Bench Press Technique and Military Press Technique for Better Leverage and Strength, and Chest Muscle Control

I noticed for Bench Press that in some reps I had better control, and the weight went up with less effort. This is how you can find the groove, but sometimes it can take a while to comprehend what's happening and how to use it to your advantage as a skill (technique). The trick is to press much lower on the body than you would think. Press the weight closer to your hips than your neck, and you can basically push yourself under the weight. I use the same technique for Cable Cross Overs, pressing low, which is close to the hip.

For Military Press, I've been struggling for a while with advancing much further than 135lb. I ran into similar issues in the Squat before progressing it. The problem is that I don't have enough tightness to support weights heavier than 135lb. I normally adapted this tightness at the start of the lift, but lose it very quickly in the transition to overhead. I've solved that problem now. The key is full lat tension. A Military Press involves having your heels together with your toes pointed out. This allows for your to incorporate the abs and labs more tautly than an overhead press with a wider stance, but with less strength from having a more narrow base.

Starting with the weight over your chest at your shoulders with your triceps tight, keep your lats tight, and keep them tight throughout the lift. Raise the weight by sliding it up your lats until it's the weight's overhead. Generally people have trouble with lat activation and pull-ups. I practice muscle control regularly, which involves many lat poses. Just as with practicing anything, it becomes more accessible, and easier to perform. The lats are very large muscles that tie the shoulders to the hips, and so you can imagine how powerful the control can be to have a tight connection between those areas, which lead to great strength and power.

To apply Muscle Control to the chest, you can work two main functions. The chest can be squeezed together, or pushed apart. If you clasp your hands together in front of your chest, and squeeze your chest together, then while keeping that inner tension, raise your arms overhead whilst inhaling, then bring them down still clasped together, exhaling while keeping inner chest tension. After a few reps, apply outer chest tension, and raise your arms overhead and back down while breathing and keeping tension. Then lower your clasped hands to your hips and perform the inner chest circuit then the outer chest circuit. I find this gives the chest a good blood pump and enables control of them.