Bench press descent slow.

DNp

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Not a powerlifter. Anyway. I've not been lifting since i had my back injury in January 2019... Had an huge pain in lower back and doctors could not find anything. Wasn't able to arch my back. Not able to stand for too long without feeling pain coming. Took my time off to heal. Been back now for a 2 weeks and pain free for almost month.

My bench is still decent. But now the descent is slow. I put up 320lbs and it took me almost 4 seconds to touch my chest? It was like i was scared. The press itself was easy. Trainer told me that descent took probably more energy than the push. Even my 225lbs warm up was slow as this. (I warm up with bar and ease up)

Anyway to fix this? Like before this becomes habbit mentally.
 

CJ

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I'd imagine that every time you do it, and nothing hurts, your brain will start allowing you to get into a better rhythm. The mind is a funny thing, how it tries to protect us.
 
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DNp

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I'd imagine that every time you do it, and nothing hurts, your brain will start allowing you to get into a better rhythm. The mind is a funny thing, how it tries to protect us.

Nothing hurts. It was weird because 225lbs is an very easy press. I still did that extreme slow.

I guess the mind is playing me.
 

rawdeal

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Depending on your goals, some people say emphasizing time-under-tension is a better way to train.
 
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Gadawg

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It should be slow anyway. Id say my reps are 2.5-3 seconds on the negative portion
 
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ECKSRATED

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It should be slow anyway. Id say my reps are 2.5-3 seconds on the negative portion
Why should it be slow? There’s no right or wrong way to bench but curious why u say that.

If every thing is feeling good then no reason to change it. But if u want to change the decent then start timing it and make it a goal to hit your chest quicker. If it’s taking four seconds now try going to three seconds and so on until you’re happy with the speed.

I have a pretty fast decent on my press and that’s just how I’ve always benched. Like I said there’s no right or wrong here.
 

Gadawg

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Why should it be slow? There’s no right or wrong way to bench but curious why u say that.

If every thing is feeling good then no reason to change it. But if u want to change the decent then start timing it and make it a goal to hit your chest quicker. If it’s taking four seconds now try going to three seconds and so on until you’re happy with the speed.

I have a pretty fast decent on my press and that’s just how I’ve always benched. Like I said there’s no right or wrong here.


Because the negative is at least equally beneficial as the positive when done slow and controlled. The negative is also where tendons are strengthened so a slow negative decreases risk of injury and increases time under tension, which in turn causes hypertrophy.

I havent read any recent literature on this so maybe my opinion is dated but Id doubt it. Slower negatives also help to build the mind muscle connection which, for me anyway, is necessary for growth.
 

DNp

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Depending on your goals, some people say emphasizing time-under-tension is a better way to train.

Time under tension is definately underrated. But in this when going this heavy i'm more focusing on moving the weight. If i'm doing under tension i normally go lighter and put out more reps.
 
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Now my lack of English understanding comes in. So too slow for you, means less power when exploding up?
Exactly. For me. If I’m not going heavy, I concentrate on negatives. But when the weight goes up, the drop goes quicker
 

PillarofBalance

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Any chance your back injury is actually in the upper back or neck and just referring pain down?
 

DNp

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Any chance your back injury is actually in the upper back or neck and just referring pain down?


Chiropactor couldn't find anything atleast.. so still no idea what happened.. i worked out light after it happened then it came back full force and didn't go to work for almost 2 weeks.

Still today no clue. Weird i know. But it is what it is i guess. Right now i foam roll EOD.
 

ToolSteel

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If you’re just a gym rat then don’t worry about it imo.
 

DNp

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update.. failed 330lbs bench.. shouldn't have tried. It will be back up within 2-3 weeks. Squads and Deadlifts have gone down way faster than my Bench.
 

TODAY

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Chiropactor couldn't find anything atleast.. so still no idea what happened.. i worked out light after it happened then it came back full force and didn't go to work for almost 2 weeks.

Still today no clue. Weird i know. But it is what it is i guess. Right now i foam roll EOD.
I'd caution against taking the word of a chiropractor as gospel. Generally speaking, chiropractors aren't qualified to make anything more than a baseline diagnosis.

In any case, I wouldn't worry too much about the speed of your eccentric unless you plan on competing. There's even some data that suggests a correlation between slower eccentric loading and increased muscular co-contraction.
 

Tiny

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100% to Today’s advise

Go see a physical therapist not a chiro

the slow decline sounds like a mental block. Just takes time to recondition
 

TeddyBear

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THIS is exactly my problem. I’m sooo slow on descent that I’m too gassed to push the bar back up.

I spend like 3-4 seconds bringing the bar down and only 1-2 on pushing it back up. It’s very controlled but I’m WILLING myself to lower it faster and I can’t bring myself to do it.
 

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