Former benchlet reporting in with tips to fix issues that caused my bench to fall behind. If your bench is lagging behind other lifts, including ohp, try looking into some of these cues, don't suffer like i did
The king of cues and the biggest pitfall issue is scalpulae retraction. you're leaving easy pounds on the table if your scalpulae aren't retracted when you bench. I envy you if this is your problem because it's easy as fuck to fix and you probably aren't particularly lagging in any one muscle group
If your issue is that your front delts and pecs are lagging, or you can't activate them, then deload and practice:
A. Bar path: you're not lowering and pressing the bar in a straight line. I'll spare you my own bar path explanation because alan thrall demonstrates it wondefully here youtube.com/watch?v=wKhI-O4HI8M
The horizontal movement at the beginning of the press is what really recruits your pecs and your delts, so if you aren't used to doing this you're probably going to need to deload with proper bar path to work out the imbalance
B. Grip and point of contact: This is also covered in the video, but i don't think he simplified it well enough. All you need to remember is that, at the bottom of the motion, your forearms should be parallel to each other and perpindicular to the bar. The two variables that you manipulate to reach that point are grip width and point of bar contact on your body. Find a width that feels strong for you and adjust how high or low you make contact so that your forearms fit those criteria
A thread about actually helping eachother lift wtf?
Nathan Watson
not enough naked men
Chase Thomas
Thank you for the good thread OP. Wondering how Kazmaier in your example can have such a pure vertical motion in the pic you got, shouldn't the bar be right above the eyes at that point? What muscles are activated when the bar is so far up the torso at that point?
Julian Price
We can have a thread with both.
Brody Smith
yea i'm not entirely sure. perhaps he uses that extra backwards momentum to help with the press so he ends up a bit higher than rack position
Leo Martin
I dont come here for the knowledge
Logan Peterson
>it's like squattig a heavier weight makes you lean forward a little bit
wow
Jace Sanchez
...
Chase Jackson
Good thread. Thanks OP, I'll use these tips on my next workout. I've been retracting, but I've always felt like my bar path is shit but never focused on it.
Eli Parker
>replying without even reading the OP
Adrian Young
yea it's surprisingly important. I didn't realize how vital it was until i made the switch and realized my pecs were weak af
Eli Thomas
>The king of cues and the biggest pitfall issue is scalpulae retraction. you're leaving easy pounds on the table if your scalpulae aren't retracted when you bench. this is hard for me, like I know I'm supposed to do it but I can't seem to. it's hard for me to reach enough to unrack the bar without letting my shoulderblades come apart, and even if I manage to do it, I'm always flat on my back (aside from arch, which I do maintain) after just a couple reps
Wyatt Roberts
Lighter weight until you get it
Carson Brown
this is actually excellent bait, I'm shocked there are only three responses
Ian Ramirez
>All you need to remember is that, at the bottom of the motion, your forearms should be parallel to each other and perpindicular to the bar.
If I did that then my hands would be at the ends of the fucking bar. So no.
Landon Bailey
Scapular retraction feels like it is locking my shoulders in a bad position, and ends up actually hurting them
Joshua Hill
>tfw smacked myself in the face with the bar while benching Wake me up
Easton Rodriguez
...
Landon Morris
How much should your elbows flare on the way back up? In that pic and the video it seems they flare to like 170 degrees.
Bentley Rivera
did Kazmaier die 3/4 the way back up?
Easton Cox
Wait on which side is lifter's head here?
Eli Garcia
Head on the right side. That Thrall video shows why you should be pushing it up closer to your head than when it went down.
Owen Hall
How do you properly fucking retract the scapula?? IM fucking confused, up, back,down or straight back.. please help dear anons..
Camden Miller
so you're telling me I should be pushing the bar down towards my feet at the start of the ascent?
Joshua Lewis
imagine you are putting your scapula into two pockets on your middle back. so in and down.
Ayden Young
do this with your shoulders
up, back, then down
Josiah Lewis
which retard decided right to left was correct formatting. bloody Muslims
Dominic Garcia
Probably because the descent is on the left for the correct ways and you do that first, so you read descent then ascent.
Easton Nguyen
Why can't we just do it the perfect way?
Evan Garcia
because that's bad bar path, user
Ryan Peterson
Nah when you start the press it should be moving diagonally. Vertically away from your torso, and horizontally back towards your shoulders
Aaron Carter
At which path-hand position do you really FEEL your pec muscles are becoming activated like almonds? I had this bizarre experience first time after 5 months of lifting (and it was yesterday) when I arched my back more than ever, so I can probably fit not a hand but two of them between the bench and my back. I really need someone to film me while benching because unlike the squat rack I don't have a place to fit a phone to film it.
Adrian Price
the movement back towards your shoulders when you first start the press engages your pecs and delts, the vertical aspect of it mostly engages triceps
that's why a lot of people find they have better results with incline pressing, it forces you to press with your pecs and delts because of the angle
Blake Fisher
I only realized this a while ago, I felt so fucking dumb. Bench press changed from an exercise I hated to something I kind of like
Jayden Morris
I've been doing DB bench pressing with my arms close to my chest. It's good to overload your chest, but I found that my triceps are lagging which affects lockout on the bb bench press. I also find it easier to know if my bar path is good using DBs than with a barbell.
Ryan Sanchez
try setting up a waterbottle and propping your phone against it, works well especially if the gym is empty and you have a spare bench next to you. or just set it up against your gym bag or on a stool close by.
The arch is going to be more of a by-product from your setup. This was something I never realized and just always imitated. The first video I posted covers an easy way to get a great setup.
You'll know when your setup is done right because when you take the bar on the descent you can feel the eccentric pretty well.... and then it will FLY up on the ascent seemingly out of nowhere. When you get a great setup, even with my poverty ass bench, it can make a weight that felt heavy suddenly feel 20lbs lighter srs.
