Monday, September 5, 2011

What Do You Do With That? Part 2:Boards

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Hey Bro, pass me that 3-Board. What the ???? Uh sorry man, I have no idea what you're talking about. If you've seen some boards at your gym consider yourself lucky. If not, do what I had to and make some.

So what do you with those 2x4s? Pretty straightforward Board Presses. Well, what does mean?

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The safest way to pull this off is a 3-Man team of Board Man, Spotter, Presser. If you are the board man it's not that hard to hold to board. If you make your own make sure they have a handle. When the presser is ready hold the board and position it on the chest making sure it is centered and not on their throat. The spotter will take an alternated grip and assume this is a max effort lift. Don't pull the bar too high it is just to get it off the upright. You don't want to be the reason why he loses upper back tightness. Also make sure your fingers are out of the way before they get stapled to the board. Pay attention there is a lot going on with boards, spotters, and heavy weights over your throat. The board can move, it can be too high or low, lifter might want to rerack. Make sure you have an understanding of how you will count, lift off and spot. As for the lifter, we will assume you have a solid setup. You will start the descent as normal to the board. Don't just let the bar fall onto the board, bounce it, then lock it out. Control the descent, absorb the bar into the board then lockout. Keep in mind this will be harder than tradition bench press because you cut out the stretch reflex.

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Photo Courtesy of West Side Barbell.
Why should I do board presses? Depending on what size board you have will determine the main muscles worked. So a 1 board is main chest muscles while a 4 board is a majority of triceps. So in addition to your regular bench press training you can also supplement with some board pressing for your lagging areas. Lets say you can take a certain weight down to the chest and almost to lock out but are getting stuck you need to work on your triceps and use a 3 or 4 board about where you are having problems and strengthen that area. Having some trouble off the chest then shorten the board and work the tough range of right off the chest. Besides working on some of your sticking points what else is board pressing useful for? Right off the bat is a different tricep exercise that is also very similar to the lift you are trying to build up. Board Press and Bench Press are pretty similar. Board Pressing is also a little easier on the upper body allowing you to recover quicker. Since the range of motion is lessened so is the impact on your CNS. Finally another great benefit is you handling a heavier weight. You can feel what that weight is in your hands and through your body with a shortened stroke in order to build some confidence. Heavy weights can play tricks on your mind so why not beat it to the punch and show yourself you can do it.

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Now, this was a just a primer into board pressing kinda what I would tell the guy at the gym asking what they are used for. There is a lot of information about how to cycle them into training, when to use them and to add them with Bands. Make sure you check out How to Work Wonders with a Piece of Wood.
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