My bench slurps

[fnet]

IlPB,
I agree with the stuff about the top position and driving your feet into the floor. I'm no great bencher by any stretch, but there are a couple mental cues that I find helpful. First, I really think about squeezing my shoulder blades tight onto that bench and loading up my traps like a spring. Next, I don't just think about just lowering the bar but rather rowing the bar down. In doing this, I feel the spring tighten at the bottom and it gives me "bounce" at the bottom like the squat. Of course, I don't mean letting gravity take over and bouncing the bar off my chest. This is just the mental image I use to get me over some tough bench presses.

[confuzzl3don3]

Have to agree with you fnet. When i do what you're describing I feel a lot stronger on the bench although I'm by no means strong at the bench. But i just have to second what you're saying.

[IlPrincipeBrutto]

Hi Sam,

I have similar issues with the bench press. I agree with the others about your starting and bottom position being too close to your feet. You will probably need to widen your grip when you press higher on your chest.

with the current grip/bottom position, the arms are perpendicular to the floor if viewed both from the side and the front, so I think it's probably about right.
Also, In his article Dave Tate says that the correct bottom position is roughly where the elbows fall when you stand up, arms along the sides. My elbows are at about stomach level.

I agree though that the start position of the bar need reviewing. Ditto the feet, to which I've never paid attention when looking at the video.


Also, in reply to Ian's observation:

>> And also, good job of using "risible." Are you from the UK, or are you just clever?

I am Italian, but live in the UK. As for the clever bit, I'll let others be the judge.


Thanks again to everyone for their contributions, so far I have got more than I expected.


IPB

[SamGriffin]

Hi Sam,
with the current grip/bottom position, the arms are perpendicular to the floor if viewed both from the side and the front, so I think it's probably about right.

What I was trying to say is that if you bench higher on your chest you will be increasing the angle between your upper arms and your body which will put your elbows slightly further away from your body thus requiring a slightly wider grip in order to maintain verticle forearms as seen from the back.

Also, In his article Dave Tate says that the correct bottom position is roughly where the elbows fall when you stand up, arms along the sides.

This seems crazy. Are you sure he was talking about raw lifting?

[IlPrincipeBrutto]

Hi Sam,

This seems crazy. Are you sure he was talking about raw lifting?

I just checked again, and I can confirm what I had written. Here's the link and the quote (on page 2 of the article).


http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_a...nch_press_cure

Step 4: Hit the same spot on your chest every time

"If you stand up with your arms to your sides, wherever your elbows fall is about where the bar needs to hit," Tate says.


Also, I would say that if Tate is NOT talking about raw benching, than maybe his advice might not be completely relevant to what I am trying to do ?


IPB

[SamGriffin]

I've heard that powerlifters will bench lower on their chest when they wear a shirt than when they lift raw. This probably has something to do with the spring effect at the bottom, but I don't know the mechanics behind this.

If you press with a huge arch your bottom position will be lower on your chest. Judging from what Tate is doing in the video I think this is significant.

[IlPrincipeBrutto]

If you press with a huge arch your bottom position will be lower on your chest. Judging from what Tate is doing in the video I think this is significant.

I agree on this. The less pronounced the arch, the higher the position of the bar on the chest, compared to the extreme advocated by Tate.

Thanks again.

IPB

[simonsky]

"his squat slurps"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c99fK...ture=topvideos


*i know that's like the 4th time this has been posted.

[IlPrincipeBrutto]

*i know that's like the 4th time this has been posted.

Still as disgusting as the first time though :-)


IPB

[confuzzl3don3]

Wow thats the first time i've seen that. Lol i love how no one reacts for a while when he just keels over and falls into his own vomit.

And about the arching for the bench. So if you have a arch (with butt still on the bench) than if you had no arch at all you should be hitting lower on the chest? I thought for both, the position the bar should hit your chest is the same? Which was why arching your back meant that the angle of the humerus to the body would be closer to 90 degrees. Or am i wrong? I think i need to re-read the bench section of SS.