My training partner has a habit of twisting during bench. He can handle the weight but his form is terrible and that costs him with his max. Does anybody have any suggestions on what the problem can be? Or how he can fix it?
Tell him to keep his feet flat on the floor… And drive w/ the heels as he pushing bar up… while keeping his rear glued to the bench…
He may need to work on his core stabilty it might be week Abs/lower back… Hope this helps
actually he can’t really handle the weight properly since he is twisting in that manner. he’s probably relying on other muscle groups to help him get the weight up. If he kept a strict form then he would have less chance of injury and greater progress. refer him to the bench press articles in t-mag. laters pk
Agree with pfreakgeakedup or whatever his name is . Tell him to come down to a weight that is’nt man handling him and prctice on slow strict reps with perfect form. Once you learn a bad habit you have to unlearn it then learn the right way. Tell him to let hids ego slide.
pkradgreek is right too the weight could be to heavy…
I’m going to go against the grain here… The weight could be too light. Hold, on. Hold, on.
9 times out of 10 the people I see coming up crooked are just lazy. They use a .0001, bounce, 1 tempo. Focus of form, regardless of the weight. If he can come up crooked with the weight, then pressing it with correct form should not require a drop in weight.
Unless, the weight IS too heavy. I know, way to backpedal.
Next time you see him pressing, note which side is the first up. Is it his dominant side? He could be pressing unevenly because of a muscle imbalance or an injury. Correct the imbalance, or rehab the injury.
I noticed that as i was coming back from a MCL sprain, and fractured tibia, i was squatting with my good leg forward (unconsciously). Not only was this affecting my poundages, but the rest of my body (Back, spine) was taking one hell of a beating. How did i fix this? I broke the cardinal rule of “T”… I stopped squatting. I repaced squat day with unilateral and bilateral machine movements, as well as static and dynamic lunges/stepups, making sure each leg did an equal amount of work. Surprise, Surprise, the problem corrected itself.
Thanks for all the tips. As for the drop in weight we have tried. Feet planted on the floor, also tried. We have used a belt in order to increase intra abdominal pressure. I think the problem arises within a weakness in his lower back. Other the deadlifts what do you suggest? Hyperextensions?
healer if possible have him strength his core area first… Try not to use a belt…
Describe this ‘twisting’.
Yes, please define this twisting.
Sometimes my body will contort when its heavy weight. But I dont twist. Sometimes my legs will lift off the groud and in the air, straight up, if its really heavy.
the twisting, it seems that his torse falls under his right arm in order to utilise other muscles. But his right arm is the dominant arm and the stronger of the two. Though it could be that it is making effort to compensate for the left arm yet the weight doesn’t have to be heavy to see it. It is like his back isn’t strong enough to fight the driving force of his dominant arm.
Dumbell bench with legs up at a 90 degree angle. You can’t twist like this and it helps you feel the “why” you’re twisting part.
You are on the right track. the dominant side of the upper or lower extremities will be the side that the bar dips or twist to, in an effort to let the weaker side get out early. There is also the chance that the tissues of the right and left side have too great of a length and tension varience.