One of the principles we have to be aware of and to keep in mind during all of our training, is given half a chance our body is going to cheat in our techniques. It is a slippery customer, and needs and eye kept on it all times, before it steals your gains!
I will write in more detail on this seperately, but I wanted to give an example using the humble push-up, but applies equally to the bench press. There are many facets to a push-up, but I am only going to touch on one particular aspect in this post.
Typically when we do push-up/bench press, the question to ask is what is the primary objective? a) to get stronger at the bench press b) develop a particular muscle.
I will circle back round to option (a) later. Taking option (b), typically the primary muscle group to be developed here is the pectorals. Some version of chest press movement is a firm fan favourite amongst gym goers, bootcamp afficianados etc. etc.
Given that it is a compound movement consisting of several joints and muscle groups, the triceps and shoulders will assist to huge degree. Depending on your genetics, pre-existing conditions, bio-mechanical setup, this could be as much as 70%. So your development will naturally take a different route to the one planned.
Say you’re an option (a) person, and you don’t care too much about target muscle groups. Your primary objective in this instance is to get stronger in the movement and beat your Personal Bests e.g. 100kg, 150kg, or maybe a target based on power/weight ratio, like 125% of body weight.
In this case, ultimately the same problem can hold you back. You will improve, but at some point the development curve may flatten on the triceps and the shoulders. Without mindfulness about where the activation is you may end with imbalances in strength and power which may ultimately limit your rate of improvement.
The body likes to cheat; it will cunningly take you down routes where you’ll feel better because it feels like you’re improving. Keep careful watch over it!!
