Ryan DCNT

It seems that in terms of elite-level competitive bench pressing, in general, those in the lighter weight classes have a relatively wider grip, and those in the heavier weight classes have a more narrow grip. Do you have any thoughts on analyses on why this seems to be the case?

Is it as simple as lighter lifters lifting absolutely lighter weights and can get away with a technique that places the pecs and delts in a less safe position, vs heavier lifters who may be more prone to injury with a wider grip, at the weights they're handling?

Thanks for any insight you may have on this topic.

Szymon

There is a maximum grip width set by the rules. So for a short, 65 kg guy the grip is wider in relation to his body than for a heavy weight tall guy.

Same thing can be observed in snatch.

Mark Rippetoe

How to Fix Powerlifting?

Ryan DCNT

Even accounting for morphology, larger elite raw benchers use an absolutely closer grip, not just relative to their frame and shoulder width. They grip the bar well within the maximum legal width, whereas most lighter weight elite raw benchers take a max legal width grip.

I just thought it may lead to an interesting discussion about why that seems to be the case.

Theseahawk

Hello. I mentioned on another thread that I’m going to push my rest times up to see how long I can keep the LP programming up. Today it took me 2 and a half hours to get through a 3x5 squat and 3x5 bench and three sets of chins.

Soon it will get quite silly as rest keeps going up, but I don’t watch Netflix, so lockdown is a good opportunity to carry out this experiment.

What are the longest sessions you yourself have done, have witnessed the lifters back in your powerlifting career days do, and the longest sessions you have coached someone through?

I imagine coaching the general population, you need time efficiency in programming, but what about when you train athletes? Is there ever a good reason to just keep increasing rest times beyond say 20 minutes and have 3+ hour sessions?

Mark Rippetoe

I am no longer "training" in the sense that you are. I train in my own gym while I'm working in the office, so I don't matter. We'll ask the board.

Robert Santana

I used to rest longer when I was hitting a new PR every workout or every week. I typically rested for 5-8 minutes when it got to be an all out grinder but as I advanced through training and PRs became less frequent, I shortened my rest breaks to 3-5 minutes. As a coach I rarely have to assign anyone >5 minutes unless the load is Actually Heavy in relation to bodyweight. That said, some days I’ve been more like Rip working and lifting intermittently and that seems to work okay too. How I don’t get “cold” with this approach, I have no idea.

Theseahawk

So in the past I’ve used 5-8 minutes and then when it has stopped working I have reprogrammed. Today I was taking rests of 15-17 mins on my squats 466x5x3 (bodyweight 260). Like I said, it’s making silly long sessions, but I keep PRing so I just want to see for myself what happens if I keep extending the rest. There’s no way I’d have made 466 without that rest. 15 minutes after the first set and I only just made the second set. Took 17 minutes and had a much easier third set.

Robert Santana

If both your squat and your deadlift are increasing then it may be worth it provided it is practical with your lifestyle. If your squat is the only thing making progress then I'd say it's not worth it unless all you want to get stronger at is squatting.

Theseahawk

Well the experiment ended itself. On the first set of squats at 471 pound the 5th rep was such a slow grinder that it was obvious that no amount of rest would produce a second set at that weight. I dropped to 424 pound for 2x5 with 10 minutes rest as per the advanced novice section of PP.

For the first set of bench I did 290 pounds but only managed 4 reps, with the 5th rep failed. So I did the same weight for 2x3 afterward at 10 minute rests. I will continue with 3x3 for the rest of LP.

It was a chin up day, so I don't know if the deadlift will progress yet.

But I think I know where I am in the grand scheme of things. I am an advanced novice. I also know now that there is a limit to inter-set recovery and I can’t escape what the book tells us what will happen.