Bench Press Technique Follow-Up

I had a very successful Bench Press workout yesterday. I did Flat Bench opposed to Decline, which I had been running for months. I had given up on Flat Benching b/c of the Anterior Deltoid usage and my lack of leg drive technique. It just made sense to Decline, but honestly, I had trouble setting up on Decline. I couldn't find a great position as far as my torso on the bench.

On to the Flat Bench, my number one tip that helped is to find the point of reference on the ceiling in which the bar path must return each rep. This gives such a more accurate bar path. Leverage is everything, and so to line up your bones and joints is golden.

I attempted using leg drive. The main tip was to keep your lower leg perpendicular to the ground. I have trouble contracting my leg muscles in that position. You're supposed to push down into the ground, and push yourself horizontally back towards the bar. All this does for me, is cramp up my legs and give me lower back pain (that I don't experience in Decline). I have long legs, so it's not as if I can't reach the ground properly.

I'll do more research on leg drive. Finally, and possibly most importantly, I did 16 sets of Bench Press. The first half were standard grip, and the second half were close-grip. My close-grip style was much stronger and more secure, which means I'm going to narrow my standard grip.

A new Bench Press tip I just came across is to focus on your humerus (upper arm bone) crossing over your chest (which is what the pecs do). This can be hard to remember sometimes. I want to take another stab at dumbbell Bench Press, but it would probably be overkill/overtraining.

Last night, I was in incredible pain around my rib cage. I think it was from the proper Bench technique. We often think we're lifting to grow our muscles, but our bones and joints and everything else takes a beating, and also improves. I really think I've turned a page, and that given time, my Bench will soar passed 300lb.

Bench Press

I can say that I total over 1000lb, combining my 1 rep maxes of Squat, Deadlift, and Bench Press, but I'm at a different level for each one as far as technique. The Deadlift is my strongest lift, and has came the most easily. I had a long struggle with Back Squats, and found the entire movement very unfamiliar. A novel thought that just came to me is that to make the movement appear natural in your mind, you can just envision trying to stand up while sitting on the ground with rollerblades on. You would naturally turn your toes outward, and try to catapult your ass upwards, which is basically a Squat. The Bench Press is the one lift I've done the longest (by 6 months), yet at this point and time, is my worst technically.

For Bench Press, I've been using poor technique, and it's luck of the draw that I'll lift heavy. My 1 rep max is 275lb, which I think is pretty high, but I've been failing 235lb for 5 reps, and it's tearing me up inside (mentally). I've done my research, as I have with every lift I perform, but for some reason things aren't working out. Leverage is always the answer.

I assumed that b/c of my success in push-ups that I would be great at the Bench Press, but as I've learned recently, my push-up form was far from my current technique. I've had trouble not tucking my elbows, and so I don't utilize my Triceps, and of all my muscles, Triceps and Pecs are the least developed. So the past week or so I've been hard on myself to tuck my elbows, but I read the Bench Press section of SS 3rd edition (for the dozenth time). I learned some new things I want to share.

Tucking your elbows until they are parallel with your torso hurts your leverage, and creates even more of a deviation from a vertical bar path. When you lay on the bench, your eyes should see just below the bar (towards feet), and after un-racking that you should find a place on the ceiling as a point of reference so that you know where the bar must go on each rep. Do not the look at the bar during the set, and stay on one breath if possible. It's crucial to be tight. Leg drive involves pushing your body horizontally towards your head. Grip with your palm before your fingers, and squeeze tight. Your wrists should be cocked back just slightly. Perpendicular forearms to the bar, and tuck your elbows, but not too much. Keep your chest as high as possible. When your lower the bar, keep your chest tight and squeeze it together to help aid raising the bar with the Triceps.

Short-Term Lifting Goals

My focus lately has been on the almighty Bench Press. I struggle with form. I'm not even performing flat bench. I stick to decline exclusively b/c it takes the shoulders out of the equation, and my lack of leg-drive technique isn't a factor.

I've only recently began tucking my elbows. I didn't realize how important it was, and that the adjustment is quite severe. I never did push-ups with tucked elbows, and I hit incredible numbers. I now practice push-ups with the elbow tuck. I didn't like it at first, and I think that was b/c I wasn't used to firing my triceps from that position.

Muscle-Ups are very fun, and I'm slowly getting my body used to the technique before I start upping the reps and adding weight via dip belt. The movement is actually like cleaning weight off the floor with a barbell - notably the place where you finish the Deadlift and rotate the weight upward into an overhead press stage. The Muscle-Up has that movement but reversed.

I'm upping my weight on Hack Squats, Trap-Bar Deadlifts, and Sumo Deadlifts. I'm doing my Biceps Curls a bit different these days. I make the muscle do more work, and they've gotten more defined as a result. The range is shorter and I don't bring the bells to shoulder-height anymore.

Trap-Bar Deadlifts

I managed to avoid this exercise for some time. I knew of it as an auxiliary exercise, and I figured my conventional Deadlift would cover the same benefits I'd receive from the Trap-Bar Deadlift. Now that I've tried the lift, I can say that it's a gem of an auxiliary exercise.

My Quads, which have been slow to develop, really felt this exercise. There is one immediate disadvantage, and that is since the bar is not in front of you, there's more mobility in the lower back, and you may have a tendency to sway where you didn't in the conventional Deadlift. Supposedly drilling this lift for a while will lessen that sway tendency.

The Trap-Bar Deadlift actually puts the bar in the center of your body. Conventional Deadlifts put the bar in front of your body, and Hack Squats put the bar behind the body. I have read that you can pull even heavier than conventional Deadlift. The other advantage is that it's less taxing on your lower back because the bar is closer to your hips.

My anterior leg routine is as follows:

Back Squats
Hack Squats
Trap-Bar Deadlifts
Calf Raises

posterior leg rouinte:

Back Squats
Sumo Deadlifts
Good Mornings
Leg Ball Curl (one-leg)

I have two upper body routines I switch through. One is for shoulders and the other is for lats. Both have Chest and Triceps.

New Routine

I was previously strength training twice a week with heavy weight. Work sets included 5 reps mostly with some triples and singles. Running that routine for two months really let my body recover from the bodybuilding high volume routine I was doing before the strength training. So I have kept my two strength training days, in which I have broken personal records nonstop, and have added two full body workout days. Cardio has been added to all four days, which consists of the treadmill, switching between a slow jog, a fast walk, and a slow max incline walk where I contract my legs each step.

The cardio along with the full body workouts have visually made bodyfat drop off my stomach immediately. I lost 7 pounds in two days. I'm interested in bulking, but I can't afford the necessary amount of food. I'm training how my body wants to train. I enjoy all the exercises and the pace I take.

I feel the added two days (I call them Full Body Destruction) make for an unorthodox style of training. It's good to break the rules, and try things that others won't. I went nearly three years in my weight training career without using someone else's routine. I wanted to do the exercises that I chose, and to get the results from those exercises. And I'm still doing that. I feel that the extra practice in the techniques I employ with all the exercises I do will make me better at them. It also gives my body more limberness.

The strength training heavy weight workouts take a toll on my body and require deep pressure via foam rolling. I know lighter weight doesn't have this effect. I also knew that although I needed a full week to recover for the strength workouts, I had muscle groups that weren't necessarily sore, and I knew I could have been training them.

I've only had this first week of this new routine. I have no idea how my body will handle it, but I plan on it taking me to a new level of fitness. I have achieved many of my the goals I carved out in lifting. The Muscle-Up, the Human Flag, Dragon Flags, behind-the-neck pressing, Side-Planks, Inverted Dips, The One-Arm Push-Up, and Front Squats were all unattainable beasts I've conquered. Next in my sights are Free-Standing Handstands, Weighted Muscle-Ups, The One-Arm Dip, The One-Arm Pull-Up/Chin-Up, Plnache Push-Up, Bulgarian Split Squats, Olympic Lifts, and more will be added as time passes. I also have the desire to lift heavier on all my lifts. I feel it builds confidence, intelligence, and grants enlightenment. It instills perseverance to an ungodly level.

Muscle-Ups

In May of last year, I had began trying my hand at muscle-ups. I suffered badly from poor technique, and was injured severely time and time again. It was very frustrating to watch so much footage of people doing them, yet it was a brick wall to me.

What I discovered is that in my second year of weight lifting, I was constantly in elbow joint pain. It was inflamed, and ice helped, but the exercises reignited the problems on both arms, always with one arm more affected than the other.It would prevent me from most lifts. Pull-ups were mostly to blame, but Bench Press was second.

I had been aware that with Bench Pressing that tucking your elbows is the powerlifting method, and it utilizes your triceps more. I prefer to work my chest in Bench Press, so I flared my elbows with my technique. I noticed that in many exercises, I flared my elbows. I came to realize that this was the source of my pain. Specifically with Muscle-Ups, if you both flare your elbows and use your thumbs in your grip, you send a train of tension into your elbows. The key is to tuck your elbows to your sides, and to use a thumbless grip, much like an Overhead Press or Military Press.

Some people use a strong kip in their Muscle-Up, and I don't care for that style. That said, I do use momentum to get over the bar. I start the set by swinging forward 30 degrees, and on the rebound, I perform a Pull-Up, and spin my hands forward, while entering a Dip, ending in full extension, away from the bar at full arm's length. It's a very fun, and a very impressive move. Both push and pull are performed in the movement. After a rep, when you are atop the bar, you can perform as many Dips as you'd like. This is a nice variation to use besides Parallel Bar Dips.

The exercise is considered plyometric and a power move. It is dynamic. There is a heavy skill element required. It is important to be good at Dips and Pull-Ups. I realized that muscle-ups were much easier altogether than when I tried last year. I am stronger for one, but I think specifically my recent researching and training in gymnastics has helped. An interesting word I learned is proprioception. It is control of one's limbs through strength in varying angles and positions. I like to roll onto my back and stay in a shoulder stand. I've also been doing Dragon Flags for probably a year. Lastly, the most important is handstands. I've hardly begun training them, and yet I've felt the power already. The same goes for fixing my technique on both side planks and front planks.

I've also been performing yoga more regularly. I also feel good control of your legs is important for keeping a smooth movement. I practice L-Sits, and I often do standing front leg extensions on cables and with just bodyweight..