Bench press form help!

[Coach]

Here are two videos. a 205 x 1, and a 215 x 0. I honestly have no idea why my bench is lagging soo far behind my 315 squat and 405 deadlift. Critique away

[BukAndrew]

I don't know if it's the angle, but are your feet not flat against the ground?

[Graeme]

The bar doesn't travel in a straight line either bro. As soon as you lift the bar, it looks like your shoulders come off the bench far enough to mess up any tightness that you had established. It also doesn't look like you are pushing through your legs to initiate the press from your chest.

[Spartigus]

My bench sucks as well, but your benching more than me lol.

It might be the angle, but it looks like your hands and elbows arent always inline?

How tight is your body? Greame nailed that part though I think.

Though I am far from an expert on the bench.

Overall it looks pretty good, it looks like you just need to practice a few small things and youll nail it hard!

[BigL]

For one plant your feet on the ground. Then keep your arms inline with your shoulders. And it may be me but I am not a fan of bouncing the bar off my chest. Good luck you will get through it.

[sahorn]

Back arch, back arch, and more back arch!

[BigJosh]

Your legs are moving around too much. Plant your feet. And it's hard to tell for sure, but it seems like your butt is moving around or even coming off the bench. Plant it.

[Doug9x]

For one plant your feet on the ground. Then keep your arms inline with your shoulders. And it may be me but I am not a fan of bouncing the bar off my chest. Good luck you will get through it.

I'm confused by what you mean

Do you mean by 'plant feet on ground' that his feet should be flat on the ground? Or you mean his heel drive should be more firm?

If the first, the feet are planted like this to aid a good back arch to allow better leg drive to allow a heavier weight to be pressed (if done correctly). Many powerlifters use this heel drive approach.

[fatboyjay]

He must have watched the " so you think you can bench" videos cause they teach power lifting technique and that is how they put there feet but there legs don't move they just help to plant your ass to the bench and keep your lower body tight. It looks like your not keeping your lower body tight and in turn trying to use your hips to work that weight up. Your lifting more than me but I was under the idea that you concentrate on your pecs pushing weight

[StewieB]

You have the worst spotter ever.

[Coach]

Yea as soon as i lost momentum on the 215 my lower body went to ****! I was under the impression you want your heels just above the ground in order to keep tension and so that u have room to drive them to the ground.... i guess i need to keep my feet flat?

IMO from the angle my elbows are under my wrists... do you guys think differently?

I will definitely work on pulling the bar forward and keeping my tension rather than lifting off

So u guys think just a few small things would enable me to start progressing?

[Spartigus]

Its also a good idea to not just push down on your feet, but to push horizontally as well, so try and use your feet to push your back into an arch. This will help keeping a strong arch and a solid body.

What will happen is something will click, you will make a little adjustment and youll hit 300lbs before you know it!

[Aurik]

The fact that your knees are wobbling on the 215 attempt tells me that you aren't tight enough. Your entire body should be rock solid (or as solid as possible) to give you a stable base.

Squeeze the crap out of the bar, and try to pull it apart on the way down. This will tighten your lats and give you a bigger chest. On the way back up, press it off your chest and squeeze the crap out of it. Your knuckles should be white from squeezing the bar so hard.

Also your spotter needs to understand how to spot on a max effort lift. On a ME or 1RM lift, the spotter's job is to keep the lifter safe; once the lifter fails on the lift, then your only job is to keep bar from hitting the lifter and get it back to the rack. A spotter's job is NOT to ensure the lifter completes the lift.

Hope this helps, Brad.

[BigJosh]

The fact that your knees are wobbling on the 215 attempt tells me that you aren't tight enough. Your entire body should be rock solid (or as solid as possible) to give you a stable base.
.

^^I agree with this assessment.

[sahorn]

The fact that you can only lift a couple hundred pounds tells me you have not been eating ****.

[Shmoclo]

3 - 4 years exp with a 205 bench? son....

[Spartigus]

3 - 4 years exp with a 205 bench? son....

There is "benching", and doing that everyone can bench plenty of weight, which is what you and other wanna be lifters do.

Then there is benching, which is what coach does, and it takes a lot of time to develop it, it is the proper way to bench, and it is harder than what you do. Also when you consider coach weighs around 180lbs, and is benching 205lbs, thats a pretty good effort.

[Wikkelspies]

3 - 4 years exp with a 205 bench? son....

No offence, but if your details are correct, which says you have less than 6 months experience, how would you know what to expect after 3-4 years of lifting?

[Ripped64]

Actually he joined the forum in late 2008, i assume like many he has just forgotten to change his workout experience..

I must agree though, for someone named "coach" and has been training "properly" for 3+ years 205lbs bench at 180lbs bw isnt good.

But i guess we all have our lifting flaws.

[Wikkelspies]

Actually he joined the forum in late 2008, i assume like many he has just forgotten to change his workout experience..

I must agree though, for someone named "coach" and has been training "properly" for 3+ years 205lbs bench at 180lbs bw isnt good.

But i guess we all have our lifting flaws.

Fair enough, but then again he might be one of those who joined the forum, trained for 3 months, quit, and then started training again after a couple of years

[Spartigus]

Actually he joined the forum in late 2008, i assume like many he has just forgotten to change his workout experience..

I must agree though, for someone named "coach" and has been training "properly" for 3+ years 205lbs bench at 180lbs bw isnt good.

But i guess we all have our lifting flaws.

Who is to say his bench press is even his focus? How many fighters or athletes do you hear saying "Man if i could of bench 20lbs more I would of won". None say that, because bench press is not important to all people... The only people who say that are powerlifters, and thats because part of their sport and athleticism is a big bench. But even then, the meet only starts when the bar hits the floor, so still the main focus might be deadlift.


Me for example, the only reason I bench is to build my chest. I care more about my squat, deadlift, snatch and clean and jerk. I do that because I do Muay Thai, and I train for explosive power and strength. I know where bench press fits in my routine, its to build my chest and arms, and to help a bit with strength. But my main focus is squat, deadlift, snatch and clean and jerk.

Do you know why a lot of athletes dont care about bench? Its because the place you generate power from is your glutes, legs and lower back (and hip flexors to an extent).

I think Coach's focus (from what I can remember) is a sport?

[JarheadFMJ]

3 - 4 years exp with a 205 bench? son....

I believe he already knows his bench isn't his strongest point, which is why he said it "sucks" and asked for "critique". Your post is useless.

[JMango]

He doesn't need help anyway. He's a conditioning and strength coach or something like that.

[Doug9x]

3 - 4 years exp with a 205 bench? Son....

tool.

[JTurnerUK]

Definitely worth a watch if you haven't seen them. Dave Tate's So You Think You Can Bench?

http://articles.elitefts.com/article...you-can-bench/