Guillotine Benchpress

Directions:

Preperation/body position

1. Load bar with correct weight. Put on safety collars.
2. Lay on bench.
3. Grip barbell with desired width, using an overhand grip. Arms should be roughly perpendicular to your body throughout the movement.
4. Dismount barbell from rack.

Excution/Movement

1. Slowly control the barbell down to your neck, keeping arms perpendicular to the body throughout execution.
2. Stop just shy of the neck.
3. Press the weight back up to the starting position.
4. Repeat for desired number of repetitions.

Comments

The guillotine barbell bench press is a variation of the commonly used barbell bench press.

The guillotine barbell bench press is similar to the barbell bench press, apart from the barbell is brought down to the neck, hopefully resulting in the upper arms being more perpendicular to the body. This causes the sternal head of the pectoralis major to be recruited strongly, whilst minimising secondary muscle involvement.

Remember, if we are using a bench press to cause hypertrophy of the chest fibres, then execution of the movement is important. The guillotine bench press causes the upper arms to become more perpendicular to the body which is ideal to stimulate the pectorals and minimise secondary muscle involvement such as the triceps brachii and deltoids. Perform the exercise is a controlled manner, focusing on the recruit of the chest during the movement.

For hypertrophy 6-12 reps will likely yield the best results, providing optimal time under tension. This will provide adequate stimulation for sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, and acute response to anabolic hormone concentrations, compared to that of lower rep ranges.