Lifting Lighter with a Pause Can Work Your Shoulders More
Acute Effect of the “Zero Point” Method on Muscle Thickness and Muscle Damage in Trained Men
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Two ways to do bench press: one uses heavier weight, one uses lighter weight but pauses halfway down. Both do the same total work, but the pause version lets you do more reps and makes your shoulder muscle swell more.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 546 / 90
Evidence Score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. Considered the gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Two ways to do bench press: one uses heavier weight, one uses lighter weight but pauses halfway down. Both do the same total work, but the pause version lets you do more reps and makes your shoulder muscle swell more.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 546 / 90
Evidence Score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. Considered the gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Publication
Authors
Trindade TB, Alves RC, Sousa NMF, Lopes C, Castro BM, Rosa TS, Prestes J
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Claims (10)
The pause method doesn’t make your muscles more sore the next day or two after your workout than the normal heavy-lift method.
Both workout methods make your muscles equally sore the next day — neither one leaves you feeling more achy than the other.
You can lift almost a third less weight using the pause method, but still do the same total amount of work — and even do more reps and keep your muscles under tension longer.
Adding a one-second pause at the bottom of each bench press doesn’t make your muscles more damaged or sore the next day than lifting heavy without pausing.
When you pause at the bottom of the bench press, your shoulder muscles work harder and swell more than your chest or arms — meaning your body shifts the work to your shoulders.