Weight Trainers - Bench Press Survey

[makethings]

Hey everyone,

My friends and I are interested in improving the design of the free weight bench press. I would like to appeal to any weight trainers here to fill out a quick survey for us. We are interested in identifying user needs for the bench press in our survey. If you could please take the time to fill out the survey I would appreciate it very much.

http://www.eSurveysPro.com/Survey.aspx?id=f0f4f1b6-37a7-4910-91ee-8248bd3dda63

The survey does not ask for your name, however, if you could send me your name and e-mail in a private message after you fill the survey it will be kept separately from the survey. The name/contact is meant for purposes of credibility and integrity of our survey and I will in no way be using it for anything else.

If there are any questions please feel free to post here or send me a message. I will reply promptly.

Thank you for your time.

 

[ice109]

i can't imagine how you could improve something so simple

 

[Astronuc]

Improvement of 'free weight bench press'. Huh?

The bench press itself is the action of lying on a bench and pushing a weight (usually a barbell) from one's chest vertically.

Is the objective to improve the bench and wait supporting/storage structure? Make it safer? Otherwise I don't see anything that needs improvement.

The barbell (weight set) is what it is. An alternative method is to use a pair of dumbbells instead of single barbell.

It's up to the individual to improve technique.

 

[wolram]

The free weight bench press should not be a solo activity, i thought that alternatives were already out there, ones that do not require a catcher.

 

[makethings]

I did not discuss what our project ideas for the bench press are because I did not want to influence the survey results. The whole point of our survey is to do a needs identification. Find out what users want from their bench press to see if what we want to do makes any sense and before we start generating concepts.

One of the advantages of using free-weight bench presses over the alternatives that do not require you to have a spotter is that free-weight works out much more of your muscles because of the added effort of balancing the weight. So you are limiting the muscles you are working when you use the lever/pulley type presses that are out there.

We want to improve the safety and ergonomics the weight adjustment part of the free weight. I can go into more details after I collect enough surveys.

I realize PF may not have a a bunch of bodybuilding enthusiasts but I thought I'd try anyway. Thanks. :)

 

[Astronuc]

I think one will get some discussion, and if anyone is interested then they can respond to the survey.

Certainly with free weights, one needs a spotter if one pushes oneself to complete muscle fatigue (collapse) and can't lift the weight from one's chest (or neck). Otherwise one would need a frame just above the chest, neck, and head, such that it does not interfere with the movement of the arms or weight.

 

[turbo]

There was a time when a co-worker and I decided to work out fairly religiously, and we bought memberships into a club that had spawned world-record lifters and the owner offered us round-the-clock access to the gym. Charlie outweighed me by probably 30% and I out-benched him by by at least 20-35% and could free lift more than he could in almost every situation. The times that he had the edge seemed to be mostly in the situations where he could exploit his mass and leverage in machines. Working with free-weights, we were very close in capabilities despite our differences in mass and spotted each other with no problem.

 

[ice109]

I think one will get some discussion, and if anyone is interested then they can respond to the survey.

Certainly with free weights, one needs a spotter if one pushes oneself to complete muscle fatigue (collapse) and can't lift the weight from one's chest (or neck). Otherwise one would need a frame just above the chest, neck, and head, such that it does not interfere with the movement of the arms or weight.

i've rolled 225+ down my abs and over my hips before, it's not that bad. dave draper talked about rolling 425 or something.

 

[JasonRox]

I think one will get some discussion, and if anyone is interested then they can respond to the survey.

Certainly with free weights, one needs a spotter if one pushes oneself to complete muscle fatigue (collapse) and can't lift the weight from one's chest (or neck). Otherwise one would need a frame just above the chest, neck, and head, such that it does not interfere with the movement of the arms or weight.

They already have that. You do it in the squat/box rack. If you drop the bar, it just lands on the safety bars just before your chest. Plus squat/box racks are solid so I can't imagine anything safer than that!

 

[Astronuc]

They already have that. You do it in the squat/box rack. If you drop the bar, it just lands on the safety bars just before your chest. Plus squat/box racks are solid so I can't imagine anything safer than that!

I've used one for squats, but not for bench press. I was thinking about that possibility.

i've rolled 225+ down my abs and over my hips before, it's not that bad. dave draper talked about rolling 425 or something.

Serious weight-trainers/bodybuilders probably can do that. I had friends on the university football team who were benching 400+. I used to spot them, but I could only help with half the weight.

A few years ago, I bounced a 230 lb friend off my chest/abdomen after we hit the ground diving for a volleyball. I dove and he jumped into the air. I hit the ground first and he came down on top of me, with his right hip contacting over my diaphragm. I managed do a crunch just in time. I rather not do that again.