Svend Press Benefits
The Svend Press gets its name from a former champion of the World’s Strongest Man competition, Svend Karlsen. It is a form of exercise that helps a person to build a bigger and stronger chest.
The Svend Press is not the standard chest exercise that you see being practiced by people worldwide. It has a bit of notoriety to its name but is still an excellent form of exercise to focus on the muscles that help make the chest bigger.
The way the Svend Press works is to take a couple of weight plates with your palms on your chest’s height and squeeze them as much as possible. As you squeeze the plates, move your hands away from the chest and repeat the same action.
Advocates of body-building and gym enthusiasts argue that the Svend Press is more of a shoulder exercise since it involves arm movements. This article will discuss its effectiveness, benefits, the correct way to do it, and the muscles it affects.
Why Is It Called Svend Press?
The Svend Press was coined after Svend Karlsen introduced a new chest exercise after he won 2001’s World’s Strongest Man competition. This method can be controversial for certain people in the body-building community, but it certainly works in helping build a strong chest.
The movements used in the Svend Press require a lot of tension on the chest for a firm and big chest. There are no heavy equipments involved in this exercise, except for a couple of weighing plates. The way you use the weighing plates is paramount to achieving the required results.
The Svend Press is not an exercise routine that will help a person gain lots of body mass, but is instead used as a shaping movement to help tone the chest. It may be unconventional for some but it does not make it any less functional.
Let us look at the benefits that come with the Svend Press.
Benefits of Svend Press
Numerous people have voiced their doubts about the Svend Press, also known as the “weight plate pinch press.”
The discontentment among the people against this method is that it is more of a shoulder exercise than a chest builder.
It is not like those people are wrong about their doubts, as the Svend Press has more to do with toning the chest muscles rather than building mass, but it still has several benefits.
There are different ways the Svend Press can be beneficial for you. Let us have a look at some of them:
Low-cost Exercise
The Svend Press is a very convenient form of chest exercise as it does not involve using expensive equipment. You can perform this exercise anywhere as long as you have access to any heavy-weighing plates or other similar equipment.
You can also use a block of stone or brick to do this exercise if you do not have any weighing equipment at home.
All that is required to perform the Svend Press method is to hold a heavyweight (weighing plates preferably) between your palms at a height parallel to your chest. Once your arms are in that position, push them away from the chest and retract while continuing to squeeze the weights.
Improved Pectoral Motion
The Svend Press may be a combination of multi-joint movements, but the tension created through those movements helps to focus on your target muscles. This is achieved with the process of slowing down and contracting the pecs with each rep.
The key to building muscle mass is focusing on achieving muscle gain, helping you make your chest bigger and stronger. The tension produced as you squeeze the weights between your palms for a long period using the Svend Press method is designed to help gain muscle mass.
Improves Neuromuscular Coordination
The Svend Press involves movements that include the arms, palms, chest, etc. The combination of these movements can help improve your neuromuscular activity.
In layman’s terms, neuromuscular coordination can be explained as the ability of the brain and the spinal cord to control the movement of muscles regarding the functional movements of the shoulder and arms. The Svend Press helps build a form of body-mind connection that will help exercise your chest muscles.
How To Do The Svend Press?
There are specific steps to follow in order to perform the Svend Press:
- The first thing to take care of before performing a Svend Press is to acquire the weighing equipment. Two low-weight lifting plates the most commonly used equipment for the Svend Press exercise.
- Place the weighing plates in between your palms, squeezing them together, and take a stance narrower than the width of your shoulders.
- The position of the plates should be in line with the chest, parallel to the floor. After taking this position, breathe in and out as you push your arms away from your chest.
- Once your arms are extended to the fullest possible length, keep squeezing the plates and leave your arms extended for a couple of seconds.
- Retract your arms and plates towards your chest after a while, while continuing to breathe in and out. The idea is to breathe out when your arms are extended and breathe in as you bring them back towards the chest.
- Keep repeating the same action for as long as possible to get the best results. If you are new to this workout, ensure that you start slowly, so your muscles do not burn out.
What Muscles Does Svend Press Work?
The Svend Press works on a number of muscles around the upper and lower parts of your chest. It establishes a neuromuscular connection that aids in achieving a bigger and stronger chest.
You can use the Svend Press method after performing other chest workouts to achieve maximum result.
While other chest exercises focus on building mass, the Svend Press engages the anterior deltoid and triceps. This is achieved as the Svend Press involves the feet, hips, and shoulders positioning in a straight line and engaging the core.
