Benching Correctly

A lot of guys are guilty of being front delt pressers (basically using your delts to get the weight up) when they bench. Learning how to bench the right way takes some effort, watching videos of people with good form helps a lot but still doesn't show you how your supposed to feel when your benching the right way. With that said, i encourage all you guys to read this short quote by DC then start every chest day out with what he says in this quote until your at the point where you no longer have to think about it.


Doggcrapp

"Go get some 20-40lb(something light for you) dumbells and lay down on a flat bench but i only want you laying down with the top half of your back on the bench--your ass and your lower back will be off (the edge) of it, now lower the dumbells as deep as they can go and at the bottom drop your trunk (ass) as low as you can and raise your ribcage high (like you would do if you were doing a cross bench pullover)-----now hold that position throughout the whole movement--and press the dumbells 10 times (and keep that ass down and sternum up-in that same position I told you to hold ...on every rep down at the bottom sink the dumbells as low as you can go for a deep 1 second pause before pressing....do not let your delts roll forward like every newbie does. A newbie presses and then flattens his chest and rolls his delts forward at the end of a press

See how that feels? Thats how you should be doing every single chest exercise--with that same exact feel. (im not suggesting lifting like that on everything--im trying to get you to know the difference between a chest presser and a front delt presser) so you personally adjust yourself (shoulders back and down, pinched shoulder blades, chest high, sternum high) on every chest exercise you do"

Good post, I see a lot of the guys at my college gym doing just that. Lifting with their shoulders. The only things touching the bench should be your butt, traps, and head.

If you had anillustration it would help tramendiously. I should not only lower my weights but my ass up and down with every rep?

donjuanjovi said:

Good post, I see a lot of the guys at my college gym doing just that. Lifting with their shoulders. The only things touching the bench should be your butt, traps, and head.

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You're going to look kind of funny with your upper back in the air.

Oxide said:

If you had anillustration it would help tramendiously. I should not only lower my weights but my ass up and down with every rep?

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GOD no. Did you not read this? He specifically said he doesn't want you lifting like he described. He described that 'exercise' to get what the bench press should FEEL like. You do that little exercise in body awareness then when you go to do the actual bench you know what feeling you should be getting in your chest.

mrRuckus said:

He described that 'exercise' to get what the bench press should FEEL like. You do that little exercise in body awareness then when you go to do the actual bench you know what feeling you should be getting in your chest.

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couldn't of said it better

Yes, I read what he wrote, and this is why i want to see a picture of this exercise that is NOT BENCHING. What don't you get?

EFFORT said:

A lot of guys are guilty of being front delt pressers (basically using your delts to get the weight up) when they bench. Learning how to bench the right way takes some effort, watching videos of people with good form helps a lot but still doesn't show you how your supposed to feel when your benching the right way. With that said, i encourage all you guys to read this short quote by DC then start every chest day out with what he says in this quote until your at the point where you no longer have to think about it.


Doggcrapp

"Go get some 20-40lb(something light for you) dumbells and lay down on a flat bench but i only want you laying down with the top half of your back on the bench--your ass and your lower back will be off (the edge) of it, now lower the dumbells as deep as they can go and at the bottom drop your trunk (ass) as low as you can and raise your ribcage high (like you would do if you were doing a cross bench pullover)-----now hold that position throughout the whole movement--and press the dumbells 10 times (and keep that ass down and sternum up-in that same position I told you to hold ...on every rep down at the bottom sink the dumbells as low as you can go for a deep 1 second pause before pressing....do not let your delts roll forward like every newbie does. A newbie presses and then flattens his chest and rolls his delts forward at the end of a press

See how that feels? Thats how you should be doing every single chest exercise--with that same exact feel. (im not suggesting lifting like that on everything--im trying to get you to know the difference between a chest presser and a front delt presser) so you personally adjust yourself (shoulders back and down, pinched shoulder blades, chest high, sternum high) on every chest exercise you do"

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Sorry to bring up this old thread, but i think some illustrations would help. Particularly the parts that i bold, i think some readers may not be able to see this. Also, when do we lift with this form if you're not suggesting it on everything?

Me don't reed well. Need pictures.
*goes back to reading 'Where's Waldo'.

EFFORT said:

A lot of guys are guilty of being front delt pressers (basically using your delts to get the weight up) when they bench. Learning how to bench the right way takes some effort, watching videos of people with good form helps a lot but still doesn't show you how your supposed to feel when your benching the right way. With that said, i encourage all you guys to read this short quote by DC then start every chest day out with what he says in this quote until your at the point where you no longer have to think about it.


Doggcrapp

"Go get some 20-40lb(something light for you) dumbells and lay down on a flat bench but i only want you laying down with the top half of your back on the bench--your ass and your lower back will be off (the edge) of it, now lower the dumbells as deep as they can go and at the bottom drop your trunk (ass) as low as you can and raise your ribcage high (like you would do if you were doing a cross bench pullover)-----now hold that position throughout the whole movement--and press the dumbells 10 times (and keep that ass down and sternum up-in that same position I told you to hold ...on every rep down at the bottom sink the dumbells as low as you can go for a deep 1 second pause before pressing....do not let your delts roll forward like every newbie does. A newbie presses and then flattens his chest and rolls his delts forward at the end of a press

See how that feels? Thats how you should be doing every single chest exercise--with that same exact feel. (im not suggesting lifting like that on everything--im trying to get you to know the difference between a chest presser and a front delt presser) so you personally adjust yourself (shoulders back and down, pinched shoulder blades, chest high, sternum high) on every chest exercise you do"

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EFFORT,

Why should the lower back be off the bench?

^^^

This is only for feeling, i dont think it would be a good idea to have your lower back off the bench while bench pressing.

That was just to force you to arch to get the feel of it.

If you arch enough then your lower back is off the bench. Only things that touch the bench are the upper back and ass.

http://www.wannabebig.com/images/monsbench2.jpg

That's a picture of a typical powerlifter's arch. You don't need to arch that much; just enough to take the strain off your delts.

Oxide said:

Yes, I read what he wrote, and this is why i want to see a picture of this exercise that is NOT BENCHING. What don't you get?

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I don't get why you want to ignore the words "hold this position."

Or why people can't use a search engine to find out what a pullover position is.

Grip hard, pull apart, arch back and then settle upper back on bench pushing down towards your ass, shoulderblades pulled together. Bring barbell down to stomach, and then up again over shoulders.
Uncomfortable, but the way to bench.

I'm gonna have to agree that this is the way to go. When you lay flat on the bench then your front delts do too much work and you also lift less and the position is less stable. When you have a wide grip, elbows out and chest out, you put more strain on the chest and also get to lift more. Some benchers lifting purely for strength seem to have a closer grip, but I'm not convinced about that since most people have a CG Bench less than their normal Bench.

MM

I don't wide grip. How much more can you lift this way? I'll try it. I can visualize it better now that I've seen that image. It makes sense to take the stress off my delts. When I next flat bench press, I note the way the lift feels in my journal.

surely stronglifts has written up an article on the variants of benchpressing.....?

Throttle said:

surely stronglifts has written up an article on the variants of benchpressing.....?

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He has written limited stuff on benching, he doesn't like it. He prefers the overhead press. There's only basics on his site, nothing in detail.

Quagmire

you have to keep your lower back off the bench to prevent your shoulders from coming up. Many people use their shoulders to bench, which is what Effort is trying to help correct.

blackbelt2k said:

you have to keep your lower back off the bench to prevent your shoulders from coming up. Many people use their shoulders to bench, which is what Effort is trying to help correct.

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It's that simple? So simply keep my back lower back off the bench and i wont be using my shoulders?