Bench Press Consistency and Conditioning

[Jeffrey]

I am an intermediate lifter (~15 months training on SS and Intermediate Routines).

I am having issues with consistency on bench press form--I tend to bounce a rep or two on heavy sets and sometimes lose my groove. On warmup sets, I'm not using perfect tightness the way I do on working sets. It might be a conditioning issue, but if I am perfectly tight on the warmup sets, I tend to bomb my working sets because I've fatigued my upper and lower back.

I unrack all my sets myself, but the bench has slanted hooks that make unracking difficult and keep me from getting a perfect setup.

What do you think of adding ~8-10 extra singles with my 5 rep working weight to dial in my form, setup and conditioning after my working sets? Is there another solution I should try?

Thanks.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Get a better bench. I doubt seriously that upper back fatigue is the problem, unless you have a 500 bench. At that load, little things become critical.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

It seems to me that someone who had run the SS program to its end would have conditioned themselves to bench press considering you do it every other workout. Also examine the material the bench is upholstered with. Crappy commercial shit is often kinda slick and it makes holding your shoulders in the right position difficult if not impossible under a heavy load, even with chalk. If the bench is yours, get it re-upholstered with something that will grab. If not.....go to Wal-mart or a sporting goods store and buy the thinnest Yoga Mat they have and take it with you to the gym. These usually "grab" pretty good....but the key word here is THIN. A thick soft mat will produce more problems than it solves. I have done this for years.