Realistically how important is flat benching.

Spine surgery has prevented me from squatting and deadlifting for the last couple years. In December I destroyed my shoulder benching. I fear I may have to shelve the flat benching for some time. So, it’s possible I’ll be doing none of those for the foreseeable future.
How is your leg development? My knee is making squaring pretty much not possible. Hoping I can get by with other movements. Deadlift I have to go pretty light, or I fuck up my back everytime.
 
I fuckin hate clueless people that keep saying or thinkin “squat / deadlift/ flat bench barbell press / whatever” is magic

Sacrilege!!!!!

I feel like you just personally attacked me.

All kidding aside.
Even though I live by SBD, I still break through plateaus by hitting other workouts to make up for my growth/strength gaps (Mostly upper back is small and weak lol)

I only train flat bench,
But my goals are a decent benchpress number.

I feel like it's mostly pointless for bodybuilders, when you can get better growth in incline/DB presses and Flys.... not to mention, they're safer.
 
Sacrilege!!!!!

I feel like you just personally attacked me.

All kidding aside.
Even though I live by SBD, I still break through plateaus by hitting other workouts to make up for my growth/strength gaps (Mostly upper back is small and weak lol)

I only train flat bench,
But my goals are a decent benchpress number.

I feel like it's mostly pointless for bodybuilders, when you can get better growth in incline/DB presses and Flys.... not to mention, they're safer.

no wiselemon, in reality i was referring to skinny phaggot morons I see in my city s gyms..

Watch those Meadows vids you ll enjoy them...

Do you do Pin press for triceps? I love it... and even JM press...

Those are gold... take notes y’all


View: https://youtu.be/zlwNlFyRjFk



View: https://youtu.be/2qe6zhjNVK4



View: https://youtu.be/XTP7kJf4_2A


pin press Exercise Index - Pin Press

JM press With JM Blakley himself The Official JM Press Tutorial
 
no wiselemon, in reality i was referring to skinny phaggot morons I see in my city s gyms..

Watch those Meadows vids you ll enjoy them...

Do you do Pin press for triceps? I love it... and even JM press...

Those are gold... take notes y’all


View: https://youtu.be/zlwNlFyRjFk



View: https://youtu.be/2qe6zhjNVK4



View: https://youtu.be/XTP7kJf4_2A


pin press Exercise Index - Pin Press

JM press With JM Blakley himself The Official JM Press Tutorial


Yoked Luke Skywalker is my hero.

Fucking love pin press for triceps.
I find that I put it into my rotation wayyyy too often because I fucking love it so much lol.

I Thanks for the JM reminder, I havnt done it in ages,
I have minor tears in both triceps, so I always avoided skulls and JM
But I just got some amazing sleeves and my triceps feel amazing...

Guess I'm doing some fucking JM press as an accessory to my chest deload tonight...
I have a friendly bench comp on Saturday, but I NEED some fucking JM press in my life lol
 
Yoked Luke Skywalker is my hero.

Fucking love pin press for triceps.
I find that I put it into my rotation wayyyy too often because I fucking love it so much lol.

I Thanks for the JM reminder, I havnt done it in ages,
I have minor tears in both triceps, so I always avoided skulls and JM
But I just got some amazing sleeves and my triceps feel amazing...

Guess I'm doing some fucking JM press as an accessory to my chest deload tonight...
I have a friendly bench comp on Saturday, but I NEED some fucking JM press in my life lol
Ahaha Yoked Luke Skywalker I read it in some vid comments... I sent him a mail and told him “may the force be with you” .. John is my hero.. I asked his team if he did a service like 1 hour phone call but with emails since English isn’t my first language and I preferred the written way, and that I had 3 questions... they forwarded him my mail and he answered .. “send me 30$ to my PayPal and write here your questions” .... John Meadows I think is millionaire... I saw his home in some vids and thinking about my 30$ just made me amazed by the kindness and passion this man have... I sent him 50$ and said that was in sign of respect because all the free content I got with his articles and vids... I bought his last program Avalanche because I felt in debt since he changed my life and taught me a lot... one day I ll go to meet him in person and hug him... I ll join his site because there are a lot of great infos out there..
 
Yoked Luke Skywalker is my hero.

Fucking love pin press for triceps.
I find that I put it into my rotation wayyyy too often because I fucking love it so much lol.

I Thanks for the JM reminder, I havnt done it in ages,
I have minor tears in both triceps, so I always avoided skulls and JM
But I just got some amazing sleeves and my triceps feel amazing...

Guess I'm doing some fucking JM press as an accessory to my chest deload tonight...
I have a friendly bench comp on Saturday, but I NEED some fucking JM press in my life lol
I love this too... he says that’s from Vince Gironda


View: https://youtu.be/4HnIGSTOwnE
 
I flat bench, nothing like I used to. 135, then 185, then 225. Get some reps in and go back down. I'll never try for 315 again. Love my dips, sometimes weighted. I have really noticed a thickness in my triceps, and I can still wash my hair.
 
Sometimes it IS magic. It varies from person to person. Deadlifts have been magic for me. Squats and flat bench, not so much.
Yes but I mean you could train the muscle in other safer ways, developing mind muscle connection isn’t stupid easy... with magic I meant Irreplaceable...

dumbbell flyes it’s pretty stupid excercise for example, single cable sideway joint height it’s objectively 100 thousand times safer and useful.. isn’t hard on shoulder joint and you could stretch way better pec in eccentric and above all in concentric, while with dumbbell you can’t ...

Banded hyper extension are great for lower back and Nordic curl are awesome for hamstrings, with pretty zero risk of injuries, deadlift I like starting at shin height , for dorsals (back) mostly..

lot of people injurie themselves during incline bench because they don’t stop 2 inches or so from pec and stress a lot rotator cuff etc...

flat bench , same, lot of delts injuries... with dumbbells it could be easier avoid unwanted stress..

Classic barbell Squat, for idiots... they think No pain no gain... power to them.. know lot of people who fucked up for ever their back with squat, know no one that had injuries with lunges / leg press / leg extension / Nordic curl / leg curl..

lot of people don’t cycle negative emphasis, etc.. they put weight over weight.. and think they re good... then, injuries and or lack of progress
 
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I say use them if you can but don’t be afraid to modify things or change exercises based on your goals. For example, deadlift from floor is great for strength but not for hypertrophy for me. My mobility is not what it used to be and I don’t powerlift anymore. On the other hand though, I like top range rack pulls for my upper back and traps. Risk vs reward.
 
Not much to add, but enough anecdotes start to act like data so here it goes:

Obviously, the OP is not a powerlifter 'cuz then the question doesn't make sense, likewise for a "power-builder" as I personally always do the big 3 even if they are not best-suited for hypertrophy. So, the OP must be referring strictly to hypertrophy, likely specifically chest hypertrophy.

There are better exercises for chest hypertrophy than the flat bench, inclines are better than flat bench, and dumbbell presses, are slightly better than barbells unless your DB weight is much less than your BB weight (in which case throw in some heavy DB work after your bar work to increase single arms skill+strength). The pecs can push and also squeeze together so you'll want to do some cable flyes, pec-dec or something as a finisher (not at the beginning or your main chest movement exercises will suck).

I would not ever completely abandon flat benches but this is more a feel than anything that is fact-based. When you are changing up exercise selection, you can swap out flat benches, but unless you are injured in a way to not be able to do them, keep flat benches in the rotation.
 
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