Finished my first meet bombed my bench.

[chasintail]

So I did my first push/pull meet. Went well and had a great time! However I really bombed my bench press. Was going to do 275-300-315. When I got to my 2nd attempt I held the bar at my chest while I waited for the "press" command. I lost tightness and missed the lift. Got it halfway before I failed. Wasn't use to the pause at the bottom which I'm sure if common problem. Anyways when I was back at my gym yesterday an old timer told me that I wasn't activating my chest on my bench press. I thought this was more of a bodybuilding concept? He said I was pushing with primarily my shoulders and arms which I don't doubt. He said that I've gotta big chest that's not doing much work and that I should be benching a lot more than I am. Anyone ever heard anything like this before?

Here's a couple pics of my first meet. The good news is I did hit a new PR on DL. 430 lbs =)

[308smk]

Train pause reps on your heavy sets, especially as you get closer to the meet. Spoto presses are also good for developing/feeling tension near the bottom of the lift.

[scotpak1979]

Agree with ^^^^^^^^^^^

Also take a vid of u benching and post it here. Plenty here can give great advice to improve form.

[AKGetsStrength]

Bench all of your reps with a competition pause, and add in some reps with a three count pause. Excellent for building strength of the chest.

Second the bench vids, hard to give specific input without it.

[JamesA1990]

so you failed your 2nd n 3rd bench attempts?

not the worst, bombed a lift usually means you failed all of them

[kmc06005]

How wide is your grip?

[ecchastang]

That pic is hard to judge, but it doesn't look like you are set up with much arch and are not in a position to have adequate leg drive.

[Sir_Malak]

Train paused reps as already stated. I like to train them in a power rack with the safety directly on my chest (shoulders back.)

Even the light ones.

Awesome job! You have the strength! Train those mechanics and next time it will be a breeze! Good luck!