Bench Pres Form Check (vid)

**AmazinJason** · 08-01-2011, 07:24 PM

185x5

PR by the way for 5 reps. I've never put up 185 pounds before (not even to attempt a 1 rep max before). Felt good being able to put on a 45 and 25 on each side.

Sorry for the poor angle. I had my camera on a small tripod and put it on the ground. Next time I'll try to bring a bench over and put my tripod on top of the bench to get a better angle.

I've been told that my grip width is too wide and that I will probably hurt my shoulders some day. But in the past my shoulders have hurt when I used narrower grips but my shoulder has absolutely no pain at all with the current grip width I'm using right now.

**BarberDex** · 08-01-2011, 07:48 PM

Try to keep your wrist straight you will have more power.

**Suckmykiss** · 08-01-2011, 07:49 PM

Looked pretty good to me from what I could see

**d3m3n** · 08-01-2011, 09:54 PM

Arch yo back son!

**AmazinJason** · 08-01-2011, 10:21 PM

Originally Posted by d3m3n

Arch yo back son!

It is arched. Did you even watch the video? You can clearly see me arching it at around 15 seconds.

**AtomicVeggie** · 08-01-2011, 10:29 PM

Couldn't tell except your last two reps, but make sure you're breathing. Couldn't tell if you were or not for the first few reps.

**AmazinJason** · 08-01-2011, 10:32 PM

Originally Posted by AtomicVeggie

Couldn't tell except your last two reps, but make sure you're breathing. Couldn't tell if you were or not for the first few reps.

Don't worry, I'm breathing. You can hear me breathe out on the positive portion of all my reps if you listen carefully.

**unity** · 08-02-2011, 12:05 AM

your grip is fine. a narrower grip actually increases the internal rotation of the shoulders. the problem with a wide grip is that it gets harder to keep your elbows from flaring out, which is what is bad for the shoulders. you don't appear to have excessive elbow flare right now.

**MK636** · 08-02-2011, 04:42 AM

Keep your feet planted.

**tjwoody** · 08-02-2011, 06:17 AM

looks good to me! but heres me perfecting ya. ive spent a considerable amount of time learning to press cause of bad shoulders and feel 100x better now. never thought id flat press again last year and worked up from 95 lbs working on form.

are u arching the bar? ive learnt at chest just under nipples (or around) and arch back towards head on the up stroke.

ur drive from the feet give tons of power and did look like u were sorta moving them around a bit. u could bring them back more so ur on balls of feet with heels up keeping them under hips and get a ton of drive this way. i bet u could add an easy 10-20 lbs just by doing this.

i like that ur elbow position looked good.

ur wrists could be a bit straighter.

i dont see much arc in lower back. ass stays on bench, lower and middle back really doesnt touch much if at all, and tons of drive off ur shoulder blades. it does looks like u pick ur shoulder blades back before lift which is good. if u need to cheat one up u can bring ass to the point off bench its barely touching.

if u care...

**bbqa001** · 08-02-2011, 10:21 AM

In the last rep you had an imbalance, the bar swayed to one side.

**bbqa001** · 08-02-2011, 10:28 AM

but overall you did great and show great strength to be able to lift that many weights. Congratulation!!!

**PeterGibbons316** · 08-02-2011, 10:48 AM

Hold your breath for the entire set if you can - will help you to stay tight. Keep your feet still. Whatever tightness you had was gone the second you jumped around before your last rep. Your grip looks perfect as your forearms are perpendicular to the bar.

Nice work getting 185 @ 157.

**AmazinJason** · 08-02-2011, 10:59 AM

Thanks for the comments everyone. Appreciate it.

Originally Posted by tjwoody

looks good to me! but heres me perfecting ya. ive spent a considerable amount of time learning to press cause of bad shoulders and feel 100x better now. never thought id flat press again last year and worked up from 95 lbs working on form.

are u arching the bar? ive learnt at chest just under nipples (or around) and arch back towards head on the up stroke.

ur drive from the feet give tons of power and did look like u were sorta moving them around a bit. u could bring them back more so ur on balls of feet with heels up keeping them under hips and get a ton of drive this way. i bet u could add an easy 10-20 lbs just by doing this.

i like that ur elbow position looked good.

ur wrists could be a bit straighter.

i dont see much arc in lower back. ass stays on bench, lower and middle back really doesnt touch much if at all, and tons of drive off ur shoulder blades. it does looks like u pick ur shoulder blades back before lift which is good. if u need to cheat one up u can bring ass to the point off bench its barely touching.

if u care...

Yah I just noticed that my feet are unsteady. I've heard of leg drive but never really bothered to look it up or learned how to do it. I'll look it up tonight.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by PeterGibbons316

Hold your breath for the entire set if you can - will help you to stay tight. Keep your feet still. Whatever tightness you had was gone the second you jumped around before your last rep. Your grip looks perfect as your forearms are perpendicular to the bar.

Nice work getting 185 @ 157.

I'll try holding my breath. And yah I gotta keep my legs steady. And my stupid balls started to itch lol which is why I jumped around... Had to readjust. Thanks.

**PeterGibbons316** · 08-02-2011, 11:07 AM

Leg drive is used to help keep your back tight against the bench. When you bench you are pushing your back down into the bench as much as the weight off your chest. If your back isn't tight against the bench then much of the force meant to lift the weight is wasted pushing your back into the bench. If you arch your back and use your legs to press your back tight against the bench, all the force from your upper body can be put directly into the bar.

Check out Dave Tate's bench press cure, lots of helpful info in here for you:

**pvilla** · 08-02-2011, 01:01 PM

Your getting there. Check out Fitzness.com and read this article on tips for the bench!
http://www.fitzness.com/blog/?p=4999

**JohnnyBravo25** · 08-02-2011, 03:51 PM

DO NOT hold your breath...

Originally Posted by PeterGibbons316

Hold your breath for the entire set if you can - will help you to stay tight. Keep your feet still. Whatever tightness you had was gone the second you jumped around before your last rep. Your grip looks perfect as your forearms are perpendicular to the bar.

Nice work getting 185 @ 157.

**AmazinJason** · 08-02-2011, 06:51 PM

Originally Posted by PeterGibbons316

Leg drive is used to help keep your back tight against the bench. When you bench you are pushing your back down into the bench as much as the weight off your chest. If your back isn't tight against the bench then much of the force meant to lift the weight is wasted pushing your back into the bench. If you arch your back and use your legs to press your back tight against the bench, all the force from your upper body can be put directly into the bar.

Check out Dave Tate's bench press cure, lots of helpful info in here for you:

Alright, thanks for the vid, will check it out.

Originally Posted by pvilla

Your getting there. Check out Fitzness.com and read this article on tips for the bench!
http://www.fitzness.com/blog/?p=4999

Thanks for the article.

Originally Posted by JohnnyBravo25

DO NOT hold your breath...

K lol.

Anyways, I didn't wanna start a new thread and I don't really think you can go TOO wrong with form on a pull up, so I'll just post this here instead.

Bodyweight right before I started my pull ups was 156.8 lbs. Belt weighs 2.5 lbs. Added 30 lbs. So BW+Belt+30 = 189.3.

Any critiques?

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