Brother/Sister - Bench Press - FORM CHECK Please

[ckagahastian]

Hey,

I moved these lifts to a new thread for ease of access. A Form Check for my sister and me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

BENCH PRESS VIDEOS

charles bench set 1




meg bench set 1

[ckagahastian]

Thanks for watching. And thanks for helping.

[ckagahastian]

Any reason why my threads are getting no replies? If it's something i did wrong please let me know.

[Charlie Davies]

It's Saturday, everyone's at the gym.

Don't wear gloves in the gym.
It looks stupid and weakens your grip.

Don't flare your elbows out straight to the side -- keep them at about a 75 degree angle to your torso.
This is healthier for your shoulders.

There's more in the book, Starting Strength, that this web site is named after.

[ayjay23]

...and the Kindle Edition is just 10 bucks on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Stren...rting+strength

[ckagahastian]

I read the book. Any more insights? Much appreciated.

[Eugene]

I watched a few of your videos the other day but got tired. I suspect other people went through the same process.

I don't remember any egregious errors in the squat videos -- tuck in your shirt if you want form critique. The most important part of moving a barbell is making sure your spine is doing what it's supposed to be doing, and there is not a good way of seeing this with a baggy T

[Oldster]

I have to admit, I watched just the first one and it made me cringe in pain. In all seriousness, everything you could do wrong you did.

First, You bring the bar down entirely too quickly. You aren't controlling it at all. The bar really shouldn't come down any quicker than it is going to go up. I like to bring it down fairly slowly, much akin to winding up a spring. Kiss your chest lightly and then blow it up.

Next, your grip is too wide. You are doing the work with your rotator cuffs only. You don't have too much time left before you aren't able to bench without pain, if you even can now.

Your elbows should be pointing at a 45 degree angle, yours are pointing outward at 90%. Your grip is too wide even for a wide grip bench press, your wrists are quite a ways outside your elbows even with the terrible elbow angle when the bar is touching your chest. The bar also touches so high on your chest you darn near are to your throat.

Bring each hand in about 3" to start with, it may need to be even narrower. Elbows pointing more downward at a 45 degree angle (about 1/2 way between where you are now and your sides), bring the bar down to the bottom of your pecs, brush your chest and then press it pretty much straight upward. Now for the key. When the bar slows down going through your sticking point, don't allow your elbows to rotate outward. Instead, rotate inward just slightly pressing to lockout.

Now let me tell you what you are going to feel when you attempt it correctly like this. You will be disappointed at how weak you feel. It is going to be tough to approach what you were handling before. But it is obvious that you have terribly weak triceps and this will become evident as soon as you make an attempt at using proper form. Work hard at strengthening your triceps. They can never be too strong. Right now they are as weak as they can possibly be.

I hate to be so critical but that is how I see your form. Change it and you'll be handling so much more weight fairly quickly, as safely as can be, your rotators will be protected and you'll find your arms growing very nicely. IMO, in the bench and most of its variations, triceps should be handling over 50% of the movement, preferably closer to 75%. The Pecs and back handling much of the rest with the shoulders doing as little as possible and the rotators just along for the ride to keep things stable.

[ayjay23]

Elbows pointing more downward at a 45 degree angle...

Isnt' 45 degrees too narrow? I thought it's about 75 degrees, or am i thinking of something else?

[Oldster]

Isnt' 45 degrees too narrow? I thought it's about 75 degrees, or am i thinking of something else?

It must be something else. As the elbows drift out past 45 degrees the stress is shifted from the triceps to the shoulders and rotators.