Bench Press Form?

[himji]

You may have read my squat post. Well while I was making squat videos, I thought I'd make some BP videos too. DO you guys mind taking a look at my form in these?

Set1


Set2


Set3


Set4

[atypical1]

First observation, get into position before the weight is unracked. In every video you unrack the weight then adjust yourself. Stop that. Set yourself up first then unrack the weight. Once you've unracked it stay put.

james

[himji]

I hear you. I kept cursing myself as I made the shifts.. I'll pay more attention that that as I can see it going horribly wrong trying some of that with double the weight on the bars

[atypical1]

Why don't you simply work on that first to get in the habit. Once you've done that then video yourself again and we can figure out what to work on next.

Make sure you have a good firm base when you set up. If you can bench in a power rack I would as you can set the pins higher which means it's easier to stay in your position.

james

[himji]

Thanks. When you say look at what to work on next, does it look like there's more to work on??! Because if that's the case, I might have to drop the weight down as I'm getting to the stage where it's going to feel heavy soon.

I can raise the pins with that setup, if you think that'll help I'll try that. That's the best rack for BP they've got at that gym, at some point I'm ging to need to get a spotter....

[atypical1]

It looks like you're lowering the weight to the upper part of your chest (but I can't really tell). Drop it below your nipples. I wouldn't lower the weight so slowly. Don't slam the weight down on yourself but you can go a bit faster than that.

Keep your back tight going into the lift. You want to squeeze your shoulder blades and that should help out with keeping your back tight. That gives you a base to work from that's very stable.

Here's Mehdi's article on it:

http://stronglifts.com/how-to-bench-pre ... -injuries/

james

[himji]

Thanks, that sounds abkut right and you are spot on about the upper chest, lower I go