Bench Check @ 195

[hamcentral]

As always, thanks to the coaches for your free advice and valuable time. Apologies for video quality--the lights went off at the gym just before this video was taken. I tried to make it as bright as I could.



I've been struggling with my bench press for several months on a HLM template. I feel like my form has been consistently degrading over time--can't keep shoulders retracted, too much squirming on the bench, can't keep elbows at the correct angle. My previous 1RM bench was 245 back in June, now 225 feels like a huge struggle. I'm guessing this is because I've lost about 25 pounds since testing my bench max. Anyway, how bad does it look?

Stats

Age: 32
Height: 5' -8"
Weight: 210

[Tom Campitelli]

Aside from initiating each rep with a scapular protraction, your bench press is not that bad. I agree that you wiggle a little and you don't keep your scapulae pinned back well. That probably starts right at the top where you kick the bar up slightly before initiating your descent. You lose your scapulae there every time. I would bet this is an unconscious habit that you barely notice, if at all. The good news is that going down is the easy part in the bench. Pinch back at the top and instead of violently initiating the descent, stay tight and allow gravity to help you. Think "smooth descent." Apply 194 pounds of force to the bar and unlock your elbows. This will probably keep you tighter all around.

I assume you are benching twice a week on HLM, yes? I also suspect you don't need HLM for your bench yet. You lost 25 pounds. Bench pressing is coupled pretty tightly to body weight. I would expect that your bench press performance will suffer as a result. You should strongly consider using fractional plates. I loaded my bench press on my linear progression from somewhere around 165 to 225 using 1 and 2 pound jumps. It took a while, but I kept making progress and I rarely missed reps. You could probably do an LP with small jumps, or HLM with small jumps. That's my guess. Also, this:

The First Three Questions | Mark Rippetoe

[hamcentral]

Thanks Tom. For the record, I misspoke regarding my previous bench 1RM--it was 275. I will work on the form issues and go back to LP on the bench with smaller jumps.

[hamcentral]

Another follow-up: I decided to stick with the HLM programming and make smaller jumps. Makes training organization easier for me because I don't have to re-figure my pressing frequency. I benched 200x4x4 yesterday and it went very well. I stopped lowering the bar so violently and this helped tremendously with keeping my shoulders back and keeping my elbows in position. This all increased my overall stability so I wasn't wiggling so much on the bench. Thanks again.