Bob Chicks " Squats suck and benches blow" tip

[Howard]

A few years back Bob Chick wrote about how benches were not the best move for pecs and you didn't need reg barbell squats for big legs.
Having blown out my low back years ago, I took his advice to heart and agree with it 100%.
Dorian Yates said the same basic things on reg barbell squats and flat barbell benches.

While it understandable that the basic power lifts would be popular, for advanced bodybuilders, they are not the best way to go.

[Meso_z]

A few years back Bob Chick wrote about how benches were not the best move for pecs and you didn't need reg barbell squats for big legs.
Having blown out my low back years ago, I took his advice to heart and agree with it 100%.
Dorian Yates said the same basic things on reg barbell squats and flat barbell benches.

While it understandable that the basic power lifts would be popular, for advanced bodybuilders, they are not the best way to go.

i agrre with the bench press but squats are a must.

[JasonH]

i agrre with the bench press but squats are a must.

x2 - my legs don't seem to grow unless I squat.

[WillGrant]

A few years back Bob Chick wrote about how benches were not the best move for pecs and you didn't need reg barbell squats for big legs.
Having blown out my low back years ago, I took his advice to heart and agree with it 100%.
Dorian Yates said the same basic things on reg barbell squats and flat barbell benches.

While it understandable that the basic power lifts would be popular, for advanced bodybuilders, they are not the best way to go.

Didnt he say for his structure? , it was in IM magazine yes ?

[MONSTER_TRICEPS]

Yeah why do heavy squats if you can do some nice leg extensions and legpresses. Good thinking bob, let's not get too tired, we still have to be able to put needles in our ass postworkout.

[Meso_z]

x2 - my legs don't seem to grow unless I squat.

yep, i dont feel them "full" you know. when i have squats in my workout my legs have that fullness everyday.

[The Wizard of Truth]

It was in Musclemag
I remember reading it, maybe 7yrs ago
But realistically I doubt Bob sat down and wrote the article
Saying that I never flat bench, plenty of dumbells and incline and decline presses though
'He' also said Deadlifts were bad

[WillGrant]

It was in Musclemag
I remember reading it, maybe 7yrs ago
But realistically I doubt Bob sat down and wrote the article
Saying that I never flat bench, plenty of dumbells and incline and decline presses though
'He' also said Deadlifts were bad

Just found the IM copy it was in  Maybe both rags run the same storys ?

[The Wizard of Truth]

Just found the IM copy it was in  Maybe both rags run the same storys ?

Haha and im sure the Musclemag one I saw it in is still over in my mothers house
Is IM a Robert Kennedy magazine too?
Maybe we get IM articles in Musclemag over here in Ireland

[Meso_z]

It was in Musclemag
I remember reading it, maybe 7yrs ago
But realistically I doubt Bob sat down and wrote the article
Saying that I never flat bench, plenty of dumbells and incline and decline presses though
'He' also said Deadlifts were bad

deads are indeed crappy.

[WillGrant]

Haha and im sure the Musclemag one I saw it in is still over in my mothers house
Is IM a Robert Kennedy magazine too?
Maybe we get IM articles in Musclemag over here in Ireland

IronMan , its in opposition to Musclemag.

Moral of the story just buy one as they say the same thing just push different supplements but sooner or later run the same article 

[The Wizard of Truth]

IronMan , its in opposition to Musclemag.

Moral of the story just buy one as they say the same thing just push different supplements but sooner or later run the same article 

Yeah I suppose theres only so much you can write about before you repeat yourself
Yet none of them concentrate properly on food or gear

[LatsMcGee]

When you're on test you can toss around the pink dumbbells for 200 reps and make gains. 

[#1 Klaus fan]

deads are indeed crappy.

Many increase their deadlift better by doing different assistance exercises.

[MCWAY]

Yeah why do heavy squats if you can do some nice leg extensions and legpresses. Good thinking bob, let's not get too tired, we still have to be able to put needles in our ass postworkout.

Apparently, you didn't read the article. He had a similar one in FLEX, called "Butchering Sacred Cows". Bob was talking from the perspective of someone who'd been there and done that. He'd could routinesly bench over 500 lbs; but he didn't have the pecs to show for it (he nearly suffered a pec tear, actually).

The whole point of the article is blinding doing "the basics", simply because it's what Arnold did and what Sergio did makes no sense. If flat benches aren't getting it done, as far as building bigger pecs, SWITCH TO A DIFFERENT EXERCISE. People get injured and get lackluster development, because they blindly stick to an exercise that isn't working (part of which could be due to their trying to bench-press the moon, humping the ceiling in the process).

If the basics work, use them; if they don't; do something else. That's the gist of the "Squat Sucks and Benches Blow/Butchering Sacred Cows" article(s).

[MCWAY]

Didnt he say for his structure? , it was in IM magazine yes ?

Both IronMan and MuscleMag had that article. And, as mentioned earlier, FLEX has a similar one called "Butchering Sacred Cows".

Here's the link:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0KFY/is_5_21/ai_103376701/

Regarding squats and benches:

SQUATS

Let's start at the top, with the so-called "King of All Exercises." For advanced bodybuilders, this is more like the "King of All Back Breakers and Butt Builders." Like most trainers, I did squats for years, and I'm of two minds regarding their effectiveness. It's a good fundamental exercise for some, if kept in check. The problem is that too few people keep them in check, and many people just aren't built for them.

Along with the bench press and the deadlift, the squat is one lift in which guys really pile on the plates for low reps. The bottom line is if you're always going heavy, eventually there will be a straw that breaks the camel's or, in this case, the bodybuilder's back. It happened to me. Heavy squatting was the primary reason I had lower back surgery in 1998.

BENCH PRESSES

For some odd reason, people take it personally if I say the bench press sucks. They consider it blasphemy. "You've got to bench to be hardcore," they say. I hate to break it to them, but most pro bodybuilders haven't done free-weight bench presses in years. Are you going to tell Tom Prince or Jay Cutler they're not hardcore because they don't bench?

The problem is that unless you keep your shoulders down and back and maintain the precise groove for every rep, free-weight bench presses place too much pressure on shoulders. Again, the taller you are, the more this is amplified. There's also the possibility that you'll suffer a pec tear by doing bench presses. Think of how often you hear about guys popping pecs while benching and how rarely pecs are torn doing anything else. I need two hands to count the number of top bodybuilders whose careers have been shortened by bench-press injuries.

People bench primarily to answer the question, "What do you bench?" That's not enough of a reason for me. I'd much rather do what's best for building pec mass, and there are at least 10 exercises superior to free-weight benches, starting with incline presses, machine bench presses and dumbbell flyes. As with shoulder presses, I avoid the lowest position in any chest press.

[Cleanest Natural]

I'm with Bob on this one

[Bobby]

Bobby agrees with Bob, the most important part being

"As with shoulder presses, I avoid the lowest position in any chest press."

This makes benchpressing safer, but dumbells are still better when it comes to pressing exercises.

[affeman]

As a natural you can't even afford to go without squats or deadlifts.

For guys like Bob, with 40-50 times the Testosterone, GH and Slin levels of a regular persons, it probably makes no difference sticking to Hammer Strength lol.

[cswol]

I always heard bob had a medically fused back, and he cant do squats, dont know if its true or not.

[TRIX]

You'll never get huge ron coleman, kai greene, branch warren type quads if you don't squat

[Howard]

You'll never get huge ron coleman, kai greene, branch warren type quads if you don't squat

Dorian Yates gave up on conventional barbell squats BEFORE he put his massive quads on the Olympia stage for a few wins.

Nobody would ever say that Yates didn't train his legs or chest hard simply because he didn't do reg benches or barbell squats.
For quads it is far more effective for most advanced bodybuilders to do safer movements like leg press, smith machine or body masters squats , hacks, etc. For chest, inclines give better pec stimulation then reg hvy benches.

For whatever reason9s), some hardcore types seem to think that only real lifters BARBELL squat and bench heavy.

[MCWAY]

As a natural you can't even afford to go without squats or deadlifts.

For guys like Bob, with 40-50 times the Testosterone, GH and Slin levels of a regular persons, it probably makes no difference sticking to Hammer Strength lol.

This doesn't have a thing to do with someone being natural vs. not-so-natural. Either an exercise effectively targets a muscle on a particular bodypart of a particular trainer or it doesn't. Again, Bob has been there and done that (and has the battle scars to prove it). What he has learned is that, if inclines and Hammer equipment work his pecs better than the standard bench press, then inclines and Hammer are what he needs to use.

Heck even Arnold said as much. When he trained with Vince Gironda in his younger days, he used the preacher bench for years to develop his arms. Why? Because that's what Larry Scott used to build his legendary guns. But, while preacher curls did wonders for Scott, Arnold said they did little for him. So, he switched back to traditional barbell curls, as the base of his arm routine and he got much better results.

[Devon97]

This doesn't have a thing to do with someone being natural vs. not-so-natural. Either an exercise effectively targets a muscle on a particular bodypart of a particular trainer or it doesn't. Again, Bob has been there and done that (and has the battle scars to prove it). What he has learned is that, if inclines and Hammer equipment work his pecs better than the standard bench press, then inclines and Hammer are what he needs to use.

Heck even Arnold said as much. When he trained with Vince Gironda in his younger days, he used the preacher bench for years to develop his arms. Why? Because that's what Larry Scott used to build his legendary guns. But, while preacher curls did wonders for Scott, Arnold said they did little for him. So, he switched back to traditional barbell curls, as the base of his arm routine and he got much better results.

Charles Glass?   Is that you?

[#1 Klaus fan]

As a natural you can't even afford to go without squats or deadlifts.

For guys like Bob, with 40-50 times the Testosterone, GH and Slin levels of a regular persons, it probably makes no difference sticking to Hammer Strength lol.

That growth hormone boost thing must be a myth. It doesn't make sense.