Here is an article by a great guy who has arduously learned many, many things about this thing of ours and is willing to use his first-rate writing skills to share it with others . . . with no bill of sale required. A beautiful soul in human form if you ask me, and I'll say it loudly with no asking required.
My name is Bryce and I'm not a good bencher.
There. I said it . . .
Every pound I gain on this lift is through extremely hard work and by knowing a few "tricks."
Many of these can add pounds the first time you try, and others take a bit of practice. I've included the famous "eye trick" that can add about fifteen pounds or so right away once you get it.
Here they are:
1) Take time to get set, make sure your shoulders are tight before you lower the bar. Tense up everything to the point where you actually have to pull the bar down to yourself a bit.
A lot of lifts are blown right here.
If you can't control it enough to get it into the optimal spot to get it back up, things won't go well on the ascent. If you are tight and you bring the bar down to just the right spot, the "up" part is a lot more likely to happen.
2) SET YOUR FEET! I am 5'8", not exactly tall. I always get plates or a little platform I have around here under my feet. If you can set your feet well and your whole body is solid onto the floor and the bench, you can just lay back and push as long as need be, without worrying about balance or "getting out of the groove."
3) Try to keep your elbows from going any lower than necessary. Tuck them into and against your flared lats during the descent, this shortens the weight arm of the lever . . .
. . . and if you are sitting your upper arms against your lats a little it makes the takeoff so much easier. The way I learned this is to do bench presses arched up one the ground and still get the bar down to my chest. You have to tuck in your elbows a lot but the more you can keep your elbows from going behind you, the better the leverage is.
4) Don't think of pushing the weight up, imagine that you are pushing yourself AWAY from the bar and DOWN into the bench. It's hard to describe how many pounds this one was worth once learned it [and he don't mean sterling].
5) Learn to arch, and set your shoulders down into the padding solidly. Your butt should only be touching the bench enough to keep the referee happy. You are actually supported on your shoulders and heels.
Wrestlers bridges are good "archwise" for this and your neck also plays a part in the bench; a strong one sure doesn't hurt. People with weak necks tend to lift their heads during the down.
6) In training, instead of doing pauses, use about 65-80% of your max and do "plyo-benches." You drop the bar (under control) and "catch" it at your sternum or a millimeter above, fix it solid, and then fire it back up HARD. This seems to work better than pausing for me, and gives me a much better launch off the chest at contest time.
Several 2-rep sets are good for this.
7) DO NOT use a thumbless grip. From the moment you take the bar out you should be squeezing the living crap out of the bar. This sets your forearms so they won't loosen up and "blow your groove."
Remember:
knuckles red and
you are dead,
knuckles white
and so are the lights.
Kinda cute, huh?
8) Get as much air in your chest as you can right before the descent. It makes your chest higher, makes your position more solid and helps you hit the sticking point at a better angle than your would otherwise.
If you feel like you're about to hatch "alien style" then that's about right.
How insensitive, my good man.
Do we make light of your birth process?
Warning to Jan Dellinger: here comes that number again. Oh Nein!
9) Practice this stuff, knowing it in your head is not enough. If the weight is overly heavy to the point where you can't do it right and it drifts all over, what are you doing?
Tommy Kono said at his lecture that every time you do it wrong it takes three "doing it rights" to set things back in order. When you are so sharp from endless practice that you can do it right and not come apart with your max weight you are a "fearsome dude." [This is very-very good news, for I too want to be a fearsome dude].
10) The "Eye Trick" [as promised above and delivered].
high,
Take the bar out and set up. Arch chest full of air, shoulders tight.
Here's the trick:
Focus your eyes on a spot on the ceiling directly above you. Keep your eyes there as you lower the bar.
DO NOT WATCH THE BAR ON THE WAY DOWN!
Keep your eyes on that ceiling spot as you take off, when you hit the sticking point move only your eyes down till you see the bar and follow it up after the sticking point.
It doesn't sound like much, but when you practice and get good at this it really helps, although I'm not sure why. Some old guy pulled me aside and told me this. It's helped a lot. When you are really "on" timing-wise it nearly eliminates the sticking.
"Practice ceaselessly"
- Miyamoto Musashi
Enjoy Your Lifting! C
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