Bench Press Form Check

[musician]

Hello all,
My bench has actually felt great lately, but I want to do a form check before the weight gets more challenging. I'm currently at 212.5 lbs., going up with 2.5 lb. jumps.
I have been getting some elbow pain and I'm not sure what it is being caused by, so I want to rule out bench press.
Let me know if anything jumps out. Sorry for the suboptimal camera height/angles.
Set 1: http://youtu.be/x7jl_UKQ_xA
Set 2: http://youtu.be/MZODEYm56dA

[tmcnulty]

-Lats/traps need to stay locked the entire time. The tell-tale sign that they are going slack is the slight wobble at the end of the ROM. This is probably the most difficult thing to fix. To remedy this, you almost have to feel like you're always pulling the bar towards you during the motion. It's weird at first. I have to constantly work on this and I always catch my training partner slacking at this, and this hinders his lifts.

All excellent advice on the part of mgilchrest, but especially the above. You gotta set your shoulders better, in the interest of your long-term shoulder health. I would have you deload by 20 lbs, and work your way back up; it's that important. Just guessing here, but if you've struggled with "consistency," this fix will help a lot. As in: 207.5x5 felt like nothing, 210x5 was absolutely brutal, 212.5 felt different every set--that sort of thing.

[musician]

Thanks guys. tmcnulty, you nailed it, bench press has been alternating between being very difficult and very easy. Last workout was very easy though.
I know exactly how to keep the lats engaged/locked, I guess I just slacked off on it last time due to not having someone yelling at me. I will absolutely be vigilant about this next time.
Unfortunately there is usually nobody in the gym when I train, so a spotter is not usually possible :P.
Thank you for all of he helpful advice.

[musician]

-Fine tune your setup so that you can get the lift-off as close as possible to the groove. Just to protect your shoulders.

Can you clarify what you mean by this?

[musician]

Yeah, nobody at all in the gym much of the time when I'm there. I go to a 24/7 gym and I train pretty late. On the plus side, this 24/7 gym has bumper plates and encourages chalk.
There are two other power racks that have hooks that are much shallower, so I will go with one of those next time.

[tmcnulty]

Thanks guys. tmcnulty, you nailed it, bench press has been alternating between being very difficult and very easy. Last workout was very easy though.
I know exactly how to keep the lats engaged/locked, I guess I just slacked off on it last time due to not having someone yelling at me. I will absolutely be vigilant about this next time.
Unfortunately there is usually nobody in the gym when I train, so a spotter is not usually possible :P.
Thank you for all of he helpful advice.

Glad to help!

It looks like you could possibly position yourself about an inch or so higher in the bench. Basically, you want to minimize the amount of horizontal distance you have to move the bar after you get it off the hooks. Right now I'm guessing you're having to displace the bar about 3-4 inches after you get it off the hooks.

The bench is tricky, as the racking position puts the shoulders at risk. The higher your hands are for the lift, the higher the risk. They have made benches that try to work around this with a swinging arm mechanism, but they suck too.

Ok, so I went back and stared at the hooks. Those hooks suck. They are super deep. You're probably doing about as well as possible with position now that I've studied the hooks. So nobody at all in the gym? That sucks too. Something to be mindful of when you're looking at equipment. Shallow hooks are better in general.

Right. Your equipment has probably caused the small regression in your set up:

• Deep hooks ---> Hard to unrack ---> Try to make your arms longer ---> Untuck shoulders (bad)
• Deep hooks ---> Hard to unrack ---> Try to make your arms longer ---> Set up a little closer to the bar (better)
• Deep hooks ---> Hard to unrack ---> Get a spot (best)

[musician]

Someday I hope we will have robot spotters that will only take the bar at exactly the right time and can be programmed to say "All you, bro."

[musician]

Theoretically though, if I'm in a situation where I have to untuck my shoulders to unrack the bar, is it not possible to "re-tuck" them before starting the set?