bar defeats it

I've been on a serious bench press plateau for a couple weeks now. The pause bench press is not enough of a stimulus to elicit an adaptive response.

My theory is that in order to make a gain on the bench three things have to happen. The elastic effect you get when you swing the shoulders backwards to lower the bar to the chest has to be cancelled out, the angle gap between your forearm and your bicep when lowering the bar to the chest has to be closed, and the shoulders have to severe swept back position.
When you pause the bar on the chest, it inhibits the elastic bounce you get when lowering the bar to the chest, so you're forced to work the chest and tricep muscles. The pause should be enough of a stimulus to make a gain. But what about the angle gap between your forearm and bicep and the position of your shoulders?

Enter the cambered bar. I recently invested $200 in one. It has a bend in the bar to allow the hands to move past the horizontal plane of your chest and close the gap between your forearm and bicep  and the shoulders to be swept back.  My theory is that since it allows this a gain in strength will be made.
 elbow angle, and IAlso how  would you

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