Blocks on your chest for Bench Press?

[black6]

I seen a vid of this and idk why they was doing it. Does it allow them to use more weight?, or targeting theirs tri's or what?

I guess i should fully explain the movement. They had different size blocks made out of 2x4's and someone would place them on his chest and when he benched it stopped him from going all the way down. They changed the block size a couple times like it was a super set or something. Seems if your targeting your chest you would want to go all the way down and stop before full lockout at the top.

Thanks

[UnderTheRose]

These "blocks" are commonly known as Boards. Many powerlifters do these to help with the lockout phase of the bench press. If your tri's are weak and you come off your chest with good momentum but fail when your tri's kick in then board presses are a good partial movement exercise to do. It also allow you to handle more weight therefore stimulating your CNS. I have a feeling the video you were watching was a tricep superset known as "the triceps of death"...these are. Great wayto burn out your tri's at the end of a chest workout. Just make sure you use a close grip, much narrower then your comp grip, I like to put my pinky on the ringlet. Start with a 4 board and do 1 set of 10, then lockout, squeezing the tri's while your partner switches to a 3 board for 10 more reps. The a 2 board, 1 board, until your pressing off the chest...pick a light weight to start, 95 or 135 should do it. Try doing a couple sets of that and tell MR. DOMS hello for me when he shows up a couple days later...ha!

Enjoy!!!

[jypoll]

Yea boards are really useful for training your lockout as well as breaking in/learning a new shirt.