ARM TRAINING
The most common mistake when training arms: failure to stabilize the shoulder girdle, allowing the shoulders to shift forward or upward during the exercise.
In order to get the most from the exercise, it is paramount to limit extraneous body movement.
The Launch Pad ensures you maintain proper posture and body position during the exercise, eliminating extraneous body movements, and enhancing the mind-muscle connection to ensure you get the most out of each rep.
This alignment promotes better form and execution during exercise, increasing strength and power output potential.
If you're looking to take your strength training routine to the next level, incorporating The Launch Pad can be a great way to do it. Here's how to program the launch pad into your routine:
- Start With The Basics: Before you incorporate The Launch Pad into your routine, make sure you have nailed the basic movement pattern.
- Choose Your Exercises: There are a variety of exercises you can do on The Launch Pad, its much more than a bench press tool. To start, choose one or two exercises that you want to focus on.
- Determine Your Sets and Reps: Decide how many sets and reps you want to do for each exercise. This is where most folks have the most difficulty and it’s usually because they’re overthinking. A good starting point is three sets of 10 reps.
- Increase Intensity Gradually: As you get more comfortable with The Launch Pad, you can increase the intensity by doing more reps or adding weight.
By incorporating The Launch Pad into your strength training routine, you can improve your explosiveness, muscle size, strength, power, endurance, and your overall athleticism. Just be sure to start slowly and gradually increase intensity to avoid injury.
- Pressing on The Launch Pad is best used as a max effort lift for a rep max or a supplemental lift, offering a great way to train for both power and endurance. For max effort work, going to a 6-10RM is generally prescribed. For supplemental work, 3-5 sets of 6-12 reps works well. As a supplemental lift, this is done as a second exercise. Remember to start light and progress gradually as you will be training an increased ROM.
- For tempo work, we recommend using a moderate rep range (3-6 reps). Use a moderate intensity between 60-75% of your 1 rep max, starting on the lower end of this scale in the early part of your training cycle, and progress to the top end at the later phases.
- For Powerlifters or Strength Athletes following a set training program, we recommend adding exercises on Launch Pad after your regular bench press work when using it during the same training session, or using it on a separate day altogether.
- Use it for Power Training -
When it comes to pressing exercises, the most challenging part for many is getting the weight off the chest. By incorporating The Launch Pad into your training, you can develop more power and explosiveness right from the start, as it allows you to train a deeper range of motion and build starting strength to explode out of the hole with.
- Utilize it for Skill Training -
Because using The Launch Pad adds a factor of instability, you will be more conscious of any technique deviations during your repetitions. When you transition back to a conventional bench, you will find it easier to refine your technique and this will work in your favor.
- Use it to Improve Your Traditional Bench Press Strength -
In contrast to the conventional weight bench, The Launch Pad introduces a significantly greater level of instability. When you incorporate the traditional bench press back into your routine, the sudden increase in instability should enable you to lift more weight than before.
- Use it for Hypertrophy Training -
A top-notch hypertrophy program typically includes two key elements: diversified exercises and enhanced muscle activation. By incorporating The Launch Pad into your training, you fulfill both of these requirements. The added stability challenge and the introduction of new exercises offer a distinct stimulus, which is advantageous for boosting muscle growth.
- Use it for Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation -
By targeting the muscles of the shoulder girdle, it can help improve range of motion, stability, and strength, which can ultimately help prevent injuries in day-to-day life or during sports and other activities. For individuals who are recovering from an injury to the shoulder or surrounding muscles, The Launch Pad can be used as a low-impact way to gradually rebuild strength and mobility before returning to traditional presses.
If your goal is to increase strength or power, the recommended approach is to do 3 to 5 sets of 2 to 6 repetitions for each exercise with heavy loads. For muscle growth (hypertrophy), the ideal range is 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 12 reps with moderate to heavy loads. And if your aim is to improve muscular endurance, shoot for 2 to 3 sets of 12 to 20 reps with light to moderate loads.
In each case, the goal is to utilize the maximum weight that enables you to successfully complete all of your repetitions and sets while maintaining proper form. It's also important to give yourself sufficient recovery time between sets in order to sustain a high performance level: 2 to 5 minutes for strength and power, 30 to 90 seconds for muscle growth, and just 30 seconds for endurance.