[quote]lil power wrote:
Snap, are you doing any weighted ab work? [/quote]
No. I’m open to suggestions. I’m such a girl lazy with ab work. Your comments about strong core = strong squats motivate me.
[/quote]
Some suggestions from my coach, since I don’t like doing abs either:
-Cable Rope Crunches (or w/heavy band)
-Decline Weighted Sit Ups (weight or bands)
-V-ups holding heavy med ball or wearing make weights
-Knees or toes-to-bar w/ankle weights
-V- Crunch Ab machine
-Allen Core Wheel w/Ankle weights
I also added weight planks for time, thanks to Bobbi…
and DB Obliques
I know squat (pun intended) about benching, but watching that video made me uneasy -that little “skip”, or form break, in the middle of your press, makes me think your brain shut down what you wanted to do, and forced you to compensate with another motion, using a different muscle(s); compensation is never good when you are doing something which involves an injured body part.
I hope that didn’t sound too dramatic, and I hope what I said made some sense.
Use your back to roll your shoulders under on the handoff.
How much DB work do you do. The long lean arms can be combatted with alot of DB work, which will also take pressure off of the joints.
The DBs will aid in stability, as long as you push it and get a good stretch and contraction.
Also,…if your shoulder is that bad, then start doing competition grip board work as opposed to close grip work. The closer your grip comes in, the more pressure can be put on your shoulder as you lower the bar.
Use your back to roll your shoulders under on the handoff.
How much DB work do you do. The long lean arms can be combatted with alot of DB work, which will also take pressure off of the joints.
The DBs will aid in stability, as long as you push it and get a good stretch and contraction.
Also,…if your shoulder is that bad, then start doing competition grip board work as opposed to close grip work. The closer your grip comes in, the more pressure can be put on your shoulder as you lower the bar.
[quote]punnyguy wrote:
I know squat (pun intended) about benching, but watching that video made me uneasy -that little “skip”, or form break, in the middle of your press, makes me think your brain shut down what you wanted to do, and forced you to compensate with another motion, using a different muscle(s); compensation is never good when you are doing something which involves an injured body part.
[/quote]
I agree. My bench looks unstable and bad in many ways.
[quote]LSUPOWERDC wrote:
How much DB work do you do. The long lean arms can be combatted with alot of DB work, which will also take pressure off of the joints.
The DBs will aid in stability, as long as you push it and get a good stretch and contraction.
[/quote]
I do very little. I still have a huge imbalance that needs to be corrected.
[quote]LSUPOWERDC wrote:
Also,…if your shoulder is that bad, then start doing competition grip board work as opposed to close grip work. The closer your grip comes in, the more pressure can be put on your shoulder as you lower the bar. [/quote]
I’ve heard the opposite: the wider the grip the more stress on the shoulder. And consequently I’ve narrowed my competition grip to engage more triceps and less shoulder. Who’s right here?
I do board work with my competition grip.
You know, I can watch other people’s vids and spot form violations so easily. I can watch my own vids and spot form violations. But I can’t seem to fix them. Whenever I watch my vids, I can’t help thinking I look like an endurance athlete trying to be a powerlifter. Like it’s a bad fit.
A wider grip can bring the shoulders more into play on the push up.
But on the way down to the chest, a closer grip can put pressure on the front of the shoulder because the closer grip may require you to roll your shoulders somewhat to touch.
[quote]kpsnap wrote:
You know, I can watch other people’s vids and spot form violations so easily. I can watch my own vids and spot form violations. But I can’t seem to fix them.[/quote]
I know exactly what you mean. It’s one thing to be able to spot the faults, it’s another thing entirely to know how to fix them. The DB idea does make sense to me though. It will require much more work from your stabilisers than a barbell does. But I too would be a bit fearful what with your shoulder history and all.
oh my god snap! you do NOT suck at benching!! NO NO NO! You are great despite all the long arms and surgery stuff, don’t get discouraged!! You mustn’t!
front squats are fantastic!! sigh…those will definitely help your core for sure–they make my abs feel like blocks in a good way. …sometimes biceps too but i’m not sure if that’s good or bad.
No problem getting powerlifting depth even with a pretty wide stance. Hit the pins on my fourth rep and had to really work to recover. I’m strongly considering squatting with this stance at my next meet.
Finished up with seated lat pulldown, weighted hypers, paused shrugs, and planks.
No problem getting powerlifting depth even with a pretty wide stance. Hit the pins on my fourth rep and had to really work to recover. I’m strongly considering squatting with this stance at my next meet.
Finished up with seated lat pulldown, weighted hypers, paused shrugs, and planks.[/quote]
I think you will be happy with your decision. Ultimately, it will generate more power under the bar and your numbers will go up. I’m constantly surprised at your depth with such a wide stance.
Those were beautiful squats. The wide position looks like it really works for you, and it would be interesting to see how you like it in competition.
With regard to bench, I’m vowing to work more with DBs. My left side is quite a bit weaker than my right side, so maybe that is one reason why my bench numbers suck so bad.
I did DB work today. Bottom line is that my recovering shoulder is discernibly weaker, less stable, and tighter than my other one. In addition, I found flat bench DB pressing to be painful and tricky as far as tracking properly with my bad shoulder. I even have doubts as to whether all the cuff muscles are working. Consequently, I’m going to stop adding pounds to the bar in bench at this point in an effort to buy time to strengthen surrounding muscles and stave off another potential injury.
Which means that the best I will be able to bench at my meet next month will be 47.5 kg at a bodyweight of roughly 50 kg. Not impressive. But it’s the best I can hope for at this point.
