BP and close grip BP

[Hockey Playa]

Lately ive been working on the tempo of my BP trying to pound them out faster, instead of slower which is wasting energy i presume. Ive been squeezing the bar tighter as well, which i notice helps.

My question: Should you lock out your arms after every rep? (aka have your arms straight, elbows locked). I was experimenting with both and not quite sure which is most efficient. Not locking up your arms, makes it easier to keep a quick tempo going, but not sure if im losing anything doing that

 

[Drum&Bass]

No, because locking your arms takes the stress of resistance off your muscles which is why it is easier.

if you find yourself moving quicker when you lock your arms...then the weight is to light...tempo means nothing who works on their tempo ????? push the weight up fast lower it slow.

 

[mrRuckus]

Tempo does matter.

Going slower isn't a waste of energy.

There is all kinds of info about there about different tempos of the concentric and eccentric phases of the lift. One of the best ways of increasing your bench is pausing at the bottom of the lift and exploding up. That's one part of tempo (how long to wait between concentric and eccentric portions).

Googling on "poliquin rep tempo" is a decent starting point.

I really have no idea about completely locking the elbows. If i remember right is that if you're going to take a breath during a bench press the best place to do it is at the top with your elbows locked out because breathing anywhere else during the lift is going to cause the most loss in body tightness.

I wouldn't worry to much about this sort of thing as someone in the beginner to intermediate level. Lots of other more important things to concentrate on before we start to narrow down on little things.

 

[Drum&Bass]

If i remember right is that if you're going to take a breath during a bench press the best place to do it is at the top with your elbows locked out because breathing anywhere else during the lift is going to cause the most loss in body tightness.

Wrong, you breathe out when pressing up..you breathe in at the bottom of the lift...YOU NEVER LOCK OUT YOUR ELBOWS UNLESS YOUR DOING A POWERLIFTING MEET..NOT FOR TRAINING

One of the best ways of increasing your bench is pausing at the bottom of the lift and exploding up.

yea it requires you to keep a tempo...if you plateau and wanna try something to break you might try this...but have you plateaued ?