Bench press, what do you think...

[bigguns15]

It appears to me that my elbows move up, in line with my shoulders which I believe are stronger and overcompensate to move the weight.

I'm not really concerned with rather or not the circular motion is good or bad. So far it's been good to me. I'm getting stronger, chest is growing, and I'm remaining injury free. I'd just like to find the weak link and begin working on that.

I think you are right on here. I would agree that your shoulders are stronger and trying to compensate. This is something to think about during your next bench session... keeping your elbows tight (not necessarilly in) during the concentric phase. Just thinking about my weak points helps me out.

Keep up the good work. I'm very eager to see the gains you'll be making in the next few weeks.

 

[pwr_machine]

This is something to think about during your next bench session... keeping your elbows tight (not necessarilly in) during the concentric phase. Just thinking about my weak points helps me out.

Keep up the good work. I'm very eager to see the gains you'll be making in the next few weeks.

Thanks. I'll add that to my things to do list. You know, this is going to be my best training cycle ever if I can remain free from biceps tendonitis for a change. I look forward to the next few weeks also.

 

[spatts]

Why do you have bicep tendonitis?

How many years have you been training to bench heavy and what's your 1 rep max in competition (single ply, yadda yadda yadda)?

Does bigguns bench just like you?

 

[pwr_machine]

Why do you have bicep tendonitis?

Years of abuse and the impatience to properly rest it. The last bout of tendonitis flared up after my last boxing match in April and I kept trying to train around it. Stupid mistake that I'll never make again. I'm being much more preventative now with stretching and ice after each workout.

It's also been pointed out to me by a friend (an athletic trainer), that when I stand in the anatomical position, my forearms are not inline with my upper arms. They angle outward considerably. I think this is why I have such a problem tucking my elbows, in turn, putting a huge amount of pressure on my wrists because of the crazy angle I have to assume.

How many years have you been training to bench heavy and what's your 1 rep max in competition (single ply, yadda yadda yadda)?

I've been training about 7 years. Started as a light 181 and made it up to a light 242. I did 415 in a single ply poly at 217 last year. I'm a bit stronger now and look forward to possibly competing in bench press only again.

Does bigguns bench just like you?

Not at all. I wouldn't want her to. She has much more potential than I do. She's on the edge of being number one against some of the greatest lifters in the nation. With that, there is a chance to go to worlds again and experience even greater lifting. I'll do everything I can to get her numbers up on a consistent, safe basis.

In the meantime, I like to take a moment to look for little things in my own lifts that I'd like to fix.

 

[Liftbig]

i didint get to see the video, it wont D/L for me, but im curious how your unracking the bar anyways. this can make or break your setup, and send your form in the shitter. what i do is i squeeze the bar out of the racks, with my lats. almost like a pullover of sorts. i let the handoff guy get the bar up to me. i worry about setting up right. pulling the bar out with your lats, with your elbows tucked will put you in the correct postion from the get go. after the handoff guy lets go, hold for a split second, and start your descent. if you just push the bar straight up out of the racks and then bring the bar out over your chest, you wont be set up right, and its much harder to set your lats and keep tight on the bench.

 

[pwr_machine]

i didint get to see the video, it wont D/L for me, but im curious how your unracking the bar anyways. this can make or break your setup, and send your form in the shitter. what i do is i squeeze the bar out of the racks, with my lats. almost like a pullover of sorts. i let the handoff guy get the bar up to me. i worry about setting up right. pulling the bar out with your lats, with your elbows tucked will put you in the correct postion from the get go. after the handoff guy lets go, hold for a split second, and start your descent. if you just push the bar straight up out of the racks and then bring the bar out over your chest, you wont be set up right, and its much harder to set your lats and keep tight on the bench.

The video is temporarily unavailable, but should be back up in an hour or so. That's the price I pay for a free website. I generally set up ok, especially when I have a good hand off. I'd even venture to say that I have pretty good form. I was just looking for the weak link and the reason my shoulders flare like they do. Tucking my elbows more than what is in the video is very uncomfortable.

 

[revexrevex]

I got the same problem bro. I thought it could be due to weak triceps, once it gets to the point where triceps take over, the elbows tend to flare out to the sides to compensate for the tricep weakness, and the load is distributed on delts and on the chest. Some people can just power through that sticking point with their triceps, and some can't, and thats when the elbows start to dance.

 

[slinky]

When I had actually got to sit down and talk to Ryan Kennelly; who, btw, is a extremely approachable fella. I told him my "weak area" of the bench is at the chest. I had thought it was due to weak front delts; he agreed.

It was due to my past way of benching. That was the typical style for hypertrophy. Ryan suggested I do work on a slight arch (and told me how to use a PVC pipe to do this, btw) and that would help in taking out SOME front delt work. However, I'm working to build more strength in that area...just in case

I just have to take that "bodybuilding" way of thought out of my bench and create more of a "power lifting" mindset.

Overall, very helpful thread.

 

[MULE1]

"Alright, I'm ready. I'm very impressed with Mendelson's bench. 875 is a tremendous amount of weight! However, I'm more impressed with the lighter guys pushing more pound for pound. I'm even more impressed with lifters moving HUGE weights in single ply and those that are definately drug free. "


Yes and I'd much rather watch snail races than football, or better yet, lets go watch butter melt....

By the way your form is in need of a great deal of work if your keep benching like that your gonna hurt youself, actually I'm surprised you have not already...

Another observation if your body building why are you not using weight you can control better, this way you could do smooth controled reps, your more or less bouncing the weight . I think you would get more of a chest w/o if you used weight you could control and conract the muscle.

The circular motion is a bad sign I would be willing to bet you need work on the bicep tendon and brachialis, not sure if I spelled that right, try some hammer curls, you are having trouble stabelizing the weight

 

[MULE1]

"I'm not really concerned with rather or not the circular motion is good or bad. So far it's been good to me. I'm getting stronger, chest is growing, and I'm remaining injury free. I'd just like to find the weak link and begin working on that."



You've only done two chest w/o's...you wont get away with that when you start lifting heavy