Teaching An Old Dog New Tricks - Part I
by Arik Orosz

The Charge
Wandering around aimlessly throughout the gym day, after day, after friggin' day.

The Verdict
Guilty as charged! You will hereby be sentenced to 4-6 weeks of new exercises as well as implementing some new twists on your same old movements.

Get out of the Rut

We all done it and I don't believe any of us are exempt from this particular scenario. We humans are creatures of habit and like to act accordingly. Life gets busy, and suddenly we find ourselves not alotting the amount of time we used to spend thinking about how to train intelligently. We begin to give ourselves a pat on the back just for the fact we got our foot through the front door of the gym today. Then before we realize what even hit us, we're waking up one cloudy morning only to realize that our progress has become stagnant and our current routine is about as exciting as quantum theory is to an exotic dancer. It's time to pull out of autopilot in the gym and begin to think things through a little more carefully again. The intended purpose of this article is to 1) add some new weapons to your training arsenal and 2) transform some of the more primitive, basic movements into more highly evolved, and thus more effective movements. Now, as Judge Mills Lane always states so eloquently- Let's get it on!

Movement One: The Flat Dumbbell Press

I know what you're thinking, "Arik, what in the hell are you going to teach me about a dumbbell press that I haven't already heard a million times before?" Indeed, this is one of the most basic, old school exercises in the book. So why is it then, I can still walk into nearly any gym and find 9 out of 10 people still not doing this movement correctly, or at least not taking it to it's full potential benefit. Perhaps you are already utilizing some of the techniques I'm going to describe in the latter part of this article. Maybe, you aren't using any of them. Nonetheless, after we break this movement into it's individual parts you'll be dumbbell pressing like an old veteran.

Step One Gripping each dumbbell directly in the center of their handles, lie back into a centered position on the bench. Be sure to hold the dumbbells parallel to the torso and in close while lying back to avoid undue stress on the shoulders.

Step Two Turn the dumbbells out so that they are perpendicular to the torso and the palms are pronated (forward). The inner head of each dumbbell should be approximately on the same plane as the chest at the initiation of the movement.

Step Three Before initiating the first concentric (upward) protion of the movement, take a deep breath and lightly retract the scapulae (shoulder blades) so that the chest is pushed out higher than the delts. Maintaining this position in the scapulae is critical to maximizing the load on the pectorals and minimizing the load on the anterior delts. Also, be sure that the head, upper back, and glutes remain in contact with the bench at all times and that the lower back remains slightly arched. Contrary to what what I've heard many a knucklehead trainer telling their clients, arching the back lends itself to proper biomechanics during this movement as long as the glutes don't come off the bench during the exercise.

Step Four
Initiate the press forcefully, but under control. Begin to exhale only after you have pushed through your sticking point in the exercise. For most people this will be somewhere between the bottom and the midpoint of the movement. This offers several advantages. One, there will be oxygen available to the body during the exertion. Two, there is a distinct mechanical advantage when the chest cavity is full of air and as a result you will be considerably stronger, plain and simple. Keep the lower back and abdominals tight at all times.

Step Five *Pay close attention to this one As you approach the top 1/3 of the movement, allow the outside head of the dumbbell to tip slightly downward about 20° to 25°. This will minimize involvement of the anterior delts through the lockout. The shoulders have a natural tendency to dominate the top portion of of pressing movements, especially in beginners who have not yet developed adequate neuromuscular efficacy. Contract the pectorals briefly at the top of the movement.

This is bar none one of the best movements you can do to develop the clavicular portion of the pectorals. Paying attention to the details involved on this one will make or break whether you'll end up with an impressive upper chest or just tired shoulders. Traditional incline benching is not the ideal movement for upper chest development because of the large degree of anterior delt involvement, especially if the elbows are at a greater than 90 degree angle (which is never desirable). Bodybuilding mags of yesteryear always preached a wide grip for a wide chest. If we take a closer look at the kinesiology of this movement, it becomes increasingly apparent that the individual who developed this theory had a few too many hits from the bong. Benching with the wrists placed outside the perimeter of the elbows will do nothing but place increased stress on the shoulders. On that note.

Step One
Start by laying back on a bench with an incline that varies between 30 and 60 degrees. If the base of the bench adjusts, set it so that the bar requires a minimal amount of excess movement to unrack the weight.

Step Two Place the hands so that they are approximately 16-20 inches apart, depending on the length of your humerus. Take a deep breath and unrack the weight, preferably with a lift from a competent spotter. The key to this movement is to lower the weight under control directly in line with the clavicle (just below the base of the neck) while keeping the shoulders pinned back, the elbows in line with the clavicle, and the upper chest pushed out like a soldier standing at attention during a General inspection. The most common mistake on this exercise is bringing the bar down to low on the chest. This cheats the muscle fibers we're targeting out of being used to any appreciable extent.

Step Three Lower the weight only until a moderate stretch is felt through the upper chest. This may be anywhere from 0-3 inches from actual contact with the clavicle based on the length of your arms and individual ROM in the shoulder capsule. Paul Chek wrote an informative article some time ago discussing this issue in depth in relation to the flat bench press. As long as you are taking the muscle through its required range, bottoming out is not necessary on most chest exercises. Choosing the appropriate amount of weight is also critical to getting the max benefit from this movement. Why you ask? Here comes that term again- Load Sharing! The weight must be heavy enough to maximize use of the targeted muscle fibers, yet light enough that it will not divert a large portion of the weight to peripheral muscle groups.

Step Four Keeping the scapulae retracted, press directly upward, paying careful attention to keeping the resistance on the upper chest. If the shoulders are held back when the humerus is forced to move medially (inward) by the chest, it will generate a whole new kind of contraction that most trainees have never experienced on this movement before.

Forcing Adaptation Means Learning to Use the Muscle Effectively

More often than we realize, peripheral muscles will become involved in an exercise to a greater degree than is desirable in that particular movement. The body's natural solutions for compensating for muscle weakness and are rather efficient and can sometimes cheat us out of the results we expect to achieve from a certain exercise. We must 1) recognize these muscle imbalances and take the proper steps to correct them and 2) develop the proper coordination through practice to trick the body out of doing what it naturally wants to do at times. The exercises described in Part I of this article are a perfect example of this. The body does not want to naturally retract the scapulae throughout the entire ROM during these movements, which is why beginners almost always overexert the shoulders at the top of most chest exercises. It takes conscious thought and repetitive application to develop the skills necessary to maintain ideal body positioning at all times. It's also common to see beginners applying intensity at the expense of technique. After all, one must "lift heavy to get big", right? Not so fast. Proper technique is critical if the increased level of intensity is going to do it's job. This is mostly due to the phenomenon we discussed, known as "load sharing". In laymen's terms this simply means if you are handling to much weight for the targeted muscle(s) to handle, the body will swiftly divert more of the load onto other muscles that may not necessarily be the muscles you are prioritizing. We will discuss this more and take an in-depth look at how it relates to many different exercises in future issues of Shapeshifter.

Arik Orosz is the owner of Shapeshifter, an athletic training facility located in Minneapolis Minnesota. To schedule a private consultation, call 612-328-5712 or send your email to arik@shapeshiftermagazine.com