What's with the wood block on chest when benching?

[Lawrie Abbott]

I've seen that fabulous 640 Bench with the three spotters working harder than the lifter and the bar bounced off a block of wood.

Now the Wallabies (Aussie Rugby) have posted a video of them in the gym...and the wooden block is also being used at 46 seconds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RPpi5VwvK8

Is this a pro sports team thing to stop them cracking their sternum?

Disappointed to see to see the DL's without full ROM too. At least they won on the weekend.

[51M0n]

The deadlifts looked like RDLs given the way he was lifting, so I don't see a big problem. The 1 board bench is just stupid. I could maybe see a use for a 3 board press for triceps work, but unless you are using a bench shirt 1 board seems stupid, particularly for a 100kg bench.

[Simon Rest]

Yeah, I think they were using a board because there was a board available. The theory is that you use the board to stop the ROM higher and work on weak points. Then again it's not the stupidest thing I've seen rugby teams do in the gym

[hbriem]

Boards are used by lifters who bench equipped, i.e. using a bench shirt.

The shirt helps with the start off the chest, thus making the lockout the hard part.

Boards shorten the ROM, allowing work on the later, tricep portion of the lift.

If you are not benching in equipment, there is absolutely no point in using boards (well, except that of course it makes the lift easier and allows you to use more weight).

In the case of the 640 lbs 4 man lift above, the reason is to make the lift easier.

[MBasic]

When I was in highschool football (late 80s)...it was the towel bench. Couldn't find 10 boards but you could use rolled up towels. You used a rolled up towel on your chest....you were supposed to use it as a target, that is, go down slow and when you BARELY touched the towel, you reverse direction explosively..., shorter ROM, etc....IIRC we were supposed to be doing with a even lighter weight than regular bench, or maybe not heavier...was supposed to be an explosive movement thing. Box squats were programmed this way too. .... But rarely this was went into practice this way...the towel thing was funny, cause kids would just smash the bar into it and use it like a cushion or spring...along with the elasticity of their rib cage/sternum to bounce back up.

All this while the coaches watched...or didn't watch.

On another note: box squats ....kids would figure out with shorter ROM they could "do" alot more weight of course....but same way way, would smash ass into padded bench....was quite gruesome looking.

Another another note: I got yelled at first day by coaches of weight training for squatting "way too deep"....that I was "going to destroy my knees"....(I had just come off a summer of doing Olympic lifting with a group of "wierdo European imagrants"....so this is how I learned to squat).....meanwhile kids trying to gives themselves blunt force truma scoliosis...and trying to split their chest open with 225#...

This is all burned into my memory very vividly. I knew all this was probably wrong ...I was 15, who was I to question coaches/seniors about these foolish exercises....very funny looking back in retrospect (found this forum; my sick affinity for the Hilarious thread; etc)