Bench Blokz - Yay or Nay?

[KnightTemplar]

@Municipal Waste mentioned using a Bench Blokz in his post in the Road to teh 275 Thread. I have one, but don't use it regularly. What say you, my Iron Brothers - are Bench Blokz legit training tools, or just a way to ego lift more than you could at Full ROM?

 

[vision1]

I never bench without one

 

[zapataxiv]

In my not experienced opinion I would say it depends on your shoulders.
I find a lot of benefit hyper tropical and otherwise from doing a spoto press one or two inches from he chest but having to be cognizent of the weight and controlling it.
that being said it is a taking lift on the shoulders and I could see how it could trigger certain things for peeps

also maybe I am too into looks. but I don't like the idea of putting any sort of pillow on the bar looks like it would offended the all father and cost you your seat at the table in valhalla

 

[maximus__]

@Municipal Waste mentioned using a Bench Blokz in his post in the Road to teh 275 Thread. I have one, but don't use it regularly. What say you, my Iron Brothers - are Bench Blokz legit training tools, or just a way to ego lift more than you could at Full ROM?

I will say paused Spoto press has really helped my start position and it's rare I fail from there.

What happened to just using some wooden off cuts glued together or rack presses?

I had a quick look and you can pick them up pretty cheap. Looks like a great bit of kit for another bench option.

 

[Oblivian]

I use it to overload my bench and also for speed work.

 

[Municipal Waste]

I will say paused Spoto press has really helped my start position and it's rare I fail from there.

What happened to just using some wooden off cuts glued together or rack presses?

I had a quick look and you can pick them up pretty cheap. Looks like a great bit of kit for another bench option.

Exactly what I use. Sometimes a piece of cardboard, wood, whatever. Usually only 3-4“ max in height.

I like the extra focus on form with it and it helps me with exploding from the bottom, really engaging the lats etc.

 

[cincymma79]

When my shoulder is acting up I can do two bosses presses

 

[cincymma79]

Couldn’t fix the above post or edit it. No clue wtf was wrong. Fuck it

 

[Poon Goon]

What happened to just using some wooden off cuts glued together or rack presses?

The block attaches to the bar so you don't have to worry about balancing a board on your chest. Makes board pressing alone easy. Compared to pin presses with the blocks you can't really release all of the tension at the bottom like you can on pins.

I have limited experience with board presses, but I don't feel like I am an advanced enough bencher to need to really focus on specific portions of the lift.

 

[maximus__]

The block attaches to the bar so you don't have to worry about balancing a board on your chest. Makes board pressing alone easy. Compared to pin presses with the blocks you can't really release all of the tension at the bottom like you can on pins.

I have limited experience with board presses, but I don't feel like I am an advanced enough bencher to need to really focus on specific portions of the lif

Yeah I had a look as I haven't seen them before. The board is more from the days of actually training with people. Now most of us don't have real life friends.

Most times I have seen people doing them they let the board sink in and then explosively drive up as they exhale.
I am strong enough off the chest so I haven't really needed them. Most of my failures are at about 3 quarters up if I let my left shoulder come out of position.

 

[Oblivian]

Yeah I had a look as I haven't seen them before. The board is more from the days of actually training with people. Now most of us don't have real life friends.

Most times I have seen people doing them they let the board sink in and then explosively drive up as they exhale.
I am strong enough off the chest so I haven't really needed them. Most of my failures are at about 3 quarters up if I let my left shoulder come out of position.

I don't mind getting a bounce out of them too if I'm overloading or going for an AMRAP.

You might give it a go sometime because you can get a lot of work in at the 1/2 to 3/4 up range if you set it at the higher setting.

 

[Volador]

I think it’s a cool variation for overloading the bench. Probably kind of useless in terms of pure hypertrophy bodybuilding training, but useful for powerlifting/strength focused training. Not sure why anyone would vote the second option. I don’t do them often enough to justify buying the fancy one that attaches to the bar, so I’ve tried getting a cheap yoga block and just stuffing it under my shirt. Looks a bit stupid, but works.

 

[DEVILsSON]

I benched with it for a block for a few weeks. It's not bad. You can work on your sticking points near lockout and can use heavier weights.

I got mine on Temu or Ali very inexpensively so it was worth whatever it cost on there.