Here I have a video of my recent failed attempt at 400 lbs after completing 365x3 a little while ago. It would be real cool if some of the more knowledgeable/more experienced power lifters could critique my form and give me some tips as far what might be more helpful to do more weight. I understand that 400 lbs is something to work up to and I have been on a variation of the 5/3/1 program for some time now.
Unfortunately I’ve sort of strayed off my path due to using flawed 5/3/1 apple and android apps that only go 4 weeks at a time and have screwed up my structured lifting. I’m thinking about restarting 5/3/1 but at the same time I am unfamiliar with other programs.I am 22 and weight 180 lbs and I try to bust my ass as hard as I can at the gym and would be willing to attempt anything tried and true to get stronger.
I basically go to a family gym where I can’t get anything helpful out of my fellow lifters because they are all wanna be bodybuilders so I count on the online world to give me guidance as far as strength programs go. I’ll take any constructive criticism, but please, if you’re just going to be negative don’t bother posting.
Granted I cant bench anywhere near you lol, so take this with a grain of salt. But id say start working on your form ect. Keep tightness, keep ass on the bench, developing better leg drive pattern ect. Your feet were hopping around on unrack, so dial in form a little better and I think you’d see instant results.
I’m amazed you’ve gotten as strong as you have on bench as loose and floppy as you are with your form. Look up Dave Tates so you think you can bench. As far as the rip the bar apart and touch super low, that may or may not be something you want to do but everything else is really solid. You really need to work on getting really tight and getting good leg drive.
Be sure you’re set up before you even start to unrack the bar. Use your legs to push your traps into the bench and keep your ass down. Also, keeping your knees below your hips will help with keeping your hips down. Don’t push the weight straight out, but use your lats and triceps to do almost sort a pull over tricep extension type of thing. This will help with your back tightness. Just make sure you don’t have far to extend the bar out or you’ll get out of position or won’t even have the leverage to move the bar out at all.
So basically, the bad news is that your form sucks. The good news is that fixing your form can be some of the fastest pounds you can add to a lift. And damn I’m jealous, even with good form I can’t bench nearly what you do haha. I can tell you benching like you do would destroy my shoulders. Good luck! Maybe some of the stronger more experienced benchers around here will have something to add.
I like Jesse R, am not as strong as you, but I can offer some advice. Hate to be blunt but you have 0 tightness anywhere in your body. They have you are pressing is almost purely with the pecs tris and shoulders. Look around, Like fletch said watch so you think you can bench. I am not sure if you are big enough you seem to be a pretty stout guy.
But me for example when I get tight enough i can rebound about an inch off the chest just from being so tight and have a pretty meaty upper back. The small “quick fix” I can offer first is you need to get your lower back tighter keep your butt on the bench push your heels to the ground. Maybe pull back our feet, and really pin your shoulder blades back.
Could you post a video of a successful bench? I could get a much better idea of your form from that. On the vid posted I can’t tell how much of this you do regularly and how much is because you’re being crushed by 405lbs.
Agreed, that you should put a video of a bench you can do, but at a heavy weight. You appeared to have no confidence on the lower portion of the lift, and you were definitely all over the place on the bench. Why did your spotter not let go of the bar? From the video, he could have been holding 50 lbs of the weight, we can’t tell. Also, do you always bench flat backed? Pretty much no arch until you raised your ass off the bench to try and press it out.
When you stick that close to the chest after what appears to be an assisted descent, you just aren’t strong anywhere near strong enough to legitimately lift the weight. Did you do 365x3 without someone having their hands all over the bar and without dive-bombing it?
it’s just too heavy man. And you got all loose. You were “leaking” energy all over the place. No biggie. You’ll get it soon. Keep plugging away man. Good job so far.
Thanks so much for the feedback guys, T-Nation has the best group of online posters out there and I’m grateful for all the support you have to offer. I’m not sure if my form is usually this bad because Monday was the first time that I filmed it, but I will post another video of successful benching on my next bench day (Monday). I think that I got a little too hyped up and overlooked a few cues that I had in the back of my head.
Obviously there is much to be desired and I will be thoroughly studying the Dave Tate “So You Think You Can Bench” videos. With that being said my form in my next video should be improved and I look forward to any more criticism. @heavytriple, the reason that I chose to try 400 was because I was able to do 365x3 and that was 100% on my own. I had a spotter keep his hands on the bar this time because I was afraid of entirely crushing myself especially since I tore my pec to bicep tendon last year and impinged my shoulder twice. This probably has to do with my shitty form that you guys pointed out. I know, I know it was stupid of me to lift this heavy with bad form but I honestly wasn’t even aware of it until I made the post so for this I am very thankful to everyone.
[quote]gherrera91 wrote:
Thanks so much for the feedback guys, T-Nation has the best group of online posters out there and I’m grateful for all the support you have to offer. I’m not sure if my form is usually this bad because Monday was the first time that I filmed it, but I will post another video of successful benching on my next bench day (Monday). I think that I got a little too hyped up and overlooked a few cues that I had in the back of my head.
Obviously there is much to be desired and I will be thoroughly studying the Dave Tate “So You Think You Can Bench” videos. With that being said my form in my next video should be improved and I look forward to any more criticism. @heavytriple, the reason that I chose to try 400 was because I was able to do 365x3 and that was 100% on my own. I had a spotter keep his hands on the bar this time because I was afraid of entirely crushing myself especially since I tore my pec to bicep tendon last year and impinged my shoulder twice. This probably has to do with my shitty form that you guys pointed out. I know, I know it was stupid of me to lift this heavy with bad form but I honestly wasn’t even aware of it until I made the post so for this I am very thankful to everyone. [/quote]
Glad this wasn’t just a drive by “look at my 400 bench” post, OP.
Advices:
Start doing paused bench. Keep TNG in your training, too, but start working on pausing primarily and gain some control of your lift.
That will help your injury issues, too. Right now you are basically overloading on bench every time you do it, which will take a toll on any injuries you already have.
That’s pretty much it, though. You are strong, so just get stronger. Tighten up that form, pause the bench, and back off on weight for a while and you’ll get to 400.
I agree w/ Heavy Triple. Paused benches under sub max loads help. One additional thing I forgot to mention - work the bottom half of the bench. Chest to midpoint and do reps in the 5-10 range. Keep the pressure on the delts and pecs will help you in the bottom half. My bench really took off doing that and it keeps the elbows from wearing out.
Can’t really add anything here for your form as I’m not anywhere near there either. However, i have created a pretty nice google doc that calculates all of the 5/3/1 weights and then you just copy the template to a new tab each time a cycle ends and change the weights. I use the google drive app on my phone then to keep track of what my weights need to be on sets while I lift.
the dave tate videos are gonna say exactly what Im about to and then some, but I see 3 very specific things that you can fix immediately.
1: the spotter. Not only should hands be off during the descent (this messes with your groove among other problems), but if you are hitting a wall and not going to get a lift, he shouldnt have made you work through it that hard. Ive found that those kinds of forced reps absolutely destroy recovery and the payoff is questionable at best. Not worth it imo.
2: ass on the bench. You are initiating leg drive but its all going into raising your hips, which is wasted energy. This is kindof a theme for your setup but this is one thats easy to work on, which leads me to:
3: the last moment before you unrack. Whatever upper back tightness you had is erased by popping off the bench. If I had to guess it looks like thats a movement you do becuase it helps you unrack with momentum, which increases confidence. If thats something youve always done your gonna have to unlearn it.
And finally the disclaimer: Id like to see a successful lift, and your bodyweight would be relevant, but it looks like you are at least within striking distance of a legit 2x BW bench. Theres a point where anyones advice should be taken with a grain of salt. Ea: what worked for them may not work for you, just like I could have never benched over 400 with your setup. That being said I do honestly think if you completely overhaul your setup you will come back stronger.
I would honestly be surprised if you really could legit hit 365x3 on your own since that 400 stapled you.
You need to stay tighter, your feet were moving and your leg drive was way off, your butt shot up like crazy which makes it a lot harder to push/lock out. Start focusing on your set up. Every time. I set up 225 the same way I set up 425
I’d like to see the 365x3 vid, I think there’ll be more answer’s there, but it apear’s your training way over your head, you have no buisness atempting 400, your no where near ready, and just asking for an injury… Spend some time with heavy clean tripple’s, probably around 315-330 by the looks of it, keeping your ass on the bench, staying tight, and lowering and lifting under your own steam.
The video above will get you nowhere, but laying on a couch for months recovering from an injury. It also apears you need to add lots of heavy back work, it dosen’t look as if you have enough muscle on your back to be able to suport the kind of weight you want to be able to press. Goodluck
I would think your a year away from a real 400lb bench, but you could prove me wrong !
Okay guys I’ve watched “so you think you can bench” and I’ve tried to commit the majority of what’s been said to memory. Today is bench day again and I will be posting a new video of my improvements on here tonight. I’m not ready to go real heavy again but I will be posting a video of 350-365 (depending on how I’m feeling) on here for anytimejake and csulli to look at. I hope that it looks better and I know that this is something that is going to take some time to fix, so my expectations are not too high.
Also I will begin to add pause reps into my reps as I’ve done some research and I can’t wait to start doing them (thanks heavy triple and osu). Again, you guys have been extremely helpful so far and I can’t thank you enough.
[quote]gherrera91 wrote:
Okay guys I’ve watched “so you think you can bench” and I’ve tried to commit the majority of what’s been said to memory. Today is bench day again and I will be posting a new video of my improvements on here tonight. I’m not ready to go real heavy again but I will be posting a video of 350-365 (depending on how I’m feeling) on here for anytimejake and csulli to look at. I hope that it looks better and I know that this is something that is going to take some time to fix, so my expectations are not too high.
Also I will begin to add pause reps into my reps as I’ve done some research and I can’t wait to start doing them (thanks heavy triple and osu). Again, you guys have been extremely helpful so far and I can’t thank you enough. [/quote]
Just got to say you have a learner’s attitude, which is rare and great. And also the reason you’ll eventually hit 400 if you keep taking advice on board combined with trying it out and working hard.
Echo pretty much everything everybody else has said. Let’s see what your next vid looks like.
Also–don’t be surprised if you end up slightly weaker at first with new technique. Your body needs to have the new habits drilled into its hardwiring before it can completely break the bad habits of old, and that can take some time. Stay with form and eventually you’ll not only be stronger but safer.
Also I will begin to add pause reps into my reps as I’ve done some research and I can’t wait to start doing them (thanks heavy triple and osu). Again, you guys have been extremely helpful so far and I can’t thank you enough. [/quote]
Pause benching is fucking brutal. It works fantastically however, although you will probably be shocked by how little weight you can put on the bar. Just keep at it.
Note on paused benching–you MUST stay tight with the bar on your chest. Focus on the new technique, especially a super tight squeezed back/squeezed lats and your chest slammed up towards the ceiling as you are holding the pauses–this is where almost EVERYBODY who fails off the chest goes wrong when they bench–their chest caves and their lats are loose anyways. So get used to holding and squeezing the new positions HARD
Long paused benches are cool so are dead benches. If you want ultimate brutality, try foor presses. Lay on floor, legs are limpo on the ground. NO knees up to get any leg drive ok, just lay there. NO arching, just lay there. Lower the bar till your elbows hit the floor. Now, relax your tri’s for a second, then press. Prepare to be humbled.