Taken from a PM I just sent someone that was having trouble “touching” in a double denim…I figured this might help some people:
Well, we could go a lot of ways on this one, but assuming your shirt fits properly (you use a Karin’s, right?) here’s what I can suggest to help you touch…by the way, it’s nothing groundbreaking and I’m sure any knowledgable lifter could probably tell you the same things:
1)Make sure you have a decent arch (some like to arch, some don’t), or at the very least, take all the air you can into your stomach and push it out.
2)Bring the bar out AS FAR AS POSSIBLE without dumping it; this is where I prefer to begin the descent with a denim. This is key. Bring it right over the spot you want to touch at, which will probably be the highest point of your upper abs.
3)Lower the bar as fast as you can under control. The speed you pick up will help you to get the damn bar to touch, and will also help get more “spring” out of the shirt at the bottom.
4)If you can’t touch with the above steps, try to SLIGHTLY curl up a bit as if doing a crunch while lifting your head up a bit. Make sure not to lose the tightness and/or arch in your upper back and traps when doing this.
5)Some guys will “row” the bar to the spot to touch if they have to.
6)Some guys like to tilt their hands forward a bit to touch the bar while simultaneously “rowing” it a bit. I personally don’t know how the hell they tilt their hands forward without dumping the bar, but they do (we’re talking 600+lb benchers here…I guess their wrists/forearms are just strong as fuck).
That’s really all the general points I can think of right now. I realize that if you talk to some of the Metal Militia guys, or any other gym for that matter, you may get differing opinions, but this is what works for me and many of the lifters at my gym. Also, seeing you bench is obviously the best way to pinpoint a problem, but hopefully some of this helps.
Touch that bar and bench big,
Steve