Hey everyone,
I’ve asked you all before to help me out with my squat and deadlift form and received some excellent advice. I’m now looking to improve my bench press and am hoping that I can use this medium to get some pointers, especially since I know that there are some very impressive benchers in this forum.
Here’s a video of my 120 kg/264 lb single with a “competition” pause. This was performed at an RPE of about 9.5, so it’s near-maximal but not all-out.
I notice that my elbows are flaring a bit, although this isn’t as pronounced here as in near-maximal touch-and-go sets. My immediate impression is that I might be touching down a bit low on my sternum, but I might be wrong here.
I also believe I need to work on my general back strength: when fresh, I can perform about 17-18 reps with my bodyweight (86 kg) on the bar, but can only perform about 15-16 consecutive chin-ups.
Anyways, here’s the video. I’m appreciative of any and all input that you might be able to provide me.
You’ll probably have a very hard time building a good I Bench when you’re that slim. If you want to really get your Bench moving, start training it several times a week and gain some
Hi, thanks for your input. Yes, I understand that I’m relatively slim for my height. I’m working on slowly gaining weight and have put on about 12 kg in one and a half years, which I consider decent considering my age (30) and goals. In this timespan I wager that my bench max has increased by about 15-17 kg. Ideally, I’d like to reach a bodyweight of 90 kg by the end of the year.
I’d be grateful if you could go into more detail about your post. I am currently training bench twice per week. What do you suggest in terms of a high-frequency program? And do you have any technique advice?
In my opinion, which isnt worth much honestly, your technique wasnt too bad. If I may offer a few points though:
- Try touching a bit higher. It looked like you touched on the upper ab area. Try touching just below your nipple. I used to touch as low as you did and when I moved it, I could feel my chest working more, so my bench went up.
2)It looks like you are on your toes. Try benching flat footed one time, just to give it a go. Again, I used to bench up on my toes and I found I was able to get more leg drive when I placed my feet flat on the floor.
Stability looked good, you kept your arch, back looked reasonably tight, not to bad.
Thanks, Chicksan, for your feedback! I’ll try to touch a bit further up and see how that pans out. It looks as though my elbows are somehow defaulting into a path in the concentric that is somewhat higher up my sternum than on the way down.
I know it’s hard to see from that camera angle, but I bench flat-footed (according to my national fed’s rules). I do set up on my toes and then place my feet flat on the ground. I’ve got pretty long legs so I’ve been working on spreading them apart in order to keep my knees below my hips and prevent my butt from rising off of the bench.
[quote]kgildner wrote:
Thanks, Chicksan, for your feedback! I’ll try to touch a bit further up and see how that pans out. It looks as though my elbows are somehow defaulting into a path in the concentric that is somewhat higher up my sternum than on the way down.
I know it’s hard to see from that camera angle, but I bench flat-footed (according to my national fed’s rules). I do set up on my toes and then place my feet flat on the ground. I’ve got pretty long legs so I’ve been working on spreading them apart in order to keep my knees below my hips and prevent my butt from rising off of the bench.[/quote]
Ok, I just saw the set up on the toes and then I couldnt see your feet from there. Good luck
I’ll second the notion that you’re touching the bar very low on the chest.
Back strength may be an issue, but I wouldn’t look at the # of chinups you can do as an indicator. Much like using max-predictors for sets with 10+ reps gets a bit wonky, with that many reps you’re not just judging “strength” but endurance becomes a factor as well. 15 chins vs. 18 chins doesn’t tell us much about top-end strength, IMO. Do you do much in the way of barbell rows, weighted chins, etc?
Hey AG, thanks for your response! I’m going to work on keeping the bar up a bit. I’ve got (somewhat) long arms and bench with a mid-width grip (with the ring between my middle and ring fingers). Maybe this kind of leverage automatically makes me bring the bar down a bit too far on my sternum. I’ll try to whittle away at that.
I typically perform higher-rep bodyweight pull-ups on one day per week and some heavyish row variation another day in the week. I also do a fair amount of upper-back/rear-delt work (band PAs between sets and at home, face pulls). During volume phases I’ll do a lot more work, during peaking phases a bit less. What do you find can especially increase lat strength with a transfer to the bench press?
Your form isn’t bad. What does your training look like? You mention that you bench twice per week, but what does that actually look like?
Hey man, thanks for your input!
I run a 5/3/1 protocol for bench on my main days, performing everything but the top set with (brief) pauses. I then usually work up to some heavy paused singles. On my second day I perform bench press following OHP and focus on either close-grip paused bench at lower intensities (70-80%) at higher reps (6-10), or later in my cycle on heavier paused work (85%+ for up to triples) while focusing on bar speed. Every now and then I’ll throw in some floor presses.
I’d like to give a higher-frequency program a shot at some point, but I’d be interested in hearing what you think of my current training. Interestingly, I’ve gained the most on my bench during and immediately following periods of high-frequency squat training.