With me it’s the exact opposite. As long as I get my elbows where they need to be at the bottom, I’m set.
What’s the bar path/cue that doesn’t hurt?
1 Like
Pulling my elbows out at the bottom. Gets my rotator cuff doing what it should.
An arch like a Russian teenage girl
2 Likes
I think I can tell what’s going on there…
The novice touches lower on the torso. The better path touches higher and starts to go back much sooner and almost ends up straight above the shoulders at about 2/3 lockout.
Am I close? In the ballpark? In the parking lot of the ballpark?
It’s funny. This is nothing like that old J bar path I heard about (or upside down J).
Yep, I think you’re at least here!
I think beginners hear the “tuck your elbows” cue and end up tucking too early (myself included) which leads to the dashed line bar path. Whereas now I’m only tucking my elbows as I approach the bottom of the movement (to externally rotate my shoulders and put them in a safer position at the bottom of the movement where they are most vulnerable). After pressing through the bottom portion of the lift and getting the bar path back closer to “S” (shoulder joint) you’re reducing the moment arm between your shoulder joint and the bar making the forces easier to overcome.
This is kind of from memory from reading the book, so I may have slightly mistaken something as I don’t have it directly in front of me at the moment.
1 Like
I’ve heard and read a lot of cues. Tuck your elbows. Contract your lats. Row the bar to your chest. I’ve tried a few of these but most of my benching has been done however my body wants to do it. I bet if you tracked the bar then you’d see that it doesn’t move very far down the body (towards the waist). My bar path looks pretty straight from my point of view. Maybe I’ll try to tuck my elbows late in the descent like you mentioned.
I’ve also always felt awkward with close grip push ups and bench. I think it’s harder for me because I have longer arms. The bar can end up between my sternum and belly button if I keep my lower arms perpendicular to the ground in the bottom position. That’s a long ways from the pivot point (the shoulder)!
Maybe my natural approach isn’t as bad as I feared.
2 Likes
Ya, I’m definitely still in the learning phase of the lift right now. I feel like some things will start to come together as I go through this upcoming prep and really nail down my form.
“there’s a very strong correlation between bench press strength total upper body muscle thickness. Jacked-ness alone explains about 70-75% of the variation between different lifters’ bench press strength, which means factors like technique and body proportions (like the long arms people like to blame for their subpar bench presses) only account for the other 25-30% when comparing people who are proficient benchers.”
Or maybe you’re just not jacked enough? mwahahaha
1 Like
I’m not saying my arms are responsible for my failure to bench 3 plates. I’m saying my arms might mean that I use a slightly different bar path than folks like you.
What I figured was that tucking isn’t tucking, it’s what @littlesleeper said about external rotation. I’m pretty sure that’s what pulling the bar apart is all about too.
2 Likes
W3D4
SQUATS
135 x 5
225 x 5
275 x 3
315 x 3
335 x 3
385 x 3
405 x 6 ← oops, this was supposed to be 425…
335 x 15 ← Damn, fell short on my widowmaker set. Got to 10reps and I could feel my hamstrings and glutes starting to cramp up on me. Managed to eek out singles to 15 when hams/glutes shut it down. I was afraid my hamstrings were going to completely cramp, but it seems I just barely avoided it. I don’t remember ever being limited like this by my hams/glutes…not sure what to attribute this to.
SUPERSET - picked up both of these movements from the “How to Bench” manual I was reading today.
Push Up Plus - serratus anterior work
20, 15, 15, 15
Incline DB Curls - palms facing out, shoulders externally rotated
15lbs x 15, 15, 15, 15
Followed by:
Ab Wheel
10, 10, 10
6 Likes
Push up + video looked cool. Will try that out some time.
1 Like
I just reread this it would be a little better to move the Squat day to Thursday or Friday so that the 2 Squat days are not so close in the week.
1st time I read that I think I thought Squat and Bench Day 2s were together on Thursday.
Also, when do you row?
You could do something like:
Monday Squat/Bench
Wednesday: Row
Thursday: Squat/Bench
Saturday Dead/Row
1 Like
Good catch! This probably would have become obvious on Wednesday when I wasn’t recovered from Monday’s workout.
Not really programmed as much as it should be. Just kind of treated like assistance and done whenever. Sometimes I’ll row every workout in a week, other weeks it might get skipped completely. I should probably put a bit more emphasis on it…
I like the looks of this. I should probably try and firm up what assistance movements I will be doing each day or else there is a good chance they will just be skipped after the main work.
Yesterday was a holiday Monday and didn’t make it to the gym so today will be my Day 1 of the off-season “Working Title” S1B1. Oh yeaahhhh
1 Like
Working Title - Off-season
Squats
135 x 5
225 x 5
275 x 3
315 x 3
375 x 5
375 x 5
375 x 5 ← slight burning in the area where you would expect a hernia
375 x 5 ← loosened the belt slightly and was careful with my bracing
345 x 6 ← started burning again, so hit my min 6rep target and stopped
Bench
135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 3
255 x 5
255 x 5
255 x 5
255 x 5
225 x 8
Bench felt good. Was testing with letting the bar sink into my chest a bit then exploding the rep up with leg drive off the chest. It felt good at these lighter weights, but not sure once I get up into the bigger weights. Focused on good bar path and speed on the reps.
One Arm Rows
80lb DB x 15, 15, 15, 15
Sweat, and lots of it. Good workout.
5 Likes
Thats an interesting diagram… looks like im benching like a noob
1 Like
Just an idea: You could sneak some veggies into your hamburger patties. steamed, grated zucchini or steamed riced cauliflower. You probably wouldn’t even taste it.
3 Likes
Working Title Off-Season
ROWS
GIANT SET
Pullups
8, 8, 8, 4+2+2, 4+2+2, 5, 5
Barbell Rows
135 x 10
225 x 10
225 x 10 ← starting to use pretty good body english on these. I’m not a very strong barbell rower. I should do them more often…
225 x 10
225 x 10
225 x 10
Strapped up for the later sets.
Hanging Leg Raises
10, 10, 10, 10, 10
Then I did some hook grip work. I did a bunch of reps of rack pulls with a very short ROM (~2").
225 x 5
315 x 3
405 x 2
495 x 2
585 x 1 ← Bar slipping a bit here and blistered me up a bit. Sank the bar too deep and it rolled down a bit taking some skin with it. Hook grip didn’t feel awful tonight, so that’s a plus.
My bodyweight is fluctuating like crazy so I’m not even sure what I weight these days. I was 217.X for 3 days (highest was 217.8lbs upon waking - lifetime weight PR) but then the last two days I’ve been 215.Xlbs and I most definitely have not under-eaten!
5 Likes