pausing at the top?

[D Animal]

I was wondering what you all think about pausing at the top of a movement like contracting with a pause...or is it better to just go up and then come down without a pause..tell me your opitions on this thanks

 

[Dave_19]

This is the wrong section for this. But it depends on the exercise. DB flys for example it can be beneficial to pause at the top and squeeze the DB's against each other. Remeber all were trying to do in the gym is fatigue our muscle and tear fiber. their are so many different routes to do this, some times things are not considered better but different.

 

[Rob Roy]

BALANCE

I have to agree with dave19. It is just diferent. Time under tension is the antagonistic to the pausing contractions. You're really just targeting diferent muscle fibers. It's like the endless debate between free weights or machines. Neither is better than the other just diferent results. When it comes to bodybuilding your training has to be multidimmensional because you are judged multidimmensional. Symmetry, Condition, Muscular Development and presentation. BALANCE :st:r-wars

 

[juicyr6]

bump for more opinions

 

[LATS]

some exercises are useless for a pause at the top.. take bench press for example.. the pecs do not achieve a peak contraction at the top of the press.. it is physically impossible.. the function of the pecs is to draw the arms together.. the pec dek machine is good for this since the the pull of the machine is drawingf the hands back.. the pecds are then in a peak contraction position.. the bench press, on the other hand, the hands are being forced down.. when the arms are locked the stress is actually off the pecs and on the joints.. to try and contract the pecs in press is just doing isometrics.. since the weight is not a factor.. there are good exercises for holding the contraction.. most of your compound exercises are useless for this.. try not to make a exercise what it is not.. there are other exercises that do just fine in that regard..

 

[xcelbeyond]

This was more of a question than an article - so I moved it into the main Forum.

 

[Kaiser]

some exercises are useless for a pause at the top.. take bench press for example.. the pecs do not achieve a peak contraction at the top of the press.. it is physically impossible.. the function of the pecs is to draw the arms together.. the pec dek machine is good for this since the the pull of the machine is drawingf the hands back.. the pecds are then in a peak contraction position.. the bench press, on the other hand, the hands are being forced down.. when the arms are locked the stress is actually off the pecs and on the joints.. to try and contract the pecs in press is just doing isometrics.. since the weight is not a factor.. there are good exercises for holding the contraction.. most of your compound exercises are useless for this.. try not to make a exercise what it is not.. there are other exercises that do just fine in that regard..

Exactly. In a simple word, when you feel the muscle stretch, pause a little.

 

[RazorCuts]

some exercises are useless for a pause at the top.. take bench press for example.. the pecs do not achieve a peak contraction at the top of the press.. it is physically impossible.. the function of the pecs is to draw the arms together.. the pec dek machine is good for this since the the pull of the machine is drawingf the hands back.. the pecds are then in a peak contraction position.. the bench press, on the other hand, the hands are being forced down.. when the arms are locked the stress is actually off the pecs and on the joints.. to try and contract the pecs in press is just doing isometrics.. since the weight is not a factor.. there are good exercises for holding the contraction.. most of your compound exercises are useless for this.. try not to make a exercise what it is not.. there are other exercises that do just fine in that regard..

Excellent advice!

RC

 

[D Animal]

some exercises are useless for a pause at the top.. take bench press for example.. the pecs do not achieve a peak contraction at the top of the press.. it is physically impossible.. the function of the pecs is to draw the arms together.. the pec dek machine is good for this since the the pull of the machine is drawingf the hands back.. the pecds are then in a peak contraction position.. the bench press, on the other hand, the hands are being forced down.. when the arms are locked the stress is actually off the pecs and on the joints.. to try and contract the pecs in press is just doing isometrics.. since the weight is not a factor.. there are good exercises for holding the contraction.. most of your compound exercises are useless for this.. try not to make a exercise what it is not.. there are other exercises that do just fine in that regard..

oh ok makes sense I see alot of people in the gym that lockout and pause while doing db press...I usually only pause more so on isolated exercises like flyes...leg curls and sometimes cable rows

 

[TooPowerful4u]

Hammer strength is excellent for static lockout contractions. At the end of my heavy sets i love to hold it at the top n squeeze the hell outta the pecs til they hurt like hell then give it a nice controlled negative.

 

[Rob Roy]

or strive machines

tp4u- The hammer strength are incredible for that but I've found the strive machines to be as good if you have them available to you. With the Strive you can plate load for the top, middle or bottom tension within the range og motion. I just started using them and love em, thought I'd share.:st:r-wars

 

[D Animal]

well u all do static contractions do you do them for a whole set/sets or just for a coulpe reps...which do you think would be better static contraction or just move throught the movement up and down with no pausing

 

[Rob Roy]

D-Animal, I think the point that Lats was trying make was that pausing at the top is useless in most movements because you just transfer the tension from the muscle to the joint. The pauses would be benefitial in the streching portion of the movement. Cutler is big on this.

 

[b-boy]

wow you guys think waaaaayyyyy too much about excercising, just go in the gym and do the damn thing and do it safely, eat like a monster, don't overtrain, and rest and you will grow, point blank!

just my opinion!

 

[bulldog21]

wow you guys think waaaaayyyyy too much about excercising, just go in the gym and do the damn thing and do it safely, eat like a monster, don't overtrain, and rest and you will grow, point blank!

just my opinion!

Thank you! I was thinking the same thing. There might be a few nuiances here and there b-boy but that should be it. Here are the steps:

1. Train hard.
2. Train smart.
3. Lift Heavy but never sacrifice technique.
4. Eat.
5. Sleep.
6. Repeat Steps 1-5.

 

[Rob Roy]

?

Maybe, it's just me, but I'm one that is in favor of having adaquate knowledge and education to maximize the most result with the least amount of work. Don't get me wrong intensity is essential and i train as hard as the next, but who wants to be a dog chasing his tail. maybe it's my education in ex. sci., my intersts are in ex. sci. or the fact that my career is in ex. sci. Besides, if there weren't posts like this we would just resort to the usual, "so, how much you bench man?" Please forgives us for actually having an educated conversation. isn't that the point of this board? To educate others to guarantee results and to learn to train as safe as possible?:st:r-wars

 

[bulldog21]

Maybe, it's just me, but I'm one that is in favor of having adaquate knowledge and education to maximize the most result with the least amount of work. Don't get me wrong intensity is essential and i train as hard as the next, but who wants to be a dog chasing his tail. maybe it's my education in ex. sci., my intersts are in ex. sci. or the fact that my career is in ex. sci. Besides, if there weren't posts like this we would just resort to the usual, "so, how much you bench man?" Please forgives us for actually having an educated conversation. isn't that the point of this board? To educate others to guarantee results and to learn to train as safe as possible?:st:r-wars

If you read my post Rob it says to train smart. That means exactly what you just posted..I wasn't trying to flame anybody or piss anybody off I used to be one of these people that had "paralysis by overanyalysis" from focusing what is to me inconsequetial details instead of the "big picture" Yes the point of this board is to educate, learn, and train safe, I try to focus on the big picture and was agreeing with b-boy that is all....Sorry if I offended you I was just stating my opinion....

 

[RazorCuts]

I think all the points are well taken. All have thier place as we know what works to give the quickest results in the shortest time. Out of all the myths that float around there are maybe a half a dozen that really work and are worthwhile. We know that training a muscle 2x a week is beneficial, that moderate sets and reps work well, that compound movements coupled with contraction and stretch iso's work well, that antagonist supersets work well because of reciprocal innervation and that a total TUL of 120 sec or 3-4 sets per bodypart of 40-30 sec each are best. Also working up to failure over a period of several weeks and using a backoff method also works well.
All the rest is minor details that may or may not effect the outcome of ones training. The only thing is to try it out and then share your results with others who may benefit from your findings.

RC

 

[Rob Roy]

Bulldog- no sweat bro. You always seem to have good insight into training and diet. Sorry, didn't mean to sound like a lil biatch.

 

[BigMatt]

wow you guys think waaaaayyyyy too much about excercising, just go in the gym and do the damn thing and do it safely, eat like a monster, don't overtrain, and rest and you will grow, point blank!

just my opinion!

Hell yeah!