Reply With QuoteNo, you cannot expect to maintain your Bench Press strength from doing some high rep dumbbell work.
Is there a bruise in the area you’re experiencing pain/tenderness?
Member
Help Program inclined Dumbbell Presses as a Temporary Alternative to B-Bell Bench
Long story short: Pushed Bench and weighted dis too hard over the past 2 months, in a (successful) attempt to get my 5RM from 225 to 250. There was no crack, pop or tear, it was just a soreness that developed and got worse. Now, for 2 weeks, my right armpit is tender and mildly swollen, but ~60% better. For 2 weeks, I've been doing overhead press only and experimenting with bench alternatives, but they all seem to bother my armpit. This weekend, I did some inclined dumbbells and was able to work up to 70's for set of 10 with not real issue.
So assuming I was doing HLM program for bench, how can I program dumbbells? Barbell prescription suggests going to sets of 15 before increasing weight and then going up by 5 pounds (each) and re-starting at 5-8 (if I remember correctly). Does this sound like a good plan? Assuming I take, say, 5-6 weeks and increase my inclined dumbbells, can I expect to at least maintain my flat barbell strength?
Any other ideas on programming? Thanks.
Starting Strength Coach
No, you cannot expect to maintain your Bench Press strength from doing some high rep dumbbell work.
Is there a bruise in the area you’re experiencing pain/tenderness?
Member
1) No bruising, just tendernessOriginally Posted by Ben Patterson
2) I am asking for advice on a programming scheme to get me through recovery, and only presented an option I read in the book as one option. I'm completely open to other programming options, that is why I posted in the programming thread. Is it possible to program dumbbells the same rep scheme as barbells (perhaps I buy 1# magnets for progression). And if so, can doing inclined dumbbells make me strong enough to preserve or increase flat barbell strength?
Member
If you can increase the muscle size of the muscles used in flat barbell bench by doing incline DB Bench (which you should be able too), that will translate into a bigger bench when you ultimately go back to it. You may start out weaker as you get used to the movement and using heavy weight again, but ultimately you could get stronger. That's my understanding of how all this works.
As far as how to program it, I don't have the knowledge or experience to help with that. Sorry, I'll go back to my corner now.
✓ Member
How do incline barbell presses feel?
Starting Strength Coach
The logistics of heavy sets of 5 with dumbbells make them quite difficult to program the same as heavy bench presses. But if you can find a couple of really good spotters it’s possible to program them that way.
A few questions to try and narrow things down...
Can you Chin?
Does the empty bar bother your armpit in the flat bench? If not, at what load does it start to hurt?
Did you try floor presses as one of your alternatives?
It’s harder to make suggestions not knowing exactly what structure is perturbed.
Honest talk, if it were me I’d just keep pressing and bench with a tolerable load. If you’re 60% better already it probably won’t be long until your benching heavy again anyway. So really I would look at what will best facilitate a return to heavy benches sooner rather than a substitute movement. Ultimately your bench is what drives and maintains strength in the bench.
Now, about making the muscles larger thereby maintaining or improving bench strength with the dumbbells. Enough stress needs to be produced to disrupt homeostasis, given the prior amount of heavy work and volume used to drive up the bench it is highly unlikely that homeostatic disruption could occur with only higher rep dumbbell work. The added volume here MAY help drive up the Press as the OP continues to press heavy. And that may result in a lower loss of bench strength, but as I said I think maintenance is unlikely given the large discrepancy in overall stress and the lack of motor pathway recruitment unique to the bench press.
Member
Would love to hear the thoughts of some of the more experienced board members on this.
Member
Message too short to post without this
Starting Strength Coach
I don't know if the floor press will maintain your bench strength; however, if you can do it it seems it would be the closest movement to the parent exercise that you can perform pain free. So I think it would do a better job than the incline DB presses done alone. I think some strength loss is inevitable.
If the floor press can be done pain free, then on bench days I would do some moderate-high rep sets with a tolerable load on the bench, start with say 75 or so to give yourself some room. Afterward I'd do a few heavy sets of floor presses. I would find a weight that slows just a bit on the fifth rep and do two more sets of five with it.
Last edited by Ben Patterson; 10-17-2017 at 06:47 PM.
Member
Or instead of floor bench, what about pin bench? It's closer to the parent exercise and allows for more variability in terms of bar height.
About the dumbell debate, I have heard that they can recruit some motor units deeper in the shoulder girdle that aren't otherwise recruited (or at least to the same extent) in the flat bench. On the other hand, if they're not recruited in the flat bench, that would mean to me that they're not being used during the flat bench, and thus it's unclear to me how training them could in turn increase the flat bench. But that is all in the context of continuing to flat bench while adding in dumbell work, which isn't the current context, so the point is sort of moot, but still interesting.
Posting Permissions