Novice bench press form check

[Kirra]

62.5kg


They look weird as fuck to me, but I can't put my finger on what's odd about them.



Set 2:



Set 3:

[MikeC1]

You're touching way too low at the bottom, practically at your stomach. Aim to touch closer to your nipples.

[Dastardly]

You're touching way too low at the bottom, practically at your stomach. Aim to touch closer to your nipples.

This might be a side effect of a too-narrow grip. A wider grip will naturally bring the bar higher on your chest.

There also seems to be a lack of "tension" in your bench presses.

[Kirra]

This might be a side effect of a too-narrow grip. A wider grip will naturally bring the bar higher on your chest.

There also seems to be a lack of "tension" in your bench presses.

My grip might indeed be too narrow. Thanks.

Can you elaborate on this "tension" you're talking about?

[Carlos Daniel]

Yep, definitely hitting too low.

[Dastardly]

My grip might indeed be too narrow. Thanks.

Can you elaborate on this "tension" you're talking about?

Basically staying tight. If you stay tight you will build tension while the bar is going down, just before the bar touches your chest the bar should be moving pretty slow. Not because you are resisting it, but because your chest muscles (and more) are being stretched. If you do it properly it will help the bar spring up, even if you pause the bar on your chest powerlifting style.

Your bench presses look kinda relaxed to me.

[DKStrength]

Another quick note to add on to Dastardly. Think of staying tight from head to toe. Some cues to remember are: big breath and hold from beginning to lockout (then re-breath and repeat, looks like you may already be doing this part, but hard to tell), pull your shoulder blades in tight (squeeze the lats together at the very beginning and throughout the entire movement), think of lowering the bar with your back and not your arms (by squeezing the lats as you go down, this also serves to get your chest bigger and takes away a lot of the work the small (relative to overall muscle mass) arms have to do), squeeze your abs, glutes, and legs tight, and lastly drive your feet into the ground (but don't lift your hips off the bench) this will help to create a stable platform at your base, as well as keep everything tight in the lower and upper body.

Think of it this way as well, if someone was on top of you and you try to push them off of you with your arms, what does your body do? Your body gets real tight and your feet drive into the ground. If you have a partner or friend, lay down on the bench (don't use the bar here) and put your hands in the position of the bottom of your bench. Now have your friend push down on your hands as you try to resist and push-up against your partner's hands quickly and hard. Notice what your body (head to toe) does. Hope this helps

[Carlos Daniel]

I cue that I have found helpful is to trying to make the chest meet the bar.

[Norse]

You're a good four inches too low at the bottom. Hold a pencil up to the monitor in line with your arms at lockout and watch your bar path track down toward your stomach. When you have it right you will have a vertical bar path.

[Dastardly]

You're a good four inches too low at the bottom. Hold a pencil up to the monitor in line with your arms at lockout and watch your bar path track down toward your stomach. When you have it right you will have a vertical bar path.

This is not really correct. The only way the bar would go straight up and down is if the humerii were at right angles to his body.