California Press - technique and notes

The California Press is an exercise for the triceps. It was invented by Louis Simmons, the author of the West Side powerlifter training method and owner of the club of the same name. On the West Side, there was a strong emphasis on utility work. If Soviet powerlifters were accustomed to working for a long time on technique in the “Big Three,” then the American ones liked to work on strengthening weak points. This is exactly what Louis proposed to do when developing the California bench press. Today, the exercise is used in both powerlifting and bodybuilding. After all, it strengthens the long head of the triceps, which has a positive effect on both strength and aesthetics

Benefits of exercise

There are two problems in training the triceps - some exercises do not give sufficient effect because they cannot be performed with significant weight, others are dangerous. The advantages of the California bench press are:

• artificially shortened trajectory, that is, amplitude. In which the impact on the elbow joints is reduced;
• working mainly on the long head of the triceps;
• strengthening muscles through natural movement - bending your arms with a barbell towards your shoulders;
• disabling the anterior delta. This is important for those who bench press a lot and want to increase their working weights in the basic exercise. Often, tired front deltoids make it difficult to bench press much weight. Painful sensations in them are mistaken for injury. But in fact, you just need to remove part of the load so that you load mainly the triceps and not the deltoids; increase the weight on the standing press. There is no direct connection, but the triceps also work in this exercise;
• learn to stabilize the body on the bench through the position of the legs and buttocks. In movements without a press bridge, leg support is trained.

California Barbell Press

Flaws

Movement helps diversify your training. Does it have any disadvantages?

• This can be an injury hazard for beginners as they have poor weight control and tend to lower the bar too quickly. If you overexert yourself, it can cause injury, just like any other exercise. But this is excluded with the number of barbell lifts that are used for fitness purposes. In powerlifters, such injuries are usually cumulative in nature. The athlete overworks the triceps precisely due to the large volume in the main movement - the bench press.

Should I bench press?

Pressing movements are the basis of chest training. Nobody will argue with this. However, they have both advantages and a number of disadvantages.

Bench press benefits:

1. The pectoral muscles and arms participate in the movement synchronously. Due to this, you can perform bench presses with more weight than when working with dumbbells.
2. The bench press increases strength. When you lift heavy weights, you feel like you're getting stronger.
3. Since the exercise is performed with free weights, the work of stabilizer muscles is required to control the barbell. Working in simulators does not give this. Therefore, beginners often add this exercise to their training programs.

Cons of the Bench Press:

1. Your shoulders are in a dangerous position. They are pinned to the bench, so they cannot turn and assist in the movement. Due to the risk of shoulder injury, many athletes avoid this exercise.
2. Failure to maintain proper bench press technique can result in a pectoral muscle tear or other serious injury. This will stop your progress.
3. When no one is insuring you and you cannot press the barbell, this is another possible scenario for injury. For this reason, the dumbbell press is preferable.

It all depends on what goals you set for yourself. If you want to become stronger and bigger, then it is advisable to work with a barbell. If the possible risks are not worth it, then it is better to abandon the bench press and choose a different pressing movement for yourself.

Execution technique

The exercise is reminiscent of a medium-grip bench press and a French press. But it is distinguished from the second by significant flexion at the elbow joint, and from the first by a different amplitude of movement. The exercise focuses on working the triceps. You must first prepare the required height of the racks and enlist the help of a belayer. In Westside, the assist is not performed with a heavy weight, but this movement is recommended to be done with a smaller amplitude than the French press and therefore the weight can be more significant.

Preparation

1. Barbell racks are installed at the height of the bench press with a medium grip;
2. The bridge is excluded. You should slightly bring your shoulder blades toward your spine and arch your chest upward;
3. The buttocks are pressed against the bench, and the feet are firmly against the floor. Some athletes should use heeled shoes—barbells—rather than sneakers or race shoes to provide a stable footing;
4. Close grip, palms shoulder-width apart;
5. It is better to remove the barbell from the racks with the help of an assistant;
6. When applying the barbell with straight arms, you should tense your legs and back.

Movement

• The arms are bent at the elbows, the bar is lowered to the area of ​​the shoulder joint;
• From there, a press is performed upward due to extension at the elbow joint;
• The exercise is repeated the required number of times.

In terms of technique, the movement is more reminiscent of a French press than a medium-grip press. The reason is greater flexion at the elbow joint.

California Bench Press. How to pump up your triceps - the best exercise!

Answers to frequently asked questions

Let's consider the most pressing issues that will help beginners exercise effectively in the gym.

How to do the bench press correctly for beginners?

Arriving at the gym, most beginners immediately begin to do bench presses. Accordingly, a number of questions arise. But the main one is how to properly create a training program for beginners?

A sample training program for beginners is as follows:

• Bench press: 3-5 sets of 8-12 reps.
• Dumbbell flyes on a horizontal bench: 3-4 sets of 10-15 repetitions.
• Positive angle barbell press 3 sets of 8-10 reps.

If the chest is done on a separate day, then you can add another exercise and increase the number of approaches. To effectively track your progress, it is recommended to keep a training diary.

Why do my hands shake when bench pressing?

Often, you can find this phenomenon both among beginners and even among those who have been practicing for a long time. Why does this happen and what to do in this case?

Is it possible to pump up with a bench press?

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to achieve the desired results with bench press alone. For the harmonious development of the body, you will need to pump up other muscle groups. And this will require performing a number of exercises. Therefore, you need to pump up your entire body.

What to combine with?

What can you do with breasts? Ideally, it is better to pump the breasts separately, especially for beginners. This will allow you to focus on the basic exercise and will promote progress and muscle growth.

But, if desired, you can add triceps or shoulders. After pressing movements, they will already be well stretched, so they can be “finished off” with targeted exercises. Some do biceps with their chests, which is also quite logical.

More experienced trainees combine the chest and back. This is due to the fact that the muscles of the back and chest are antagonists to each other.

Accordingly, they stretch better. Arnold trained using this method. For example, combining pull-ups and bench presses can give both muscles a good stretch.

Recommendations

• Control the position of your elbows. Do not spread them sharply to the sides. Avoid jerks and jolts; Watch your knees, they should be directed equally to the sides or equally forward. The exercise should be done exclusively without skewing in different directions;
• Bend and straighten your elbows with the same amplitude, do not distort the projectile;
• This is not a biceps curl; don't push the weight toward your shoulders as hard as you can;
• Move the bar along a vertical path, do not lower it on your forehead;
• Don't throw the barbell over your head;
• Raising your elbows to the sides will shift the emphasis to the pectoral muscles, do not do this;
• Eliminate wrist flexion

California Smith Machine Press

Smith's car is not very popular among fans of natural movement and well-calibrated trajectories. But it is exceptionally well suited for those who have problems lowering the barbell straight and cannot lower it so that the trajectory is correct. In the simulator you can perform the exercise without a spotter. The whole secret is to lie under the bar correctly. The bar should be projected onto the shoulders. Rotate the Smith bar so that the bar clears the supports and lower it onto your shoulders. Then gently squeeze up. The mistakes are the same as in a regular bench press. You should not bend your wrists too much, and do not move your shoulders so that the amplitude in the joint changes. For this exercise, it is better to take not the “anatomical” Smith machine, in which the trajectory of the projectile changes, but the most ordinary simulator without secrets. It will fit better and will help lower the bar correctly. Remember that the bar in Smith weighs nothing

Typical beginner mistakes

Along with the bench press, deadlift and squats with a barbell on the shoulders, the military press is an exercise that can not only contribute to the all-round development of the athlete, but also cause irreparable harm to health, and recovery from the injury can take more than one month. Therefore, if you recognize yourself in one of the points described below, you should reconsider your military press technique, starting from the very basics, and even better, do not repeat your mistakes and seek help from an experienced, highly qualified instructor.

Neglecting warm-up

Before performing a classic standing barbell press, due attention should be paid to joint warm-up; shoulders, hands and elbows should be thoroughly warmed up and prepared for work. If your working weight in the military press is high enough, take the time to perform several warm-up approaches, starting with an empty bar and gradually increasing the weight of the apparatus

It is also recommended to stretch the triceps separately, since it receives a decent load in this exercise; several sets of extensions from the upper block with light weight will only be beneficial.

Too much weight

The standing barbell press is an excellent accessory exercise for the bench press, but even it is not recommended to work in a very low repetition range and with a huge weight. If you lift a weight that is too heavy, you lose almost all the benefits of doing this exercise, since you do not have time to put enough stress on the deltoids (shoulders do not like work in low rep ranges; our deltoids and shoulder joints are simply not designed for strength work). You also overload the rotator cuff and ligaments of the shoulders, elbows and hands, which can lead to injury.

Cheating

In such traumatic exercises, you should never deviate from the correct technique in favor of heavier weights or more repetitions. By including additional muscle groups (legs, lower back), you not only reduce the effectiveness of the standing barbell press, since the shoulders receive less load, but you also risk serious spinal injury due to severe compression of the intervertebral discs in the lumbar region.

Fixation at the top point

You should not fixate at the top point for more than a few seconds - this will increase the axial load on the spine significantly, as in squats with a barbell overhead.

Incorrect position of the bar

The projectile should be located on the chest or in close proximity to it and the collarbones. If the barbell is brought forward too much, the shoulder joint moves a little forward, and the position of the elbow is also unstable. Doing a military press in this position, I give a 99% guarantee that you will get injured.

Choose the right shoes

Take this point seriously, remember that your legs are your foundation, and the entire result depends on how strong and stable it is. If you find it difficult to maintain balance during the approach, try changing your training shoes; it is best to use sneakers with a rigid sole without a heel or instep.

Don't experiment with overhead presses

If you have mastered the correct technique of the military press and have developed a good neuromuscular connection in it, leave this shoulder exercise as the main one in your arsenal, do not try to replace it with the barbell overhead press. The load in these two exercises is almost the same, the main part of it falls on the anterior delta, but when pressing from behind the head, the shoulder joint is fixed in an unnatural position, due to which it is often subject to injury.

Video from Alexey Nemtsov about common mistakes beginners make when performing standing barbell presses:

Tips for Maximum Effectiveness

• The exercise can be performed at the end of a workout to properly stretch your joints. If it is in the plan at the beginning, do not forget about the joint warm-up. A few sets of light-weight arm curls and extensions will also work;
• If your elbows are already sore, skip the exercise;
• When it is not possible to regulate the load, avoid overloading and do not exceed the permissible volume. A couple of approaches will be enough;
• The exercise does not need to be done in the same workout as the French press; It is not recommended to perform it with a weight similar to the bench press; it is better to start with half of 1 RM;
• The pace of movement should be average. It is better to avoid partial repetitions, “springs” and other similar methods of increasing intensity;
• Stability of the position of the forearms in movement is the key to healthy joints. This is what is meant when they talk about ideal technology.