Vasily Aleexev broke Serge Redding’s 502 press world record three minutes after it was set. The only problem was that Vasily had a hell of a knee kick in his press…and the biased judges passed the lift.
1 Like
I vaguely remember watching the 1972 Olympics, but I was only 7 years old and don’t remember the weightlifting, and I think that was the year that happened. Also the last year they had the press as an event.
My first vivid weightlifting memory is watching the 1976 Olympics, ABC did an extended piece about Vasily Alexeev, his daily routine, eating training and such, and I was in awe!
1 Like
Just to throw my 2 cents in, strict just means no leg drive. You can backbend on a strict press. It becomes necessary with logs and axles due to increased diameter.
5 Likes
Wanted to address this…dont over think it. There are plenty of decent benchers whom I have meet whom dont focus on leg drive or tend to bench in a straight line. In the scheme of things its almost a individual thing. Can those things have a effect on your bench ? Depends. My 2 cents is that they wont make up for a weak muscle group a person might have.
2 Likes
I threw on some heavy weight and attempted to mess around with the leg drive in the correct direction. It felt very awkward, and I think what was happening was that I was focusing so much on my leg drive, that I lost focus in my pushing muscles. Felt off.
I attempted It again and instead of focusing on the leg drive, I just told myself to remember the correct direction to push with my legs, and I felt it all come together much more smoothly.
I think I was focusing too much on the leg drive and completely lost mind muscle connection with my chest/tri’s and other pushing muscles.
I did 205 3x3 and felt great, leg drive was kicking in right where it should and I was keeping the mind muscle connection with my pushing muscles.
When I stopped focusing on it and just remembered it as a cue, it went much better.
1 Like
Is perfecting your technique moving you towards your goal or is it just keeping you distracted?
In other words, is your goal to get bigger and stronger or is it to move more weight?
We are talking about my bench. My technique still needs to be improved. My legs were coming OFF the floor beforehand. Needed to get that fixed.
Why?
That’s a genuine question by the way, not meant to be snarky.
What do you gain by improving the technique on the bench?
I’m confused.
Proper mechanics. Better weight movement management. Safety? LOL
Technique will come in time…just dont loose focus on the big picture.
2 Likes
What I’m trying to get at is that if all you’re looking to do is get bigger and stronger, your technique just needs to be good enough to not get injured. Any more time after that polishing technique is wasted. Improving technique doesn’t get you bigger or stronger, it gives you better technique. In my opinion that is only useful to you if you’re a competitive powerlifter or your doing something that’s going to hurt yourself and stop you training.
Proper technique allows you to move bigger weight though. Correct me if I am wrong.
You SHOULD be able to move more weight on the bench when using leg drive properly, as opposed to what I was doing, pushing straight up , sometimes losing contact with the floor.
Now that I have remedied that problem, my bench feels more stable.
1 Like
Moving more weight is not necessarily bigger or stronger though.
If Dave Tate came to your gym and perfected your bench technique in such a way as to add 50lbs to it in one session, did you get 50lbs stronger? Or did you just improve technique?
1 Like
I’m not disagreeing with you. But I am very confused where this is going.
I’m maybe not communicating as I should, apologies.
My point is simply that time spent honing technique is not time spent getting bigger and stronger.
2 Likes
I agree.
Total time polishing my bench technique was about 20 minutes watching an Alan Thrall Video, and about 10 minutes practicing it
. I am definitely not overly focused on just technique, but I feel its super important for me to get these things correct, before I continue to advance into heavier weight.
Not too over complicate things…
1 Like
Have a look at Mike Ts (reactive training systems) talk about form on youtube for some perspective.
Note: Mike has injury issues but that is more to do with the outrageous volume he chases than form IMO.
1 Like
Thanks ill watch when I finish lifting later.
1 Like
One week closer to my body weight press as well 