- Jun 27, 2013
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My benching background was initially however the brahs did it on Mondays (wide grip, shoulder dominant, too much internal rotation). Though I snapped out of that stupidity in my early 20s and adopted a slightly narrower grip with my pinky/ring fingers around the powerlifting marks and that took the pressure off the shoulders and allowed the triceps to work more efficiently. Though my bench is still fairly upper body dominant rather than full body due to a lack of back arch, though once I get a proper powerlifting bench I hope it'll become more of a full body movement.You guys with a big bench - this is what goes through my mind, is it different for you guys?
1. Set up behind the bar, swing through to make somewhat of an arch, locking my lats down.
2. Un-rack the bar
3. Lock my lats down as hard as possible.
4. Bring the bar to my chest, touching my sternum basically.
5. Pressing and pushing through the floor.
All the tightness is in my upper centre back though and not my shoulders/chest. Should I be tight through my shoulders more? Forget about my lats?
In regards to routine/cues that have worked for me though
1. I make sure the bench is in the right centred position in my rack (though I'll do this with an unloaded bar or with only 50-60kgs)
2. Then I make sure the bar is safely in position at the front of my J cups then make sure the bar is centred and that the bar is around forehead/eye level, I find that's the most comfortable unrack/rack starting/finishing position for me. Down towards the tip of my nose is a little close and doesn't give me enough time to go through a comfortable unrack/eccentric path, I kinda feel I may fall forward in the lift if that starting position is too far down.
3. I don't have much of an arch, but after the bar/bench is in place, I then find the right glute/feet/scapula position and brace/retract, they are a constant and don't move (though I do wiggle the feet sometimes when struggling which I shouldn't)
4. Your lats and triceps will activate on the unrack as long as your scaps are safely retracted, I find the lats will be secondary to your scaps but they will be engaged through the whole lift and probably moreso with the bigger the back arch you have. Scaps, glutes, foot drive are most important. Your shoulders are important as a stabiliser on the unrack/eccentric working in tandem with the scaps, lats and triceps but focus on the main areas staying tight (scaps, glutes, foot drive) and transferring that pressure away from the triceps/shoulders to the pecs on the eccentric, then back onto the triceps come lockout. The way I bench my shoulders should only be a secondary factor to the pecs contracting, however the bigger the back arch may put increased pressure on the shoulders instead of the triceps on lockout due to shorter ROM.