Bench Press Technique

[Kenny Croxdale]

The tool is http://www.kinovea.org/en/
It's a pretty easy to use piece of software. I'm a big fan.

pb,

That is a great tool. I will take a look at it. Thanks for the site.

I'll give the riding the breaks a go. As the weight has gotten heavier my descent has probably gotten faster.

Allowing the descent of the bar to accelerate too fast increases the force (bar weight). Research shows that the bar weight can be magnified 49% beyond it true weight.

As an example, 300 lbs can become 447 lbs when the bar drops too fast.

However, a couple of inches from your rebound position, you want to allow the bar to accelerate. It preloads the stretch reflex. This allows you to rebound out of the hole with more power.

It makes sense though that slowing the descent would be beneficial - It has been the key in my continued progress in my presses.

Great. Now do the same with you squat.

Kenny Croxdale

[pbjorge12]

Fucking A. Today's workout killed me. My CNS is SHOT.

Today my elbows hurt instead of my right leg. This was distracting enough that I couldn't press. The pain lingered in my left arm longer than my right for whatever reason. My wrists are straight and I'm pretty positive my rack position was good - So I'm blaming it on the weighted chinups from Sunday (first time doing them) and just my shitty elbows (always had issues).

I missed my lockout on the last rep of deadlifts because I had no chalk (FUCK).

Now to the squats. I learned an important lesson today - Film from ALL angles. I'm gonna let someone smarter than me take a stab at them but I'm guessing that my knees are caving in too much (based on the video). Also am I perhaps favoring one side out of the hole? It looks like I MIGHT be... But if I am it looks pretty damn minor.

I had to rest between 8-10 minutes between the Squats. I needed it. I was shaking in between sets it was so bad.

The squats (I was focusing on pushing knees out on the ascent. So its a weak adductor issue. Also 2nd set was a slightly narrower stance.):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKe6eTtI9Xs

Based on those, my thoughts are to do a 10% reset on the Squat and make sure I push my fucking knees out on the descent AND ascent. Assuming I can do those with good form I would work up from there. Thoughts on this? Maybe a deload week?

I guess I might be getting close to my genetic limits?

Thanks for the feedback guys.

[milesdyson]

knees caving at all is a problem. yours are caving a ton. this is almost assuredly the reason you're feeling pain around your knees.

it may take more than a 10% reset for you to be able to work through this. the movement pattern is probably well ingrained. wherever you reset to should be the point where it is not hard at all for you to keep your knees from caving. then work up from there, never letting form slide. i had a similar problem that led to pretty bad tendinitis which helped motivate me to really get my form down well.

[pbjorge12]

knees caving at all is a problem. yours are caving a ton. this is almost assuredly the reason you're feeling pain around your knees.

it may take more than a 10% reset for you to be able to work through this. the movement pattern is probably well ingrained. wherever you reset to should be the point where it is not hard at all for you to keep your knees from caving. then work up from there, never letting form slide. i had a similar problem that led to pretty bad tendinitis which helped motivate me to really get my form down well.

Fuck. You have confirmed my suspicions.

Well I'll probably start at 225 and see what it looks like and bump up by 10lbs (or lower depending on how fucking bad this issue is) and stop when I find it gets hard.

Well good I noticed this before I got any massive pain and/or swelling. And I did learn a lesson about filming from different angles.

[pbjorge12]

This is a set at 225. I recorded a set at 205 but some twat called my phone and I lost it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2Ude8zp1rA

To me it looks like I might need to go a little lighter than 225 to get my form dialed in. My knees are still slightly caving in right? Is this simply a weak adductor issue or is some other part of my set up fucked? Too wide a stance?

Today really sucked in the gym - It really kills the ego dropping 70 pounds off your squat.

[milesdyson]

yes, still caving. your stance does look wide, but i don't think narrowing it will fix the problem by itself. eventually one day you'll "get" how it feels to keep the abductors engaged through the bottom. if it means going even lighter to feel strong enough to squat without letting your knees cave, then do it. right now it just looks like your body is trained very well to squat like this.

[Sami]

Your ass is shooting to your right out of the hole on each rep.

[pbjorge12]

Hmmm... OK time to deload significantly and make sure I'm keeping the knees out.

Sami - You are right! wtf?
What would be the causes for an asymmetrical ascent? Uneven stance? Uneven legs?

[Sami]

There was a thread in Ripp's forum a while back, about a girl that was doing the same thing. I can't quite remember what he said, but it may have just been a weakness on that side that will eventually even out as you get stronger and the weak side HAS to get stronger. Better try and search it though, I'm not 100%.