Remember to not be a peasant and to only use free weights

Only 40kg atm, been lifting for a couple of weeks
Ok great thanks

should I arch my back when doing the bench press?

With or without the bar? The bar is like 15 lbs

When you're keeping your shoulder blades back and down you will naturally have a small arch in your back. Everything beyond that is just to maximize the weight you're lifting and to shorten your ROM.

>t. lifting for half a year. got all my knowledge from Rippetoe and anonymous Chinese trading card boards

What are some good exercises to strengthen the area around the scapula?

What was the title of that manga again?

Googling "fitness manga" gives me either Dragonball Z or someones deviantart-tier drawings.

Face pulls and those weird shoulder rehab exercises.

It's 1pl8 on the smith but the bar weighs nothing in a smith
So on a barbell I would be on bar+20kg

When doing db bench do I need to pull my shoulderblades back or anything?

Danberu nan kiro moteru

I personally don't do dumbell bench but from what I know I'd say yes. The same rules still apply. If you don't pull your shoulder blades back and down, you'll be using your front delts to an even bigger extend then you already do during a bench and this places unnecessary strain on your shoulder joint and could potentially hurt it eventually.

people have taken this 'no machines' meme way too far (probably because Veeky Forums is full of autists)

the idea is don't make them the key focus of your workout, they do still have their uses

Damn. Was hoping for some more concrete insight since I really struggle to keep them tight and together while getting into position.

dumbbell presses are a shit ton better than barbell for the fact that muscle stabilizers are strengthened.

wrong. BB has a longer kinetic chain, involves more muscle mass and allows more weight to be used. it's simply a superior exercise. DB presses are OK, but not nearly as good

For isolation maybe but then again, for every isolation you can do with a machine there's an alternative with a dumbell or a better compound exercise.

How the fuck is kinetic chain extended through using a barbell? It's still the same movement and you can use leg drive on dumbell bench too, you know. It does allows you to use more weight, I'll give you that but the fact of the matter is that you have a wider range of motion and are using more stabilizers with dumbells. That's just a fact.

you have a longer kinetic chain since you're standing. this should be obvious. both your back and your butt is firmly placed on a bench.

and you think training "stabilizers" is more important than force production. it's not, otherwise we'd all be benching with pic related and squatting on bosu balls. it's useful to train stabilizers, but it's not the main goal.

and you're brushing off using more weight like it's not really important, while the fact of the matter is weight is the most important thing. the point is to have as many muscle fibers firing at the same time, which means to generate as much force as possible so that you can get as strong as possible. what do you think happens when the movement is limited by "stabilizers"? clearly, the big muscle groups, the ones you're trying to train, are not working as hard as they can, which means they're not trained as effectively as they could be. this is not a good thing no matter what you think. train your "stabilizers" with assistance work if you want to, but leave the BB press as the main exercise.

they're an easy way of adding extra volume

I'm sorry, but I am afraid of the bench press!
I am a solo gym-goer, and got nobody to spot for me.

Don't be afraid of the bench my man. I too am a solo gym-goer, and I bench alone today. Remember that you can always do the roll of shame if it's too much. I bite off more than I can chew, we all do, so I roll that fucking thing off of me.

Now I will admit that I'm being a little bitch about squats, because I'm afraid my awful form will kill me, but strangers have given me helpful tips. Just take baby steps and don't be afraid to lift bitchweight to get started.

Brah, barbell bench sucks for chest development..

Ask for help. Seriously people will be willing to spot you.

Fpbp

A dyel on Veeky Forums said it so it must be true!

I'll try to be careful.

Thing is, I'll am and will be going to a German gymn for the next few months, and ironically, I don't speak German.

Shamefur dispray

Almost all Germans speak English, but just in case:

"Can you help me, please?"

"Konnen Sie mir helfen, bitte?"

Koe-nen Zee meer helf-en, bittuh"

>Almost all Germans speak English
Well I must be really unlucky then, because 70% of the time I had to go full sign-language, and autistically repeat the few key words I knew. Shit was embarrassing.

And what about follow-up communication? People in general have this bothersome tendency to continue with communication after first contact.

Not if you do it correctly.

>his routine isn't 100% burpees
what a fuck

p-post butt

>I don't know why machines exist

I think machines are fine if you're doing some sort of rehab of have a major weakness you need to improve, but other than that I'd rather not.

Machines + Free weights is the path to glory.

>back and your butt is firmly placed on a bench
Like I said, you can get in the same position when doing dumbell bench
>training stabilizers is more important than using big weights
Never said that and I never argued dumbell bench is better for strength gains. Obivously your progression is going to be faster on barbell because your stabilizers and coordination are not as important. Same goes for the smithing machine. Your progression will be faster with that too because it's a fixed ROM and you're using even less stabilizers. Fact of the matter is smith bench has little transferrance to barbell bench and barbell bench has little transferrence to dumbell bench but the other way around you have almost 100% transferrence.

And you're brushing off full ROM as if it's not just as important for muscle development as heavy weight. If that was true we'd be only doing quarter squats and rack pulls above the knee.

Fuck you I'll keep using the seated row machine and leg curl machine if I want to.

Do weighted dips and cable flys. Unless you're powerlifting there's no reason to force yourself to bench. If you actually like benching though, get a spotter. Just ask someone who's around there. They probably won't say no.

Your autism and lack of gains are showing, nerd.

stfu son

but how do I do that though. that other guy isn't me. Tell me how to do it, please

>machines are bad!
>said by every manlet with lagging rear delts, and weak roms that couldn't even be run in zsnes

>Never said that and I never argued dumbell bench is better for strength gains

I think this is just the common assumption when speaking to people on Veeky Forums as to what a good exercise is. Stats > aesthetics & health according to Veeky Forums

>implying face pulls and dumbell reverse flies aren't the best way to hit your rear delts

>weak roms that couldn't even be run in zsnes

>zsnes

I seriously hope you guys don't use this

Why would I add volume with an inferior exercise? If I want more volume for biceps, I'm not going to use some stupid machine, I'll just do more curls. Same applies for pretty much everything else.

Has to be bad luck. Almost everyone I know should atleast be able to communicate on a very basic level (e.g. can you help me please?). Most people are just surprised when someone randomly talks to them in English, so don't forget this. Give them a couple of seconds to adjust. I don't have a problem speaking English at all, but when my flatmate from Murrca randomly joins a conversation, asking something in English, I sometimes spill my spaghetti too.

Also, where are you in Germany?