Can someone describe for me a proper competition bench press specifically the pause off the chest. I’ve always trained my bench to go down rather slowly with a pause at the bottom, or at very least a touch and go. Never a bounce off the chest because I’v always thought that was a proper bench press. I’m soon to enter my first contest, and I want to be prepared for what I think is my weakest lift. I’ve always thought I struggle with getting my bench up to 300 because I always get it to my chest very slowly and by then I feel spent and can’t get it off my chest. So, I’m kinda stuck at aroung 260-270, and am working very hard to get an attempt at 280 at the comp. Thanks!
ok what they do is when you lower it to your chest, the guy will say “press” when he sees you have the bar totally still and stable. work on military press if you have problems off your chest. I would start making yourself wai 2-3 seconds before pressing on some of your sets if you’ve never done it before.
what Zep said , but I’ll add this…
do ALL your sets with a 2 second pause, including mid-weight warm-ups . and yes , you’ll probably have to back the weight off from normal T&G sets .
2 seconds is longer than a normal meet-pause . so if you train at 2 seconds , you’ll have no prob at the meet .
could be that your descent is too slow . may have to play with this a bit . but dont get sloppy ; slop makes the bar harder to control in the hole .
other more experienced P-lifters may have better suggestions than mine
First, I’m assuming you are benching raw, since you didn’t mention anything about shirts.
You want to lower the bar with enough control so you can stay tight in the bottom position, but not so slowly that you burn any energy. Realistically a 2 second pause in competition would be brutal. I don’t think I’ve ever had to hold it for more than a full second. Some judges give the press command almost the moment it touches the chest, others will make you hold it a little longer.
Usually the judging is consistent between lifters, so watch the guys in front of you and see how long they are pausing.
Also, you could check youtube for competition videos. Search for the federation that you will be competiting in, and include the words raw or unequipped. Make sure it’s a competition lift, and not a training video. Good luck.
Thanks guys, I appreciate the feedback. I’ll work on speeding up the descent during these next few weeks. Tried to get to a meet a couple weeks ago to watch the competitors, but it had been cancelled.
What federation? Not all of them have the same rules and commands.
[quote] Matt wrote:
What federation? Not all of them have the same rules and commands.[/quote]
USAPL Michigan. I found their web site, and just started to read their rules to see what if anything I can find about the bench rules.
RULE CHANGE - 2007 During the Benchpress part of the competition, the head, sholders and buttocks must maintain contact with the bench, and the feet must be flat on the platform or blocks. Also the Press command will be given by the head referee after a visable stop at the chest.
This is the only thing I can find specific to the bench press. That pretty much tells me what I need to know.
Set up in a squat rack. Put the bar on the pins and load it up. Try to have it sit right above your chest. Then just Press it from a dead stop. Another good way to practice the press part from a dead stop.
I’m not sure whether it’s still the case with the IPF, but in addition to that you’ll be given a “start” command after you receive the bar at arms length and display control over it, and a “rack” command once you’ve locked it out and displayed control.
Pre-empting or not listening to either of these will usually result in a failed lift.
Also, once the press command is received, the bar may not dip on the way up. Uneven extenstion, to an extent, is ok I believe but both arms must be locked out at the same time. A stall is also ok provdied there is no downward movement (but typically even a flat out stall will get reds).
You can also go to YouTube and search “USAPL Bench Press” or “IPF Bench Press” for pretty clear example of what the judging looks like.
[quote]Hanley wrote:
I’m not sure whether it’s still the case with the IPF, but in addition to that you’ll be given a “start” command after you receive the bar at arms length and display control over it, and a “rack” command once you’ve locked it out and displayed control.
Pre-empting or not listening to either of these will usually result in a failed lift.
Also, once the press command is received, the bar may not dip on the way up. Uneven extenstion, to an extent, is ok I believe but both arms must be locked out at the same time. A stall is also ok provdied there is no downward movement (but typically even a flat out stall will get reds).[/quote]
This is exactly correct I’ll emphasis THREE COMMANDS after un racking the bar
1- START! this is said the judge when the bar is motionless at the top
2- PRESS! after the decent and the bar is motionless on your chest (this will seem like forever!)
3- RACK! once the bar is locked out (uneven extension is OK but MUST be even lock out), and motionless.
failure to complete the lift, dipping of the bar after its off the chest, moving your feet, butt off the bench, failure to obey commands = RED LIGHT; my first meet, second press I jumped the gun, smoked the lift, nice and clean, but red lighted for jumping the gun, third attempt was a good one too, three whites!
Unless you are the first lifter you will get a chance to observe how the refs are calling it, LONG strict pause or fast. its good to practice in the gym with someone saying the commands so you get used to it.
In my experience there’ll usually be some leeway if the judge knows the lifter is a first timer and isn’t challenging for an overall placing, record or title. It’s an unwritten rule obviously, but if you wanted to put it into the judges head by mentioning you were a first timer and weren’t too sure of the rules so could they clarify, you might get the benefit of the doubt if you were a little bit before the press or rack calls!
I’ve had to wait about 3 seconds on one of my press attempts at my last meet. Might be why i didn’t even make a lift in the bench 
[quote]Hanley wrote:
In my experience there’ll usually be some leeway if the judge knows the lifter is a first timer and isn’t challenging for an overall placing, record or title. It’s an unwritten rule obviously, but if you wanted to put it into the judges head by mentioning you were a first timer and weren’t too sure of the rules so could they clarify, you might get the benefit of the doubt if you were a little bit before the press or rack calls![/quote]
This is a good point. I always recommend that a first timer contact the meet director ahead of time. The director will often make it known to the head judge that it’s your first time.
My first meet was supposed to be a push/pull, but on the day of the meet they decided to throw the Squat in there to make it a full meet. I hadn’t practiced any of the commands, and on my first attempt, I jumped the gun on the re-rack. Just as I started to step back into the rack, the judge was saying “Rack It.” He gave me one of those looks that said “Don’t do it again.” and then held up the White Flag. I’m sure that if I’d been an experience lifter I would have gotten a Red.
Wow! Tons of great tips. I really appreciate the help guys. I’m getting pretty excited about my first meet.
Good luck and let us know how you do.
Every meet is a bit different and they might judge a bit different up in MI. However, in my limited experience in USAPL, I seemed like the judges wanted you to hold that shit on your chest (and they do mean chest- not upper abs, not solarplexus- but lower pecs) for a good long while. I am often surprised by the lifts they turn down.
So- yeah- train with a pronounced and unquestionable pause. Either that or switch federations.