Partial Pressing

I used to have shoulder issues all the time. I tried everything as well.
A powerlifting buddy of mine told me to go to massage therapy as often as I could afford.
So I started to go every 2 weeks, been doing that for 3-4 months now.
I also started to incorporate yoga.

My thought is as we get older we knott up and are way less flexible.
I now have almost no shoulder issues.
Mind you I still don’t go all the way down to my chest when doing in front presses, but touch the bottom of my chin.
 
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After I bought a sling shot for heavy bench days I realized it takes the strain off the bottom of the rep and helps get you out of the hole basically.
It almost like a device that's designed to keep the bar off your chest.

Going full out when I was videoing myself to see my form, about the end of the range of motion you stop flowing and it looks like your poping the bar up and your shoulders loose tighteness to the bench, almost like your rolling them.

There's alot of big guys and pros that you see not doing full range of motion. I don't think it's absolutely necessary.
 
I like to start my bench warm ups with a foam roller to open thoracic spine and then face pulls with scapular retraction. That being said if you can't get full ROM I would suggest doing Spoto press. You will get a ton of chest activation especially pausing it wherever you shoulders let you.

PJ
 
I have a tear on my left bicep near the top where a lot of the muscle ripped off the tendon and slid down it, and a left pec tear the muscle ripped off the tendon and slid over on to the pec belly. This had cause a lot of pain in the shoulder when I did any type of flat benching. So I was reading a lot about the powerlifting bench and 3 things helped take this pain mostly away at the bottom and through out the bench.

1) Squeeze the bar as hard as you can prior to pulling the bar to your chest and keep squeezing all the way through each rep. This helps keeps the shoulders tight and seated in there sockets all the way through the bench
2) Bench to your upper ab area. Don't do elbows way out bench as it pulls the shoulder ball out of its seat in the socket and puts undue strain on the tendon and ligaments of the shoulder. Bench to your upper abs keep your elbows tucked.
3) Squeeze your shoulders into their sockets as hard as you can all the way through the bench ... this again will keep the strain off of the shoulder tendons and ligaments and let you work the muscles attached to them with a lot less pain.

I do all 3 of the above for partials, when using a sling shot etc. etc. using these 3 things has allowed me to bench press almost pain free for the longest time and they have also increased my bench poundages.
 
pgmunn said:
I have a tear on my left bicep near the top where a lot of the muscle ripped off the tendon and slid down it, and a left pec tear the muscle ripped off the tendon and slid over on to the pec belly. This had cause a lot of pain in the shoulder when I did any type of flat benching. So I was reading a lot about the powerlifting bench and 3 things helped take this pain mostly away at the bottom and through out the bench.

1) Squeeze the bar as hard as you can prior to pulling the bar to your chest and keep squeezing all the way through each rep. This helps keeps the shoulders tight and seated in there sockets all the way through the bench
2) Bench to your upper ab area. Don't do elbows way out bench as it pulls the shoulder ball out of its seat in the socket and puts undue strain on the tendon and ligaments of the shoulder. Bench to your upper abs keep your elbows tucked.
3) Squeeze your shoulders into their sockets as hard as you can all the way through the bench ... this again will keep the strain off of the shoulder tendons and ligaments and let you work the muscles attached to them with a lot less pain.

I do all 3 of the above for partials, when using a sling shot etc. etc. using these 3 things has allowed me to bench press almost pain free for the longest time and they have also increased my bench poundages.
Click to expand...
So you really like the sling?
 
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Cog said:
So you really like the sling?
Click to expand...
I used the sling to reduce stress on the bottom and overload on the top when I could no longer press the weight without assistance. So yes I used it as a tool to prolong my heavy work set when I was benching. So say I was doing 5 reps with 3 plates a side as my work set and I really struggled on the last rep. I would rack, throw on the blue slingshot go back down on the bench ... unrack and do 2 more reps .... rack ... take off blue slingshot put on red one and do another 1 or 2 reps. Then I was toasted in the tri's, back and pecs. Then workout was over ... no sense of doing more sets when the muscles are toast. Time to eat ... take sauna or whirlpool then sit back on comfy chair watch a good action adventure show ... fall asleep and wake up with drool dripping out the side of your mouth ...lol
 
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I have an AC joint injury, and a ligament attachment injury from heavy inclines. I prefer dumbbells, never go to full extension, and if anything I find I have a better workout and pump by not fully extending. The chest is taxed more by not allowing that reprieve at the top. I don't want the tri's to take to take the stress off the pecs, besides, they get worked separately. Reverse grip or close-grip bench, but use the opposite principle, don't allow my elbows to go past my body. My shoulders can't take that punishment.
Same with rows, I never go full extension. I am better able to maintain core and lat & delt activation if I don't extend too far. I'm a fan of dumbbell or barbell rows. I lift mainly to maintain decent strength and size, and find these techniques work best. I am more taxed per rep. I always do full range deads. Always control the weight, form above all else.
 
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Chest and delt exercises are a real struggle for me. Having torn off the pec minor. The fact it no longer exists on my rt side impedes my range of motion. Additionally, the surgery to reattach my rt arm to my body left many of the tendons shortened.. Long explanations aside I cannot extend my rt arm fully nor press it over my head.

Using a smith Machine is by force not choice. Its just safer for me. I use a very wide grip when benching and do not lock out. At least that way I can push with my lats too. I use reverse grip benches a lot. The same on overhead pressing motions which I do on a machine for safety sake. I have found the muscles stay under constant tension. Despite the misshapen state of them they are growing in spite of themselves.

Slow but steady wins the race in this case. Slow reps very controlled. I have no feeling in my rt arm and hand below my elbow so require a lot of chalk to keep my grip.

I hope this is relative. I find I can get a very very good pump and feel exhausted on chest/delt/tricep day.

Where there is a will there is a way my friends!

Never say Never!

Cheers!
 
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resilient1 said:
I have an AC joint injury, and a ligament attachment injury from heavy inclines. I prefer dumbbells, never go to full extension, and if anything I find I have a better workout and pump by not fully extending. The chest is taxed more by not allowing that reprieve at the top. I don't want the tri's to take to take the stress off the pecs, besides, they get worked separately. Reverse grip or close-grip bench, but use the opposite principle, don't allow my elbows to go past my body. My shoulders can't take that punishment.
Same with rows, I never go full extension. I am better able to maintain core and lat & delt activation if I don't extend too far. I'm a fan of dumbbell or barbell rows. I lift mainly to maintain decent strength and size, and find these techniques work best. I am more taxed per rep. I always do full range deads. Always control the weight, form above all else.
Click to expand...
that makes perfect sense based on your goals and paying attention to the injuries you have.
 
granpa1959 said:
Chest and delt exercises are a real struggle for me. Having torn off the pec minor. The fact it no longer exists on my rt side impedes my range of motion. Additionally, the surgery to reattach my rt arm to my body left many of the tendons shortened.. Long explanations aside I cannot extend my rt arm fully nor press it over my head.

Using a smith Machine is by force not choice. Its just safer for me. I use a very wide grip when benching and do not lock out. At least that way I can push with my lats too. I use reverse grip benches a lot. The same on overhead pressing motions which I do on a machine for safety sake. I have found the muscles stay under constant tension. Despite the misshapen state of them they are growing in spite of themselves.

Slow but steady wins the race in this case. Slow reps very controlled. I have no feeling in my rt arm and hand below my elbow so require a lot of chalk to keep my grip.

I hope this is relative. I find I can get a very very good pump and feel exhausted on chest/delt/tricep day.

Where there is a will there is a way my friends!

Never say Never!

Cheers!
Click to expand...
again this makes total sense based on your injuries and how various exercises feel as you are doing them with different resistances.
 
The workout I am doing now is very minimalistic but it is working for me. Currently I am doing a 2 exercise work out as my objective is to maintain strength, work around a busy schedule, and get the biggest bang for my buck with as few exercises as I can. Because I am not trying to body build anymore I do a posterior chain exercise (deadlifts primarily- which hit abs and obliques as well), an upper body frontal chain exercise ( seated bench presses ). don't really care about bicep size ... but I do eat my spinach. I do eight sets of 2 -5 reps on deads working the weight up to no more than mid 300's and eight sets of 2-5 reps on the seated bench machine working the weight up... then I stretch lower and upper body ... jump in massage chair and go home. Have kept most my size (except biceps), I feel good, it works for me.
 
Here's an article written by Menno Henselmans that discusses studies and findings on partials vs full rom.
Obviously it does not take into consideration injuries.

bretcontreras.com

Partial vs. Full Reps… or Both? - Bret Contreras

Partial vs. Full Reps…or Both? By Menno Henselmans A potentially game changing study has just been published. It may change how you perform your exercises forever. Or it may not....
bretcontreras.com bretcontreras.com
 
KetoMuscles said:
Here's an article written by Menno Henselmans that discusses studies and findings on partials vs full rom.
Obviously it does not take into consideration injuries.

bretcontreras.com

Partial vs. Full Reps… or Both? - Bret Contreras

Partial vs. Full Reps…or Both? By Menno Henselmans A potentially game changing study has just been published. It may change how you perform your exercises forever. Or it may not....
bretcontreras.com bretcontreras.com
Click to expand...
Holy shit ... blah blah ... blah blah blah ... I wished I had of scrolled to the conclusions without having to have read that full article. I agree with you totally the guy did not take into consideration injuries at all. Some growth is better than none when you are injured, so partials it is :).

I honestly could have come to most of those conclusions based on my own lifting experience over the last 40 years. When you start saying statistical significance, confidence interval and error rate ( I don't think he said the last 2) you really need to understand statistical mathematics and you need to see the studies and the numbers to see if statistical significance as measured in the studies would be in the range of statistical significance that you would rely on. He talks about studies and greater growth in muscle in the first part of the article... but how much growth and how long did it take? And this statement "In general, at long muscle lengths a muscle is under greater biomechanical stress (shorter moment arm, reduced cross-bridge formation and reduced force production per sarcomere)" ... beam me up scotty ... just because it sounds technical does not always means it's right.

I normally don't bash articles however that was the most boringly long article I have read in a long time. A lot of good stuff in the article but damn he should have taken a better approach to making the article a bit more interesting ...lol
 
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