I’ve got a question about bench technique:
I?m trying to improve my form on the bench but theres something I don?t understand. I?m benching powerlifting style with my elbows tucked in by my sides, shoulders pulled back, bringing the bar down to the top of my abs and trying to keep my forearms perpendicular to the floor (i.e. wrists directly above elbows at all times).
The problem is that, the way I understand it, this is supposed to hit my triceps hard (which is what I want) but this seems to be hitting my anterior delts hard instead (with very little load on my triceps) which makes sense as you would only engage the triceps to ?balance? the wrists over the elbows and at the top of the movement there is virtually no load on the triceps at all. I?ve heard it said that moving the bar towards the face as you lift it (instead of pressing in a straight line) may be a symptom of weak triceps as the bar will always seek the stongest path and it seeks to recruit the delts instead. This makes no sense to me. For me if I start the bar higher (mid chest) and I press the bar towards my face as I lift it I seem to hit my triceps much harder and logically this would make sense to me aswell.
I?d really appreciate any thoughts on this.
w-o-i
in any pressing motion there is always tricep and deltoid recruitment. it does not matter from where you start or finish the motion. There are different styles of powerlifting bench techniques. i’m not an expert in that category. If by doing the motion of benching the way you described with the hand position by the upper abdominals, i get a different stretch on my delts then when i have my hands more inline with my chest. People have different body types so what works for some might not work for others. i’m interested to know what the powerlifters think about this issue. laters pk
You may have a weakness in the shoulders which limits the amount of weight you need to use to get a strong lockout. Do board presses and then you will definitely feel it in your tris. I just think of it the way Louie says: If my triceps have the strength to bench 400, but my shoulders only have the strength to bench 300, What is my bench more likely to be? 300, because the shoulders are my weak link and in order to strengthen them I must do special exercises. Continually doing the same bench press my shoulder problem wont get fixed and my triceps will suffer because they arent getting the weight they need to get stronger.
Thanks alot for the responses. Anyone else got any thoights?
I too have had this problem. My solution was to alter the path of the bar when benching. Once the bar has been unracked and set, lower it to your upper abs/lower chest and with arms tucked in push the bar up and ever so slightly towards your feet, almost in effect a decline press. Also use your traps and rear delts as a base to push off on and make sure you arch your back and have the “big stomach” thing happening. You should feel most of the stress on your triceps this way. Of course I’m still learning and can only bench 270 at this point in time, but I hope this helps.
Thanks qwerty. I have been trying this but I am obviously getting it wrong - I seem to feel it much more in my delts than my triceps. I’ll try to do it more like you said and “play” with it a bit. Thanks again.