I’ve seen some crazy pictures of people benching with a huge arch. Is there any way to increase this? It seems like it would help to only have to move the weight 3 inches to lockout…
I guess the obvious answer would be to bench with an arch, and keep trying to arch more every time.
I did notice that my back was aching when I first started to arch a lot (relatively), but that subsided once I did it for a few weeks, and I probably shouldn’t have started doing it on my heavy bench days.
I’ve recently been noticing that the arch has helped a lot with my bench, and not only due to the shorter distance. I really feel like I’m able to use my legs better and get more weight when I arch correctly.
I notice it a lot when I do my dynamic effort benches with approx. 60-65% of my 1RM. If I’m not in the groove, or not arching as well as I should, the bar will go up quickly, but no wheres near as fast as when I’m arched correctly.
The bar seems to fly up as if my back is a spring-board that’s taking the energy from my legs and sending right into the bar. The bar goes up much faster and feels almost weightless.
My arch got better just from doing it more often (every time I bench), but I’m sure there are other ways too.
[quote]SWR-1222D wrote:
I guess the obvious answer would be to bench with an arch, and keep trying to arch more every time.
I did notice that my back was aching when I first started to arch a lot (relatively), but that subsided once I did it for a few weeks, and I probably shouldn’t have started doing it on my heavy bench days.
I’ve recently been noticing that the arch has helped a lot with my bench, and not only due to the shorter distance. I really feel like I’m able to use my legs better and get more weight when I arch correctly.
I notice it a lot when I do my dynamic effort benches with approx. 60-65% of my 1RM. If I’m not in the groove, or not arching as well as I should, the bar will go up quickly, but no wheres near as fast as when I’m arched correctly.
The bar seems to fly up as if my back is a spring-board that’s taking the energy from my legs and sending right into the bar. The bar goes up much faster and feels almost weightless.
My arch got better just from doing it more often (every time I bench), but I’m sure there are other ways too.[/quote]
Man thats exactly what I was going to say… If I’m not arched right, the bar moves slow, and my upper back like springboards the weight.
I know I’m not arched right when my hip flexors don’t get tight as I bench.
When I bench heavy, I know I was really hitting my groove correctly when even my legs hurts haha
Every time you step foot in the gym practice your bench set up. If possible practice your set up 20-30 times every day. Also trying to improve your hip flexor flexibility should help as well. Good luck.
I don’t know if this is right, its only an observation. But when i was on the wrestling team we did a wrestlers bridge contanly and i also used to bench press alot in that time. My arch was pretty good back then when i was trying to max out. I have since lost that arch a little when i try to max out in that position.
Maybe trying a wrestlers bridge or even a partial back hand spring where you just hit the floor and try to move your feet as close to your hands as possible will increase that arch. I don’t know. Just an idea.
http://www.T-Nation.com/findArticle.do?
Mike Robertson Article on benching with an arch…