Thanks for listening to me whine folks. I feel much better now, and you guys are right… I knew the answer in my mind, but the 18 year old that still dwells in the back of my mind (and sometimes my pants) wanted to make his presence known. Screw 'em, kill him with kindness 
[quote]maraudermeat wrote:
i just went back and watched the two vids from your bench test.
a few things-
- when going for a max attempt and with heavy sets (anything below 3 reps), you need to get a liftoff. you can use it in competition so use it in training. unracking the weight yourself makes it nearly impossible to stay tight.
Will do, I did not think it mattered that much. Always thought it was for safety reasons.
- you need to get your feet much farther under you. it should be very very uncomfortable. the way you are right now, you aren’t getting much leg drive. when you setup get those feet further up the bench and then really pull yourself down and push those knees out over your feet. my feet are so far under me that my butt is just touching the bench. the two major contact points for me are my traps and my feet.
I observed that in your videos, and I have tried it, and liked it. The problem is that according to the “rules” I have received from the competition organizers, state that the feet have to remain “flat” on the floor during the lift. So, I dunno what else I can do. I can try and bring them further back, keeping them flat. See what I can do.
- you need to get a pair of wrist wraps and learn to cast your wrists. without them, the wrists bend back and the weight is no longer over the forearm. the weight is actually behind the forearms losing a bunch of leverage.
I do have wrist wraps, and wear them during training heavy for multiple sets. But again, the “rules” that were sent to me state “no wraps/ straps of any sort are allowed”. Seeing as this was my test day, I figured go naked as per the comp, see where I am at.
I will practice getting the weight over the forearms in the future.
- you need to row that weight down with your lats. you don’t want to just lower the weight. as you unrack the weight, position your arms and attempt to bend the bar. this will naturally tuck the elbows and activate the lats. as you lower the bar, you are also trying to bend the bar. row it a bit lower than you are now.
OK… this is an interesting concept. I have always thought to try and “pull the bar apart”, I will adopt this mentality.
- be sure to lock the weight out and then rack it. it’s a common mistake in competition to immidiately rack after you press. that will get you red lighted. press it to arm’s length and then rack. in competition you have to wait for the rack command.
Yeah, that was a quick rack. I have to start thinking more like competition mode.
these are a few things that i see right now.
as for training, you need to get comfortable with staying tight throughout the ROM and fighting the urge to flare early off the chest.
10-4
i would rotate in paused bench press on the 1 or 2 board, dumbell presses bringing the weight down as far as you can to the sides of your chest pausing the weight and floor presses.
Roger
when setting up the next cycle i would pick the 1 or 2 board as your first movement. each working set is paused on the board. really work on staying tight in the bottom. hold your breath until the bar is completely locked out. since you are looking to build power off the chest i would like to see you do 5 sets of 3 reps. each week do your best to get three reps for those sets but once you can get three reps for the first 2 sets, add weight the next week. you are going to need a liftoff for these. if you don’t have someone to hold the board, tie it to your chest with a knee wrap… that’s what i do.
Cool…
for the second movement, i want you to do floor presses with your legs totally straight out in front of you. bring the weight down, totally deload on the floor and then muscle it up. tuck the elbows on the way down. i have some vids of this movement. follow the same set and rep scheme as above.
Okey dokey…
for the third movement do flat bench dumbell presses bringing the bells out to the sides of your chest as low as you can bring them but keep the elbows somewhat tucked. don’t let them flare at the bottom. pause for a second and then up. do 3 sets to failure on each. the first set shoot for 10 reps. keep the weight the same. up the weight when you can get 10-12 reps.
OK… should I use a neutral grip on these? I seen you do them this way…
finish with some heavy dips. tuck the elbows and only go down to where the arms are 90 degrees. add weight when you can get more than 10 reps. do three sets. i also have vids of how i would like you to do them.
Neat… I will take a look at yours
that should do the trick. the big thing is getting your tightness, more leg drive, rowing the weight down and building tension in the lats and keep those arms from flaring too soon. [/quote]
Alright! I will draw up the training program and send it to you so you can take a gander and let me know if I should make any adjustments.
Quick question… any speed/ D.E./ band(s) stuff to be incorporated? I know you like this methodology…
Thanks Meat-sai!
PS- I wouldn’t cuff you to your Harley… you would just pick the damn thing up and walk away anyhow.
