I watched Dave Tate’s bench press cure video a while back and have been trying to put it into practice. Now I’ve completely lost all form and am wobbly as hell. I can’t seem to get a stable base and now my bench press is going backwards. All of a sudden it feels like my bench is too narrow and too tall, but I’ve never had any real problems with it before. Bench is a Body Solid GFID31, just for reference. Can anyone offer suggestions as to how I can stay tight?
Is this section all right for a question like this? I’m not a powerlifter, but hope to be someday in the future.
That’s because your bench IS too tall and probably too narrow. According to the BODY solid spec sheet your bench is 22"H x 59"L x 27"W- probably the ass pad. measure the part your shoulders are on.
A competition bench is roughly 12" wide x 17.5 inches tall. In fact the SPF rule book states that a bench must be no narrower than 11.2" wide and must be between 16.5 and 17.5 inches tall. Unless you are a sasquatch or High Tower from police academy you’ll be hard pressed to bench like Tate details without a lot of effort. Not saying it can’t be done but if your having trouble touching the floor you won’t be able to get the proper leg drive.
BTW, If you want to be a ‘powerlifter’ then be one.
I do have trouble touching the floor, but I put some 2x6 planks on the floor for my feet and that helps a little bit. I measured my bench width and it’s only 9.5 inches. Sounds like I need a wider bench and shorter bench. I bought this bench for its incline and decline functions & its rated capacity. I don’t incline press anymore, so a good solid flat bench will be fine. Any recommendations? Would like something that can hold at least 1000 pounds & can fit in a power rack.
As far as powerlifting, I would like to get a bit stronger before I would actually compete. You guys here make me feel weak. That and I have no idea where to begin. Need to talk to my wife’s Chiropractor. I think he & his wife compete locally.
[quote]junaitari wrote:
I do have trouble touching the floor, but I put some 2x6 planks on the floor for my feet and that helps a little bit. I measured my bench width and it’s only 9.5 inches. Sounds like I need a wider bench and shorter bench. I bought this bench for its incline and decline functions & its rated capacity. I don’t incline press anymore, so a good solid flat bench will be fine. Any recommendations? Would like something that can hold at least 1000 pounds & can fit in a power rack.
As far as powerlifting, I would like to get a bit stronger before I would actually compete. You guys here make me feel weak. That and I have no idea where to begin. Need to talk to my wife’s Chiropractor. I think he & his wife compete locally. [/quote]
Go on Elitefts and get the DB bench or whatever the hell its called. It’s competition size. To make it an incline, I put one end on a box squat box. To make it a decline… I dont. Because that doesnt do anything.
I don’t incline, so that’s no worry. Last time I tried to incline, I pinched a nerve in my neck and made my right arm go numb. Took about 3 weeks for that go go away. Switched to standing military press after that.
hi , sice i have the same problem i thought i would post a video here , i have a hard time staying tight , specially my legs , i’m 6’5 and the bench in my gym is very low
if anyone can help me with tips that would be very nice
[quote]junaitari wrote:
I don’t incline, so that’s no worry. Last time I tried to incline, I pinched a nerve in my neck and made my right arm go numb. Took about 3 weeks for that go go away. Switched to standing military press after that.
I have the second one and it’s great. Pricey but great. The econo version would suit you just fine. Plus efs is top notch. Can’t go wrong buying stuff from them.
[quote]amn wrote:
hi , sice i have the same problem i thought i would post a video here , i have a hard time staying tight , specially my legs , i’m 6’5 and the bench in my gym is very low
if anyone can help me with tips that would be very nice
thank you in adavance
amn.
Some observations…Yeah, That bench is real low, comes to your calves. being 6’5" makes it worse. you may try widening out your feet so as to keep tighter. Try to push your heels to the floor when you set up. Also mental Que= pretend someone is going to run up and punch you in the nuts. get that tight and stay that way. BIG air- then pull the bar out of the racks. don’t breathe on the rep except for maybe at the top. I think your feet wiggling may be just bad habit. make yourself stop. good luck.
Also it looks kind of lie you let the bar drop the last few inches. You may be relaxing your tri’s or need to work on your lat strength. Squeeze the PISS out of the bar lower the bar almost as if pulling it down to your chest. Stop the bar on chest. Then imagine pushing yourself away from the bar not pushing the bar up.
Lastly either drop a little weight on the bar OR tell your spotter to get out of your face. It’s hard to press when they dive in and grab the bar and worse when they double arm scoop it like your buddy did. Just some food for thought.
Yah, I’m not so sure I could afford the expensive one right now. Would be especially hard to convince my wife that I need it after all of the other stuff I’ve bought lately. I think that I’m going to try and fabricate a wider back rest for my existing bench for now.
I can’t help but wonder what I’d be putting up if I could just stay tight. It’s killing me on reps. I’ll start off good and then get wobbly, move my feet to try and stabilize and lose all push. It becomes more pronounced the heavier I go. It’s frustrating.
Like this video from a while back (this is before I tried modifying my form). Notice on my 4th I had to widen my legs out a bit and then my 5th rep went to hell. I constantly feel like the bench is in between my shoulder blades and I’m just balancing on it. Pushing back up gets the wobble started.
I’m sure my form in this video is terribly ugly. I’ve been working on it.
[quote]junaitari wrote:
Yah, I’m not so sure I could afford the expensive one right now. Would be especially hard to convince my wife that I need it after all of the other stuff I’ve bought lately. I think that I’m going to try and fabricate a wider back rest for my existing bench for now.
I can’t help but wonder what I’d be putting up if I could just stay tight. It’s killing me on reps. I’ll start off good and then get wobbly, move my feet to try and stabilize and lose all push. It becomes more pronounced the heavier I go. It’s frustrating. [/quote]
I hear you. This sport can expensive. I can tell you for me staying tight and arching = about 30#-40# as my floor press is about that much less than my bench. I’m brick shit house solid for 3 reps, pretty tight for 5 but after that I get sketchy. But more reps than that and I’m “body building” so I’m not terribly concerned about staying super tight all the time.
A lot of it is mental. You get ‘heavy’ and you MAY start worrying about getting stapled. That’s why I’m a huge fan of board presses. You’ll be able to handle more weight so when you go back to the chest you’ve handled that before and it’s not a big deal anymore.
Yeah I just saw your vid. The bench is high so it looks like you can’t really push and dig your traps into the bench. I have an old weider adjustable bench that’s high like that. I can’t bench for shit on it. My left arm does that shit also sometimes. It’s annoying!
[quote]amn wrote:
hi , sice i have the same problem i thought i would post a video here , i have a hard time staying tight , specially my legs , i’m 6’5 and the bench in my gym is very low
if anyone can help me with tips that would be very nice
thank you in adavance
amn.
Some observations…Yeah, That bench is real low, comes to your calves. being 6’5" makes it worse. you may try widening out your feet so as to keep tighter. Try to push your heels to the floor when you set up. Also mental Que= pretend someone is going to run up and punch you in the nuts. get that tight and stay that way. BIG air- then pull the bar out of the racks. don’t breathe on the rep except for maybe at the top. I think your feet wiggling may be just bad habit. make yourself stop. good luck.
Also it looks kind of lie you let the bar drop the last few inches. You may be relaxing your tri’s or need to work on your lat strength. Squeeze the PISS out of the bar lower the bar almost as if pulling it down to your chest. Stop the bar on chest. Then imagine pushing yourself away from the bar not pushing the bar up.
Lastly either drop a little weight on the bar OR tell your spotter to get out of your face. It’s hard to press when they dive in and grab the bar and worse when they double arm scoop it like your buddy did. Just some food for thought.
[/quote]
first of all thank you for the precious advices , for the legs position one elite lifter told me to “grab” the bench tight with my thighs to stop this bad habit of giggeling that i have , i’m gonna test both wider like you said and narrower.
as for the spotter , you can’t see it from this angle but my buddy didn’t tuch the bar just followed my bar path , and yes in the last inches before tuching my upper abs i feel like i lose the control of the bar and it sucks .
Try widening your legs and really sticking your feet to the floor. Your entire body needs to be tight, not just your upper body. You should not be wiggling or dancing your feet around at all once you are ready to unrack. Press through your heels, not your toes, it will make you tighter.
Junaitari,
Dude…get a new bench. Check Craigslist, you never know what you’ll find.
Try widening your legs and really sticking your feet to the floor. Your entire body needs to be tight, not just your upper body. You should not be wiggling or dancing your feet around at all once you are ready to unrack. Press through your heels, not your toes, it will make you tighter.
PMPL: my wingspan is very long ,if i place my feet flat the distance between the bar and my body increases a lot and my elbows go way deeper , that way i don’t feel tight at all (especially the lower part of my body), and i feel much more stress on my shoulders that’s why i arch .
Last time I tried to incline, I pinched a nerve in my neck and made my right arm go numb. Took about 3 weeks for that go go away. Switched to standing military press after that.