From BB to DB back to BB; Now weaker

handzilla · 07-19-2006, 09:25 AM

There has been a slight imbalance in my pecs so I started using DB and unilateral machine movements for my chest.

Yesterday I decided to do flat BB bench for the first time in a month or so. I noticed that I wasn't able to push as much weight.

My theory is that since I use a pretty wide grip on BB and I can't go as wide with DB, that the muscle recruitment ends up being different.

Has anyone experienced this?

mixedup · 07-19-2006, 10:13 AM

Do you go as heavy on dumbells as you do flat bench. I know you can't do the same weight pound wise but do you use enough weight on the dumbells that you struggle the same amount as you did on flat bench?

handzilla · 07-19-2006, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mixedup

Do you go as heavy on dumbells as you do flat bench. I know you can't do the same weight pound wise but do you use enough weight on the dumbells that you struggle the same amount as you did on flat bench?

Yes, sir. I try to stay in the 4-8 rep range.

guyfromkop2 · 07-19-2006, 03:21 PM

how much are you benching

handzilla · 07-19-2006, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by guyfromkop2

how much are you benching

Weight wise, not enough. I do chest once a week.

-Incline
-Decline
-Flat
-Inc Fly
-Something with high reps

guyfromkop2 · 07-19-2006, 08:55 PM

well if you're not benching over 225 then you should really be worryijng about strength before a chest "imbalance". the imbalance is most likely genetics, not everyone can look like a bber. in fact i bet 1% of the people on this board will ever compete in anything big. never get rid of bb bench.

BigCasino · 07-19-2006, 09:04 PM

Try this:

Incorporate both DB and BB into your chest workouts. If you do Flat BB bench, then do incline DB press. Conversely, if you do a DB Press, try tossing in an incline or decline BB bench.

handzilla · 07-20-2006, 07:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by guyfromkop2

well if you're not benching over 225 then you should really be worryijng about strength before a chest "imbalance". the imbalance is most likely genetics, not everyone can look like a bber. in fact i bet 1% of the people on this board will ever compete in anything big. never get rid of bb bench.

Ridding of the bb bench was probably my oops. I'm gonna pick it back up and stick with it for a while.

handzilla · 07-20-2006, 07:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigCasino

Try this:

Incorporate both DB and BB into your chest workouts. If you do Flat BB bench, then do incline DB press. Conversely, if you do a DB Press, try tossing in an incline or decline BB bench.

I actually did this for a while.
Chest day 1:
Incline DB
Decline BB
Flat DB
Flies
High-rep Burnout

Chest day 2
Incline BB
Decline Hammer Strength
Flat BB
Flies
HRBO

I see it would be best to start again. No more machine crap either.

Also I've been doing my workout in that sequence for a long time to focus on my upper chest development. I should probably change that up sometimes too, huh.

**jminis** · 07-20-2006, 08:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by guyfromkop2

well if you're not benching over 225 then you should really be worryijng about strength before a chest "imbalance". the imbalance is most likely genetics, not everyone can look like a bber. in fact i bet 1% of the people on this board will ever compete in anything big. never get rid of bb bench.

Why 225? And most imbalances can be helped with iso lateral movements.

The reason why your strength is down in bb bench is because you haven't been doing it. You've been concentrating on iso lateral movements where your not going to be able to move as much weight. That doesn't mean your not having hypertrophy and growth. It's just a different way of working the muscle. Really it's like anything else, if you do something every day or every week you'll be good at it, if you stop for a while your not just going to pick back up where you left off. It will take a little to get back the skill you had. CNS works the same way.

handzilla · 07-20-2006, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jminis

Why 225? And most imbalances can be helped with iso lateral movements.

The reason why your strength is down in bb bench is because you haven't been doing it. You've been concentrating on iso lateral movements where your not going to be able to move as much weight. That doesn't mean your not having hypertrophy and growth. It's just a different way of working the muscle. Really it's like anything else, if you do something every day or every week you'll be good at it, if you stop for a while your not just going to pick back up where you left off. It will take a little to get back the skill you had. CNS works the same way.

Nicely put. Thanks.

CDONDICI · 07-25-2006, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jminis

Why 225? And most imbalances can be helped with iso lateral movements.

I think he just meant that there is no need to worry about imbalances until you already have decent size and strength.

guyfromkop2 · 07-25-2006, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CDONDICI

I think he just meant that there is no need to worry about imbalances until you already have decent size and strength.

exactly, if you cant bench press 225 then most likely you dont have much muscle, and trying to fix an "imbalance" is useless if you have no muscle there to balance

Mulletsoldier · 07-25-2006, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by guyfromkop2

exactly, if you cant bench press 225 then most likely you dont have much muscle, and trying to fix an "imbalance" is useless if you have no muscle there to balance

I have to say I don't agree with you whatsoever Kop. I had a friend who trained specifically for size, based on a program with elongated rep times, and progressive overload and he really only got upto 265 or so on bench, but he had HUGE pecs before that. Huge weight does not equate to huge muslces.

guyfromkop2 · 07-25-2006, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mulletsoldier

I have to say I don't agree with you whatsoever Kop. I had a friend who trained specifically for size, based on a program with elongated rep times, and progressive overload and he really only got upto 265 or so on bench, but he had HUGE pecs before that. Huge weight does not equate to huge muslces.

i actually just kind of threw out 225, but how many guys with big pecs do you see benching less than 225? not many. and how big was this guy? if he was like 5'5 i could see it, but normal people should be able to bench 225 for at least a single.

and normally guys with big muscles are pretty strong, kind of goes hand in hand

Mulletsoldier · 07-25-2006, 06:59 PM

He was about my height 5'11". But like I said, strength was a complete byproduct for him and not in his mind whatsoever. I do see sort of what you were saying, but I think this argument has been had way to many times to start another one right now..lol

guyfromkop2 · 07-25-2006, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mulletsoldier

He was about my height 5'11". But like I said, strength was a complete byproduct for him and not in his mind whatsoever. I do see sort of what you were saying, but I think this argument has been had way to many times to start another one right now..lol

haha exactly, but it all comes down to this, in powerlifting we train for strength and the muscles are just a nice byproduct, in bodybuilding they train for muscles and strength is just a nice byproduct. so as you can see, in the end we all end up strong with big muscles

Jstrong20 · 07-25-2006, 09:22 PM

Jminis has it right so don't worry about it. If your pecs, triceps, and shoulders are all stronger on other movements your bench probably has more potential than before. So in reality you will pass your old bench pr but it might take a couple weeks for your body to get in the groove of the movement again.