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One core lift lagging - what to do?

The Hamburgler said:
You can have your elbows at 45 degrees with any grip depending on where you touch and the angle of your elbow

IMO you should be using a grip that has your forearm completely vertical (from both front on and side on) when the bar hits the chest. The longer your arms the wider it will push your grip

With the grip you're describing I found I was doing either a half skull scrusher or had to dangerously flare my elbows
Click to expand...

Different arm lengths most likely. I do bring the bar quite low, it hits the area between my pecs and my abs. There is a special name for that area but I forgot what it is called. I find this is the place where I can use the most lat drive and use the lats to keep the bar on it's path
 
The Hamburgler said:
You can have your elbows at 45 degrees with any grip depending on where you touch and the angle of your elbow

IMO you should be using a grip that has your forearm completely vertical (from both front on and side on) when the bar hits the chest. The longer your arms the wider it will push your grip
With the grip you're describing I found I was doing either a half skull scrusher or had to dangerously flare my elbows
Click to expand...
lol like me and my 6f arms where i use the webbing of my hand to cover the rings :D:p

another option could be to run something such as 5x5 for a while, higher weight, less reps, more sets. iv been doing this lately (except like 6x3) and my bench is feeling much stronger
 
Oni unless your arms are about 30cm long I can assure you your grip is narrower than what is most efficient.

Film yourself from front on and I bet your elbows will be wider than your wrists, and front side on your wrists will be closer to your head than your elbows

You are short but you are not that short
 
I've got long arms and I just cant find a strong bench grip that gets much past a very close grip. Not sure why and probably partly explains my shitty bench.

Even with pinkies about a cm from touching the rings feels too wide and very weak.

Probably tells me if I'm so weak at a wider grip bench i should work on that and see what happens.
 
The Hamburgler said:
Oni unless your arms are about 30cm long I can assure you your grip is narrower than what is most efficient.

Film yourself from front on and I bet your elbows will be wider than your wrists, and front side on your wrists will be closer to your head than your elbows

You are short but you are not that short
Click to expand...

Well it's the position I'm strongest in currently, I'll probably film a few different set ups at some point doing like 1 plate for singles and see what the verdict is
 
0ni said:
Well it's the position I'm strongest in currently, I'll probably film a few different set ups at some point doing like 1 plate for singles and see what the verdict is
Click to expand...
u wont find much doing light singles...
thats like buying a race car and only test driving it on a 40km/h road
 
Ok I have some time.

The close grip bench press is one of the best exercises you can perform if you want to increase your normal bench press.
It’s no coincidence that Louis Simmons and his boys focus a lot on their triceps for the bench press and perform plenty of variations of the close grip bench press.

It’s because it works.

If you look at how the bench press shirts work, this alone lends credence that the triceps not only weigh heavily but may be the key to a big bench press.

These shirts help the lift off the chest. Many are making bigger bench presses with these newer shirts because;
1) they’ve figured out that you need to use the bench shirt a lot in training to maximize its benefit (big surprise)
2) the exercises they are performing when using the shirts basically focus on the triceps and lockouts (they are actually called board presses).

For close grips, you really shouldn’t go much closer than shoulder width for your grip.
You can use chains when close grip bench pressing.
You can also use bands at times.

They make the exercise harder by increasing the resistance as the weight goes up and leverage increases. When in doubt, make the exercise harder.

One could probably bench twice per week, with one workout devoted to close grips.

Again, there are no absolutes here as far as rep schemes.

Throw in the close grip bench press in your program for 2 months and see how it affects your normal bench press. Another twist is to perform the close grip bench press on an incline. Try it, you might like it.

At the end of the dat though the regular bench is just really not a big difference from close grips.
Forearms still need to be straight in the bottom and not angled inwards if you know what I mean?
Inward would mean too close IMO.
 
callan said:
u wont find much doing light singles...
thats like buying a race car and only test driving it on a 40km/h road
Click to expand...

Well what should I do to demonstrate form then? Heavier singles or more reps? I don't want to get tired on the first 3 singles then balls up the other different form adjustments lol

AndyMitchell said:
Ok I have some time.

The close grip bench press is one of the best exercises you can perform if you want to increase your normal bench press.
It’s no coincidence that Louis Simmons and his boys focus a lot on their triceps for the bench press and perform plenty of variations of the close grip bench press.

It’s because it works.

If you look at how the bench press shirts work, this alone lends credence that the triceps not only weigh heavily but may be the key to a big bench press.

These shirts help the lift off the chest. Many are making bigger bench presses with these newer shirts because;
1) they’ve figured out that you need to use the bench shirt a lot in training to maximize its benefit (big surprise)
2) the exercises they are performing when using the shirts basically focus on the triceps and lockouts (they are actually called board presses).

For close grips, you really shouldn’t go much closer than shoulder width for your grip.
You can use chains when close grip bench pressing.
You can also use bands at times.

They make the exercise harder by increasing the resistance as the weight goes up and leverage increases. When in doubt, make the exercise harder.

One could probably bench twice per week, with one workout devoted to close grips.

Again, there are no absolutes here as far as rep schemes.

Throw in the close grip bench press in your program for 2 months and see how it affects your normal bench press. Another twist is to perform the close grip bench press on an incline. Try it, you might like it.

At the end of the dat though the regular bench is just really not a big difference from close grips.
Forearms still need to be straight in the bottom and not angled inwards if you know what I mean?
Inward would mean too close IMO.
Click to expand...

Yeah mine is just over shoulder width

Bazza20 said:
Fucking bench it's so frustrating. Almost anything i try for my deadlift makes it go up but my bench is the opposite. My push press is not far off overtaking it. Lol.
Click to expand...

3003.png
 
Bench press is an abnormal movement, how often do you push things away from yourself?

Your little upper body muscles are np were near as big as your legs and ass, so a 10%, increasein size of each wont elicit a similar kg gain in strength.

my bench is weak technique only helped a little bit, mostly to help me feel more solid.

You need to do heaps of benching, your body probably has 10-15,years Headstart squating and lifting stuff, your chest has lots of catchup.

Bench more, dip more, try flies every second week.

You hand spacing will feel easier depending on what muscles are dominant, chest for a wider grip, delta for a narrower grip.my pinkies are probably 4cm inside the rings.

sets of pause presses are great for developing strength off your chest, dips will help with lockouts.

Sorry thus is a bit random will fix tonight, using a phone sux.
 
Last edited:
0ni said:
Well what should I do to demonstrate form then? Heavier singles or more reps? I don't want to get tired on the first 3 singles then balls up the other different form adjustments lol
Click to expand...
when the weight gets heavy all technical and strength issues come out.

realistically to know where u are stronger on a certain stance/grip u need to use it for a while... f u have been benching with a narrow grip, then try a wide grip, of course its going to be weaker, u havnt trained it. as for having a feel around for whats more comfortable, u wil need to try it over a period of time(sayt a few weeks) so your body can adjust, for example when i swapped from high bar to low bar, it was very uncomfortable, but after a week or 2 it felt more natural, now if i try high bar it is uncomfortable.... see what im trying to explain? u need to give things time to actually find what is stronger/more comfortable etc
 
I benched pinkys on the rings for ages and switching to close grip gave an instant improvement. I've been doing it about 1 month now probably

I'll keep making slight adjustments one at a time then
 
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