FT Questions....

[Scott Stevenson]

Dr S

As always I'm humbled by the sheer vastness of your knowledge. Understand the compensatory role non primary movers can play - hence feeling a muscle is important

I've got a few tidbits floating around up there.

One technique that worked pretty well for me on chest today (I never touch the bar to my chest - hurts my shoulders although extreme stretching has helped me increase my bottom range of motion significantly) - so I did a 2-3 second negative on each rep paused at the bottom and then almost consciously exploded up to the top while trying to squeeze my chest - definitely felt it work a helluva lot more than just piston pumping reps.

If I'm not wrong I recall Dante giving Dusty similar advice to bring up his legs ie pause at the bottom to ensure that the muscle you're targeting is actually doing the work, and if I'm not wrong I believe brooks kubik also recommends dead stop bench press to actually build pushing power and work the chest.


All the best

Joshua

Yes, that's the rep tempo that works well for most folks, especially in this context. (You can also attempt to contract the target muscle - as if you were posing it - during the descent.)

The important part to keep in mind, too, is using the target muscle to initiate the concentric action. This a lot of times can mean a lose of bar / machine / weight velocity initially b/c you're not using to doing so (it's a new motor pattern).

-S