Benching

[knockdown]

I benched for the first time in 5 weeks and I was off by 15lbs. I was hoping that by doing dips during those 5 weeks would help some but I just not.

[Madcow2]

The bench is a very specific movement. Let's say you addressed a weak point in your bench by performing dips over the past training cycle. It's probably not wise to totally neglect the bench over a period if it is a major focus for you but let's say that you did. It might take several weeks of performing the bench again before you get up to par and you may find that the targeted assistance work pushes you past your previous record. Training to a degree is very specific. If your goal is to increase a certain lift, totally ignoring it will force a period of reacclimation before you get back to par even though you may have strengthened what was previously a weak link. The only exception would be for a novice lifter who made huge gains over a period and goes back to bench again and finds himself immediately much stronger (but even he will push this lift up by training it specifically over a period - it's just that the overall strengthening was much more dramatic and overshadowed the detraining of the lift).

Probably unnecessarily wordy but that's the jist of it.

[kenneth]

You're also only talking about 15 pounds here, I'm sure as soon as you start benching again you'll get that right back and then some more to go with it.

[knockdown]

see the problem was that I hurt myself doing weighted chins and dips was the only pressing moevment that I was able to until I was able to bench again. I was just shocked at how less of weight I was able to use.

[Freddy]

Originally Posted by Madcow2

The bench is a very specific movement. Let's say you addressed a weak point in your bench by performing dips over the past training cycle. It's probably not wise to totally neglect the bench over a period if it is a major focus for you but let's say that you did. It might take several weeks of performing the bench again before you get up to par and you may find that the targeted assistance work pushes you past your previous record. Training to a degree is very specific. If your goal is to increase a certain lift, totally ignoring it will force a period of reacclimation before you get back to par even though you may have strengthened what was previously a weak link. The only exception would be for a novice lifter who made huge gains over a period and goes back to bench again and finds himself immediately much stronger (but even he will push this lift up by training it specifically over a period - it's just that the overall strengthening was much more dramatic and overshadowed the detraining of the lift).

Probably unnecessarily wordy but that's the jist of it.

Great post, absolutely correct.