Bench Form Check

[Adam Levine]

Hello Coaches - first, thank you for all the help thus far. I'm slowly getting my form to a point where lifting is "extremely safe".

Looking at bench. Is this form good enough to keep me safe and start NLP progression? It is my heaviest workset.

One issue I have is the advice in the SS book that you have to arch your back enough to fit your fist underneath it. That assumes a flat bench. However, this bench isn't totally flat - it has an adjustable incline/decline with an indented area for the butt, so it partially bends my back for me (though not enough). I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing, but I don't have a lot of choice in the matter - it's the only bench at my gym.



-->Adam

[Pete Troupos]

Hey Adam.
Your grip is way too narrow if you're looking to do the standard bench press. These are ok close grip bench presses if that's what you're going for.
You're touch point is way too low. The red line is approximately where it should be and I've taken the liberty of drawing crude knuckles on the bar to approximate where your hands should be. Move them out and touch higher on your chest. The forearms should still be perpendicular at the bottom.
Screen Shot 2018-09-05 at 7.52.00 PM.jpg
If it's the type of bench I think you mean, there's usually a way to adjust both sections so that they are flat and flush to one another. Double check and see if you can adjust the seat.
I would just start your LP rather waiting. There's nothing unsafe about this unless the safeties aren't set correctly or you have collar locks on the bar.
Squeeze back the shoulder blades together when you have the bar locked out and keep them pinned back through the set.
Good luck.

[Adam Levine]

Thank you Coach Tropos - very helpful. I'll implement that immediately.

I should have measured my grip width - when the book said most people usually just do it right, I should have known I'm not most people, and will find a way to screw it up.

I'm hoping the bar reaches my chest at that position. This is where my chest and the bar meet with the safety pins in their current position - any higher, and the bar won't reach my chest. That looks really close to where I should be hitting, but I can't set the pins lower - they're pretty wide-set, and one pin lower would just barely reach my neck. If needed, I'll tap the safety bar instead of the chest - not optimal, but it should be within a few millimeters of correct ROM.

2018-09-06_3-43-59.jpg

-->Adam

[Pete Troupos]

You want the safeties set up so that they don't interfere with the chest, but will protect the throat.