Barbell myths. Here’s what you need to know.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Big triceps won’t help you if you can’t do the chest deadlift. So stop training only with the horizontal press and start focusing on the angle of the press and the overhead press!
• For pressing large traps and rhomboids with a barbell (scapular retractors) much more important than the width of the backrest.
• The barbell press is no more dangerous than any other barbell exercise and can be beneficial for your shoulders if performed with good technique and common sense.
• Top athletes press the bar in a J-curve rather than a straight line, thus increasing leverage.

Misinformation from unreliable sources regarding the barbell press is one of the biggest factors in poor results! Here, as in the game of broken telephone, the truth has been lost as each person who receives the information changes something, and the wonderful advice that has passed through gyms and online forums turns into ridiculous platitudes. If you’ve ever been hurt or despairing about not achieving your goals with these tips, I sympathize with you. In less than a year I added 22kg to my weight. What’s my secret? I abandoned everything I had heard about the press and simply listened to the bar and my body. Now let’s talk more about the 4 myths about the barbell.

Myth: Large triceps: more pressure with the barbell

REAL: A high total means more barbell pressure

Someone once decided that developing your triceps would increase your barbell press. Nobody knows, maybe a kid who joined a sports club a week ago invented it. Many people try to improve their pressing results by doing a lot of floor presses on a flat bench, thus training only the lower part of the chest, but not touching the upper part. When you train the lower chest, you do the same thing as the rack-pull exercise: you train the muscle at one point, but to complete the exercise you must train all phases of the exercise. You need strong deltas and explosive strength to improve the lower phase of the press. Pressing on the floor or on a flat bench is nothing (but certainly nothing) compared to pressing with pause or”bench press with dynamic effort“. No matter how trendy it is to train your triceps, don’t skip the shoulder press or dumbbell chest press instead of an isolated triceps exercise. Bigger, stronger chest and shoulder muscles will help you achieve your goals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0JDSuPfxcE

Myth: wings It is the basis of the barbell press

REAL: the upper back is the base

Remember, isn’t it true that at the beginning of this sport you thought about the width of the back and not the thickness. Now we will have to remember this puzzle, but a little from the other side. YES, wings they provide a solid foundation for the barbell press, but the rhomboids and trapezius are the cement that glues the shoulders together, which are essential to a good bench press. Allow me to quote Jim Wendler: “When you bench press, the pressure goes somewhere in the belly area. You have to keep the ‘wings’ tense to maintain the correct path of the keyboard. However, when you press without clothes, the bar is held slightly higher, and here the upper back is already involved. That’s why the bench press is so much more ‘difficult’: it gives you an excuse to train your upper back and trapezius so hard.”

Then, attack your upper back with a series of pulls, facial traction (illustration below)barbell pull-ups. I’m absolutely not saying you should eliminate back width exercises, I’m just suggesting that back thickness should be a priority over width for stronger barbell results.

Myth: barbells pressure scrap Your shoulders

REAL: not knowing how to press correctly, scrap Your shoulders

The barbell has been unfairly vilified for destroying shoulders. It is guilty of several things that are not comfortable on the shoulders. It forms a kyphotic posture and pushes the shoulders inward. It ties up the affected muscles and prevents them from moving naturally. And it wastes time because we have to put extra load on the rotators. Honestly, with good technique and self-control, the barbell press is no more dangerous than any other barbell exercise. Many instructors recommend a push/pull ratio of 2:1 to avoid disproportions. In practice you need to focus much more on the upper back. It makes more sense to use lighter exercises with a higher intensity, for example Joe DeFranco recommends.

Joe DeFranconow a legend behind NFL programs, recommends attacking the upper back more, at different angles, at high intensity. He had said it WWE legend Triple H made over 30,000 rubber traction sets in a two-year period. It’s not attractive, but it works!

Do you want to tone and keep your shoulders healthy? Develop proper form before reaching your maxes. Don’t swing your elbows like a chicken. Don’t press four times a week. Don’t skip upper back training. At the table you must sit up straight. And you need to stretch your shoulders, train your rotators, at least every now and then.

Myth: Stronger pressers press the barbell in a straight line

REAL: Stronger pressers press the bar in a J-curve

The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Because of this rule, it is assumed that you should press in a straight line. According to the laws, a straight line should make us do less work than pressing the same weight on a curve. So why not adopt this simple method? The method described above gives the impression of perfection until you start moving towards your maximum weights, which require balance. When you perform the bench press, you lower the bar below the nipple line. This means you take the weight off your shoulders. The shoulders are the axis and the further you are from the axis, the more longer shoulder of power. However, pressing in a straight line (point B) shortens the path the barbell travels reduces the shoulder of strength, that’s the point. When moving along the J curve (point A), the stronger auxiliary muscles – chest and shoulders – are involved, while the weaker ones – forearms and triceps – are less involved.

While moving J curve back, wrists, forearms, elbows, triceps, chest, shoulders are connected, thus creating harmony between the working muscles. Is biomechanics important? You’re in a hurry, but you don’t need a doctor to understand when your joints are overloaded under pressure. Let’s consider a classic example. On the left is a beginner’s lift, in the center is an advanced athlete, and on the right Bill Kazmaier presses 275 kg (U – up; D – down)

Obviously Bill presses much more horizontally than the rookie. Does it do more work? Technically yes, but optimize leverage through the right muscles, at the right time. When a person presses 275 kg, it is difficult to argue with him.

No more lies

Instead of believing the unwritten rules of pressing around the world, it is better to look at the best pressers and notice that: they all have large chest and shoulder muscles, a strong upper back, efficient technique. See you in the room!