The Bench Form Thread

[davisj3537]

I recently had a lot of shoulder pain when reaching a new PR and had to stop benching and take a week off, now will be doing a few rehab exercises.

I have slightly rounded shoulders, I am going to fix this by adding some additional rehab rotator cuff exercises such as reverse flys as well as proper stretching before workout out, and on off days.

as for bench,
I have trouble keeping my shoulders back and shoulder blades tight against the bench.
shoulders seems to always naturally roll forward and back relaxes.

any tips of how to correct this?

First off lets fix the rounded shoulders. This is really common in unbalanced routines. I'd stop benching and put a bunch of emphasis into upper back work. I tried to continue benching and do twice as much pulling as pushing and it took me a year to fix the imbalance. This should help.



As for keeping your shoulders back. I found this the hardest out of all the form aspects of bench. "Bending the bar" helps. Start with just the bar and focus on keeping it all pulled back for each rep. Over the course of 6-8 weeks you should get it down pretty good.

[unstrong]

Not sure if you train alone, but personally I also find it 10x easier to keep my shoulder blades retracted when I get a liftoff. It's hard to get that tightness and retraction back once it's gone.

[HDiddy747]

First off lets fix the rounded shoulders. This is really common in unbalanced routines. I'd stop benching and put a bunch of emphasis into upper back work. I tried to continue benching and do twice as much pulling as pushing and it took me a year to fix the imbalance. This should help.

As for keeping your shoulders back. I found this the hardest out of all the form aspects of bench. "Bending the bar" helps. Start with just the bar and focus on keeping it all pulled back for each rep. Over the course of 6-8 weeks you should get it down pretty good.

Yeah, before I actually got on a real routine (allpro, then ICF with a few substitute exercises,) I just did whatever I felt like whenever I felt like it.
Naturally, it has a hell of a lot of pushing exercises, only one row, which was pretty rare, and no legs.

Stop benching completely? Can I just reduce the volume, or do any other chest exercise in the mean time? Cable flys?


Thank you very much for the advice and that video, I really like scooby and his video has a lot of good info!

Not sure if you train alone, but personally I also find it 10x easier to keep my shoulder blades retracted when I get a liftoff. It's hard to get that tightness and retraction back once it's gone.

yes, i do train alone.
and i always prefer the spotter to not touch the bar, not even to help with a lift.
i might just practice with the bar only and slowly add weight and focus on that every time until i get it right

[davisj3537]

Stop benching completely? Can I just reduce the volume, or do any other chest exercise in the mean time? Cable flys?

I'm telling you I tried it and it took me a year...granted the amounts we bench are greatly different. Do whatever you like, but keep an eye out for progress...if there isn't progress then things should change.

[HDiddy747]

I'm telling you I tried it and it took me a year...granted the amounts we bench are greatly different. Do whatever you like, but keep an eye out for progress...if there isn't progress then things should change.

Yeah you're right.
I'll just stick to benching under 100 lbs and focus on form and squeezing the shoulder blades together.

[davisj3537]

Yeah you're right.
I'll just stick to benching under 100 lbs and focus on form and squeezing the shoulder blades together.

I'm sure you'll do great. Best of luck.

[davisj3537]

This response is under the assumption you are trying to adopt more of a PL style of press.

The arch looks great for a first time trying to emphasize it. If you continue to work on flexibility it will continue to improve. It is hard to see any form breakdown with such light weight. You rocked those out pretty easy. There are only three things that jumped out at me. You've clearly got all the basics down. Just a few minor changes and you'll be looking pretty legit.

Negatives
1. Your wrist position slowly rocks back over the course of your set. The last rep shows them fairly bent. Not a huge deal as it only showed up under fatigue.
2. Your bar path is very high leading to flared elbows. This isn't always wrong, but something to be mindful of. With high reps I don't have a problem with this, but a 1RM attempt wouldn't be shoulder friendly. The easiest way to fix this is the lower your bar path down to the highest point on your sternum. It will feel weird at first, but will result in a stronger press once your triceps learn to pull their own weight. Due to the high bar path and narrow grip I also suspect your elbows don't remain under your wrists. Hard to tell from the angle. You may consider widening the grip just a bit.
3. I can't see your setup.

Positives
1. You aren't moving around much
2. Your shoulders didn't facilitate the liftoff
3. Your reps are fairly consistent in nature.

Setup is a pretty important part of setting an arch, maintaining tightness and proper positioning. Here are the two most popular methods.

Most widely used setup I think



This is another method to consider shown at 2:10 of this video.

[BombDonald]

This is another method to consider shown at 2:10 of this video.

Those are both good set-ups, but you have to be gawd damn flexible to use the first one. I know the woman in that video and she is a very, very technical lifter with tremendous mobility.

The 2nd one is money for most people IMO. You don't necessarily have to mimic the foot positioning and arching (he possesses very good flexibility/mobility as well), but it's a great way to set the shoulders.

[LadyLore420]

Yo bench experts, gimme a form critique on my bench bridge:



My shoulder is bad and I can only bench with flared elbows without it clickin and hurting and stuff, so don't be hollerin bout my friggin elbows. Anything else is kay.

[davisj3537]

Those are both good set-ups, but you have to be gawd damn flexible to use the first one. I know the woman in that video and she is a very, very technical lifter with tremendous mobility.

The 2nd one is money for most people IMO. You don't necessarily have to mimic the foot positioning and arching (he possesses very good flexibility/mobility as well), but it's a great way to set the shoulders.

Her foot positioning shows extremely good flexibility. I linked the video just to show the "plant the feet and swing through" method.


Lore, I guess you deleted your post and reposted it. My critique wouldn't change, just remove the portion about elbow flare. I'd still widen your grip a tad.

[LadyLore420]

Her foot positioning shows extremely good flexibility. I linked the video just to show the "plant the feet and swing through" method.


Lore, I guess you deleted your post and reposted it. My critique wouldn't change, just remove the portion about elbow flare. I'd still widen your grip a tad.

Thanks, I'll try that bridge next week, or just use that as a good warmup for deads and low bars.

[davisj3537]

Thanks, I'll try that bridge next week, or just use that as a good warmup for deads and low bars.

With a little practice you'll do great.

[unstrong]

Davis in that second video, what's your take on how wide he grips the bar? Seems crazy wide. It seems like everyone has a different style on grip width.

[davisj3537]

Davis in that second video, what's your take on how wide he grips the bar? Seems crazy wide. It seems like everyone has a different style on grip width.

I can't watch it on mobile. I do remember him having a wide grip and using a pretty flared approach. For most lifters this is a poor approach. Experienced lifters can/do break nearly any rule.

[jaykav]

It really helps a lot when you arch your back, but only when you struggle on the final rep...still a bad habit though

[davisj3537]

It really helps a lot when you arch your back, but only when you struggle on the final rep...still a bad habit though

Please drop more knowledge on me. You sound like you really know your stuff. Personal trainer right?

[LadyLore420]

Just dropping in to see if I got that leg drive down.

[davisj3537]

Can't watch on mobile. I'll check it later

I'm gonna post it in your log.

[GarethKeenan]

I can nip my shoulder blades together when upright but I can't when im laying down with the bar in my hands.
any tips?

[davisj3537]

I can nip my shoulder blades together when upright but I can't when im laying down with the bar in my hands.
any tips?

"bend the bar" A little outward pressure on your hand positioning goes a long way.

[35memo]

I can nip my shoulder blades together when upright but I can't when im laying down with the bar in my hands.
any tips?

I had the same problem. I dropped ALL the weight and worked on it for about a week. I did my usual reps and sets, but only with the bar. Like Davis said, "bending the bar" helps.

[adi4fitness]

Well It doesn't talk much about where the bar lands on the chest.

[MyEgoProblem]

Well It doesn't talk much about where the bar lands on the chest.

When your elbows are directly below your wrists/fists in the bottom position and your arms are flared appropriately (45' approx) the bar lands where it lands. Is that simple.

The touch point moves down with a closer grip and up with a wider grip and with your own personal leverages and limb lengths. So it's entirely unique to you. We can't tell you exactly but could give a rough estimate.. Which is almost always between sternum and nips.

So Once you have your arm flare worked out for how you like it, keeping your forearms vertical will drop the bar the same spot every time..

Just use and empty bar, work out your grip width so your arms flare 45' ish, lower the bar, check your forearms are lined up over your elbows
... Your that's you sorted for your touch point..

Now all you have to do is burn in that motor pattern and your set.

[davisj3537]

When your elbows are directly below your wrists/fists in the bottom position and your arms are flared appropriately (45' approx) the bar lands where it lands. Is that simple.

The touch point moves down with a closer grip and up with a wider grip and with your own personal leverages and limb lengths. So it's entirely unique to you. We can't tell you exactly but could give a rough estimate.. Which is almost always between sternum and nips.

So Once you have your arm flare worked out for how you like it, keeping your forearms vertical will drop the bar the same spot every time..

Just use and empty bar, work out your grip width so your arms flare 45' ish, lower the bar, check your forearms are lined up over your elbows
... Your that's you sorted for your touch point..

Now all you have to do is burn in that motor pattern and your set.

^This


Take videos from the side to check for vertical alignment of bar, wrist and elbow. It will also tell you if you're elbows are flaring at 45 degrees. It's a balancing act. Only you can figure out where to touch for YOUR leverages.

[MmmmGains]

Post is still as good as it was 2 years ago. Good form is the key to great gains, you've probably helped so many people with this. Personally I'm use to have my heels on the bench, now that's the only way I can do it. Not sure if it'll affect me in the long run though if I decide to switch up haha.

[davisj3537]

Post is still as good as it was 2 years ago. Good form is the key to great gains, you've probably helped so many people with this. Personally I'm use to have my heels on the bench, now that's the only way I can do it. Not sure if it'll affect me in the long run though if I decide to switch up haha.

If you switch, you'll likely find you have a more stable platform from which to press. Should translate to a stronger bench, but you'd have to experiment with that on your own to know for sure.

[nevergain]

Just read through the whole thread. Great info Davis. I've watched lots of vids on bench, but the way you showed how to look for the correct and incorrect positioning was really easy to understand. Will have to take a vid and see if I can utilise some of this without posting a form check vid for all to see.

[davisj3537]

Just read through the whole thread. Great info Davis. I've watched lots of vids on bench, but the way you showed how to look for the correct and incorrect positioning was really easy to understand. Will have to take a vid and see if I can utilise some of this without posting a form check vid for all to see.

Glad to help man. Don't be afraid to post a form vid though. Some of the advanced stuff is hard to see and having a few extra sets of eyes on it can help.

[janetfdoss]

How much bench press i should do from beginning of my workout? I am just a newbie and want to shape my body perfectly. What would you suggest me?

[davisj3537]

How much bench press i should do from beginning of my workout? I am just a newbie and want to shape my body perfectly. What would you suggest me?

Start light and follow a beginner program written by a professional. The program will tell you how much to lift, how many reps/sets and how often to do it.