bench Press Help

Chancer3001

Just wanted to ask people "in the know" for technique help when benching.

Could you give me like 4 or 5 bullet points on whaqt to do.

Been benching for a year, started at 50, got to 70 then plateaud for a long time. Now at 80 but stuck again for about 1 or 2 months.

Im assuming with proper technique I could add to that no problem.

At present I focus on

• Grip is shoulder width.
• Feet are planted pretty wide, try to drive my heels into the ground
• Small arch in my lower back
• Shoulders are "hunched"
• Glutes clenched

That "technique" came from watching about 20 videos on how to bench press over the last year and also talking to a guy who benches 120.


critique, help welcome.:)

SorGan

changing sets/reps is a big factor too for moving up them weights.

Chancer3001

what I was doing all along was 3x5

Now im doing the leangains workout so,

1 rep of 80 for as many as I can - its 5 at the moment

Then 72.5 for 6

then 65 for 7

benchppress

post video?

Chancer3001

yeah probably a good idea. Im a techno tard, but Ill give it a shot. Side angle or from the front of me or overhead or what be best?

benchppress

Chancer3001 wrote: »

yeah probably a good idea. Im a techno tard, but Ill give it a shot. Side angle or from the front of me or overhead or what be best?

Side I'd say just try to copy what angle tutorials have

abceire

I find I lift more when I have a spotter, I am more confident as it takes away the worry, I also want to look strong when someone is watching so closely.
Are you breathing right? Start breathing out evenly as you start pushing up, I see a lot of people hold their breath until the last bit of the push up faze . You could try mixing it up too, do dumb bell bench press, do incline or decline for a bit.

Chancer3001

yeah i breathe evenly. dont need a spotter with the bench i have, has some safety things that it can land on, but yeah the "looking strong" benefit is true.

Im hoping my technique can make me lift more, theres obviously the possibility that im just not strong enough!! but i have been stuck for 2 months. will try get a video, probly be next tuesday. then google how to upload it from my phone!!

abceire

Are you putting on weight? There must be a limit to how much you can improve at a certain weight, maybe diet could help you put on muscle to be able to lift more. What do you weigh?

Chancer3001

benchin 80, weighing 80. Was 82 kg, but cut back to 80. Now I was eating like a horse for ages, but stuck at 80kg bench. So I started to cut but my bench has still maintained.

I know people will say eat more, but I had been doing that for ages. Just wanted some advice on technique

Hanley

-technique
-upper back/scap stability
-rotator cuff strength
-poor programming

.....one, a combination of, or all of the above are holding you back.

Your bodyweight is not one of the issues. Yeah, you'll get stronger if you get fatter, but it's a bullsh*t method that only people who don't know what they're doing should choose. It ultimately leads to long term failure.

deadlybuzzman

Have a look at this series of videos-maybe theres something that might help in them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHx1gYTA-Rw
A Bodyweight bench is a good benchmark to get to, if you want to bring up your bench doing a more strength/powerlifting orientated programme would be a better way to go.

PTC Frankston

We got the most success with bench press when we got stronger at ALL pressing movements. Our team benches first in the program, then does between 15 sets of DB bench, DB incline press and DB shoulder press.

I also have all my novice lifters use a very close grip until they can bench around 100kg (guys). We then slightly move the grip out. This is the best tricep developer I have found. The tricep is a prime mover in the bench press obviously, but I dont think it gets stimulated unless heavy weights are used.

So my advice is to simply become a better all round presser. I have vids if you guys want example of a 78kg lifter benching 107.5kg at Worlds with a very close grip, then 2 years later benching 155kg at 86kg with a wider grip.

Our system works well for girls as well, one of our girls benches 77.5kg@60kg and another benches 70kg@60kg, all up we have 11 girls benching between 60kg and 77.5kg

All these lifts are raw as we have no equipped lifters in my gym

Squatman

sure, post vids, thats impressive benching

PTC Frankston

First one was WPC 2010 Raw Worlds in Idaho, USA

Second one was GPC 2012 Worlds in Bardejov, Slovakia

Nearly 2 years to the day apart

Chancer3001

Does everybody here, "pull" the bar off the bench when starting?

I never even heard of it til I watched these videos, Id always "lifted" the bar off the bench.

I dont work with any spotter, so cant get somebody to lift it off for me.

Cill94

If you're stuck at a plateau and your form is fine then you need to consider doing one or all of the following:

1) Eat more. If you want to be able to bench like someone who weighs 100kg then you need to start eating like you're already at that weight. Get the my fitness pal app if you have an android phone and it'll tell you how many calories you need to be eating a day to reach that weight, best part about it is that it factors in the calories you burn from lifting

2) Do assistance exercises. This means that you individually strengthen all the muscles you utilize in bench press. So try doing some exercises like overhead press, close grip bench press, incline press etc.

3) Alternatively your body might just need to rest for a week. If you're hitting the gym hard consistently without ever giving yourself a break, then your energy levels could get depleted. Get lots of sleep, eat well and try again the next week.

PTC Frankston

Chancer3001 wrote: »

Does everybody here, "pull" the bar off the bench when starting?

I never even heard of it til I watched these videos, Id always "lifted" the bar off the bench.

I dont work with any spotter, so cant get somebody to lift it off for me.

In regards to lift offs. Most of my top lifters dont use them, they have the pin heights down to a science and minimal effort needed to unrack the bar. This helps them stay tight.

At Worlds we found we couldnt get the right pin height on the bench, so we opted for a lift out. This didnt effect Max or Jack, who benched 185kg raw, but it did my wife. Her best bench is 77.5kg, she hasnt missed 75kg for months, yet missed it twice at Worlds, she was very disappointed, as she hit squat, dead and total PB's and WR, so she was stronger than ever.

Just something else you need to allow for when traveling and using foreign equipment. We couldnt get the right height on the mono either, ours at home has pin heights half the difference of the one we used at Worlds, Max found 10 too high and 9 too low, he opted for 9.

d'Oracle

Chancer3001 wrote: »

Does everybody here, "pull" the bar off the bench when starting?

I never even heard of it til I watched these videos, Id always "lifted" the bar off the bench.

I dont work with any spotter, so cant get somebody to lift it off for me.

I do it.
Rather I press it up along the uprights and then pull it out.

I don't think it makes much of a difference save making heavier weights feel a little more secure when I take them out.

I like it, it does no harm, so I do it.

Mellor

Chancer3001 wrote: »

• Grip is shoulder width.
• Feet are planted pretty wide, try to drive my heels into the ground
• Small arch in my lower back
• Shoulders are "hunched"
• Glutes clenched

Shoulder width is very narrow for benching. Even in the close grip video PTC Franklin posted, the arms are widest are the grip.
How are your arms angled when benching? Maybe you just feel like its shoulder width without thinking about it.

Chancer3001

my elbows are 45 degrees to my wrist when bar touches my chest.

Have a look at my videos if you ahve time.

Mellor

Chancer3001 wrote: »

my elbows are 45 degrees to my wrist when bar touches my chest.

Have a look at my videos if you ahve time.

I had a look yesterday for them but couldn’t see them. Looked a bit harder today and got them.
In the end view bench video you can get an idea of grip width. It’s a little narrow, but not excessively so. It’s a lot wider than shoulders though, your shoulders are indie your hands. Which is what I was getting at.

PTC Frankston

I start average height novices with thumb spacing from the knurling

Chancer3001

So Mellor, grip width looks good?

Mellor

PTC Frankston wrote: »

I start average height novices with thumb spacing from the knurling

I started about the same, then slowly moving out as I feel comfortable. Currently I have either my middle or ring fingers on the ring in the kurling. Feels about right here.

Chancer3001 wrote: »

So Mellor, grip width looks good?

As long as its comfortable. But you should probably be aiming to be a bit wider eventually.

pedru_pereira

From my experience, having your feet on the floor lifting heavy weights can cause lower back issues at long term. Be carefull about body stabilization.

How quick are you doing your reps? Same at eccentric move and concentric move? Are u training to be a weightlifter champ or to bodybuild?

To get rid of the plateau (80kgs right?) maybe u should start again and do for some weeks varied sets of 12-10-8 reps. Then, get back to neural phase. Maybe u can do more than 80 kgs at 6-4 reps.

Be aware of what u eat and when u eat. Eggs, red meat and everything related to milk would be positive.

Hanley

pedru_pereira wrote: »

From my experience, having your feet on the floor lifting heavy weights can cause lower back issues at long term. Be carefull about body stabilization.

Benching with bad technique can cos problems, not your feet.

"body stabilisation" occurs when you are stable, not when you're wobbling about with your feet in the air!!

pedru_pereira

Hanley wrote: »

Benching with bad technique can cos problems, not your feet.

"body stabilisation" occurs when you are stable, not when you're wobbling about with your feet in the air!!

Body stabilisation can be achieved with ur feet in a higher level than the floor. U can use a "step" or even with ur feet on the bench.

Observe someones lower back behavior when lifting HEAVY weights standing with their feet on the floor.

Mellor

pedru_pereira wrote: »

Body stabilisation can be achieved with ur feet in a higher level than the floor. U can use a "step" or even with ur feet on the bench.

Observe someones lower back behavior when lifting HEAVY weights standing with their feet on the floor.

If somebody was shorter, then using a step would be fine.
But if their legs comfortable reach the floor then they should use the floor. Feet on the bench is not stable - why do you think its better?

What lower back behavior when lifting HEAVY weights are you talking about.
Be specific.

PTC Frankston

I see this is an equal opportunity forum, good to see

pedru_pereira

Mellor wrote: »

If somebody was shorter, then using a step would be fine.
But if their legs comfortable reach the floor then they should use the floor. Feet on the bench is not stable - why do you think its better?

What lower back behavior when lifting HEAVY weights are you talking about.
Be specific.

Yes, you are right. I'm new here at the forum, and as i've never been in Ireland (traveling next January) i dont have yet the real idea of what kind of workout are you all used to talk about. I mean, for what kind of people target, and for what kind of goals these people workout.

One thing is orienting athletes who are real weightlifters/Olympic lifters and have specific goals, other is to orient people who just want to get a good physical condition, health oriented. For those who doesnt want/need to have a huge chest or huge arms, technics can be a bit different. What do you think?

By the way, there is an important information i need: Does Dublin have a big number of gymns "health oriented" or there are more "gun rooms" for weightlifters?