Looks solid to me - but not an expert on GM's. I like how you retain the natural curve in your back, a lot of people seem to bend to much in the lower back instead of from the hips ...
drive your feet forward on the bench when you push. Leg drive is key if your looking to put up bigger numbers (which ill assume because of your setup).
i agree. more leg drive on benching. You either need to get your feet under you more, or, get in a position where you are able to use leg drive efficiently.
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what do you mean drive the feet forward on the bench? the feet are on the floor
Do you mean to use my feet to push my body back (in the line towards my head) or?
no, i mean if you look at your video, you need to play around with your foot placement to get optimal leg drive. If you look at your shins in the first video, they are perpendicular to the floor and out in front of you.
The idea behind leg drive, is that you're supposed to be up on your traps, and then to get leg drive, you drive through the heels or balls of your feet, and drive your traps back into the bench. You can't get good leg drive if your feet are out in front of you. If your feet are behind you more, you can get more tension.
Now, look at the videos of Julia or Ryan. They have their feet behind them more, towards their hips. as soon as the weight touches their chest, they use leg drive to get it off their chest. But, they also keep the tension throughout the lift too, to make a solid base.
Basically, you don't look like you're getting good leg drive on the bench, and that you're not stable. You need to get a lot tighter on the bench. It's all individual on how you get the leg drive, some people have their feet out in front of them and wide, and others kick their legs under the bench more. Try kicking your legs underneath you, and then inch them back until you get tension in your quads. Then grab the bar with an underhand grip, and sit up and arch. As you lower yourself, put your head down first, and then move your head up a little so the weight is on your traps now. You should feel a lot tighter than you did before now.
check out mendy's bench, he does the leg kickback thing..
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Your good morning looks good. Just stay really tight as you change directions.
Alco gave you some good advice on your bench set-up. Your leg drive should push your upper back/traps into the bench (instead of pushing your ass into the air). More leg drive will also create a lot more tension in your whole body, giving you a better base to push from.
Mike Robertson goes over the same set-up techniques in this article:
It's the same stuff Alco was talking about, but it might be helpful to review it.
Also on your bench press, be sure to push that bar straight up (perpendicular to the floor). Every inch it moves back toward your head is an inch you didn't really have to push it.
Also on your bench press, be sure to push that bar straight up (perpendicular to the floor). Every inch it moves back toward your head is an inch you didn't really have to push it.
Lisa is right with her post,
but ill give another opinion..
maybe if you are using a bench press shirt this is a good idea.. but the past couple of years most of the great bench pressers with a shirt even have gone back to a move traditional (or metal militia) setup.
Usually when you hit a sticking point if you move the bar back a couple of inches youll be able to pass the point. Lockout out weights is far easier if you lock them out over your head.
I think there is some confusion with taking powerlifting advice (tate/simmons etc) as they are usually talking about using a bench shirt which is a whole different ball game.
I never got the "move the bar in a straight line" If I did that my arms would be like this, holding the weight:
0
...\
.....\
.......\
--------0
the slashes are the arms, the dotted line and the 0 is the body and the head. How am I suppose to be able to hold that weight there or even control it down? that's what I don't get..
I had to use alle the periods for the slashes to stay there when I posted, otherwise they just went all the way to the left
I never got the "move the bar in a straight line" If I did that my arms would be like this, holding the weight:
0
...\
.....\
.......\
--------0
the slashes are the arms, the dotted line and the 0 is the body and the head. How am I suppose to be able to hold that weight there or even control it down? that's what I don't get..
I had to use alle the periods for the slashes to stay there when I posted, otherwise they just went all the way to the left
i'm not sure what you mean, but i'll take a stab at it.
The wider your grip on the bench, the higher you're going to touch. The closer the grip, the lower. For me, with a close grip, i touch on my sternum. But, if you have a wider grip, you're going to touch around nipple area.
Stand sideways and look at a mirror, and make the benching motion, changing the width of your hand spacing. You'll see where you have to touch with a certain grip.
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well, I touch lower than nipple area, more like upper abs, if I was then to take the bar straight up, my shoulders would not be straight under the bar, see the problem I'm getting at?
well, I touch lower than nipple area, more like upper abs, if I was then to take the bar straight up, my shoulders would not be straight under the bar, see the problem I'm getting at?
it's all about tucking your elbows. did you do the thing like i said with the mirror? If you do a close grip, you're going to tuck your elbows a lot. if you take a wider grip, you don't tuck as much. Touching is all relative.
Here's a good tip. Get under the bar in your benching position and take it out of the rack. Move it from your eyes, down towards your feet. Somewhere in that range, the bar will feel very very light, like it's not there. That is the position you want to bench from. Then, you drop it in a straight line. The spot that feels light will change with your grip. A wider grip should feel lighter around the nipple area, and a closer, around sternum.
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yeah I know about the mirror thing. You still don't know what I'm talking about? If you hold the bar above sterum level, you're pretty much holding it in a static front raise position.
Look at the first pic, elbows are tucked and he's lowering it to sterum level.
in the second pic he has raised the bar in a straight line, look at how he's holding it. Isn't it natural that it's easier to hold the bar there if it's straight above the shoulders, so the arms are perpendicular to the floor, that way you don't have to use your shoulders to prevent the bar from falling down towards your feet.
That's why I don't press in a straight line, because I can't hold the bar in place if I do..
yeah I know about the mirror thing. You still don't know what I'm talking about? If you hold the bar above sterum level, you're pretty much holding it in a static front raise position.
Look at the first pic, elbows are tucked and he's lowering it to sterum level.
in the second pic he has raised the bar in a straight line, look at how he's holding it. Isn't it natural that it's easier to hold the bar there if it's straight above the shoulders, so the arms are perpendicular to the floor, that way you don't have to use your shoulders to prevent the bar from falling down towards your feet.
That's why I don't press in a straight line, because I can't hold the bar in place if I do..
i guess i don't really see what you mean?
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If you were gonna hold a heavy bar overhead, would you hold it directly above your shoulders and head, or would you hold it a foot out in front of you? which would be harder? it's the same concept.
the stickman pic I made is a BP seen from the side.
in the second pic he has raised the bar in a straight line, look at how he's holding it.
In your second picture the bar has not moved in a "straight line." By "straight" I meant perpendicular to the floor from the bottom position off the chest--straight up. The top position will not be above your shoulders, but directly above your sternum.
yeah, in the sedonc picture the bar is above the sterum (or wherever the bar hit the body)
I edited the pic some, drew in the floor, the benches and a straight line perpendicular to the floor, the bar travels along that line and ends up in a position it's pretty much impossible to hold it in, because of the position the arms are in. Do you agree that from that picture, the person would be in a bad position for holding the bar at the top?
I think the problem is that I touch lower than the sterum, when I finish, if I press in a line like that, the bar will be above my abs (bringing it down that low on the body to the abs is how I get the best pressing power and can press more weight)
karky, this is overkill. You're overthinking it to death. What you were already doing is fine and I'm now wishing I hadn't even mentioned it. Your video made me think you might have a tendency to take the weight back over your face a bit when the loads get heavy. Frank pointed out that some of the powerlifters are doing that intentionally now anyway. You asked for critique and that was just a very small thing I noticed. Don't worry about it. Get tight with your leg drive and I think it'll all be fine anyway. We're making a big deal out of nothing.
And I'll work on the leg drive. I always keep the weight on my traps, I guess I just need to get more tension in my quads and drive my body further towards my traps.
And I'll work on the leg drive. I always keep the weight on my traps, I guess I just need to get more tension in my quads and drive my body further towards my traps.
Your upper body set-up looks good and you are on your traps, which is good. See if tucking your feet back and driving your heels into the floor gives you more tightness and better drive. Also, I think of it as more tension in the glutes rather than in the quads. I drive my heels into the floor. I take me feet back as far as my flexibility allows and then press my heels into the floor. Play around with that idea and see if you like the results.
that's what I do when my butt raises (I try to keep it on the bench though, but just barely) my flexibility isn't all that good, but I'll see how far back I can get those feet, I'm just gonna have to experiment.
The closer you can get the balls of your feet to directly underneath your hips the better. when you push down on your heals (if you are doing this, they will never, ever, touch the ground.. but your going to try..). You should actually slide up the bench head first. This is not an issue once you have your traps dug into the bench and some weight in your hands in most cases (but some people do find chalking thier back helps).
If you are actually using leg drive correctly, the initial push is just as much back (towards your head) as it is up. This feels very odd to begin with.
if your ass is comming off, then your leg drive is not really in the right direction..
its one thing that is very very hard to master, ive been working on it for over a year and i cant say im that good at it.. my ass still wants to come off the bench once in a while.
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