T Nation

Form Check – Bench Press

Beginners
#1

Hello all and thank you for reading my post. This is my first post on the forum. About me, I’m at the beginner level, I’ve been training for 6-8 weeks post covid, pre-covid, I was weight training 3 times a week for about 5 months until my gym completely closed in March. Much of my newbie strength gains I made pre-covid were lost, but after 6-8 weeks, I am back to where I was.
I wanted to post my bench first since I’ve been most focused on improving my form/technique and finding my grove.

Off the bat, I need to work on the following.

• Add a pause at the bottom, my tempo is very touch & go, this is something I didn’t realize until I filmed myself.
• My butt/hips lift off the bench, most prominent on my final rep to help cheat the weight up
• My legs/feet aren’t firmly planted to the ground, the squirm a bit throughout the set like they are unsure where to be and are searching for the most optimal position.

Video 1 Set 3 with 185 lbs * 4 Reps (RPE of 10), I failed on the 5th rep attempt on set 2.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/QdRfiFQBmSHN69QF8

Video 2 Set 2 with 185 lbs *4 (failed on 5th rep attempt). I thought it might be beneficial to show you a failed rep.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/uEZrD9dPXnAT1iat9

Image of my bar path, trying to develop the J curve.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/muFhjXXjdekeEfHq8

Let me know if you have any questions, thank you in advanced.

#2

What’s with all the setup antics? You’re not doing a competition 1RM bro! So yeah, you’re lifting your butt a bit on every rep and your feet aren’t planted. Maybe practice both of those with a lighter weight until it seems natural. You’re pushing that weight fine and it looks like you could do it without the butt lift help. If you planted your feet you’d have a better base to push from. Your tempo looks OK to me.

#3

Are you a powerlifter?

Do you plan on competing in powerlifting?

1 Like
#4

Use less weight for higher reps to get technique down. Your strength will still increase just fine and the volume won’t hurt at this point either.

Powerlifting techniques develop organically for the most part, over time as training evolves and you learn what works for you and what doesn’t.

#5

I’m going to assume you want to powerlift.

There’s no point in worrying about J curves and what not while your butt is consistently coming off the bench. You gotta stop hitting reps that would be illegal, I mean sometimes shit happens and a little lift here and there is okay but that is just ingraining bad habits.

1 Like
#6

Thank you so much for viewing my lifts and providing valuable feedback. While I am not exclusively dedicating my training to powerlifting, I find the powerlifting set up helpful to get my pecs firing rather than my front delts taking over. I also ran into some shoulder joint and discomfort without getting into a proper pressing position, at least from a powerlifters standpoint. I of course am in no way near the poundages to consider even competing in a PL event.

I’ve added a rug to the flooring to add traction so much needed traction on the floor, this appears to help, at least my feet are staying firmly in place. My hips/butt still keep lifting off the bench.

Yesterday I performed 185x5x3. While I may be able to go up 2.5-5 more pounds next session because this was not a grind or very difficult. I think I should stay at 185 and work on keeping my butt on the bench.

Here is a link to yesterday’s session on my 3rd set, 185x5x3. >

#7

In the last video your feet are almost flat on the floor, instead of being way up on your toes in the first few videos.

I think you look more stable, with way less foot shuffling with your feet (nearly) flat on the floor.

You might consider sliding your feet forward, so they are in front of your knees. Then think about leg driving yourself Up Along the bench, as if you were snow-plowing the the padding of the bench with your shoulders. Instead of pushing your hips up into the air and off the bench, use your leg drive to push your hips horizontally for a tighter arch.

#8

Flats is spot on. Another thing you can try is pausing for a 1-second count on your chest so that you get used to holding tension in your body. It’ll help stabilize you as the weight gets heavier and will help you add more muscle since you’re using a lower rep range.

Going to a lower weight for more reps would still be ideal to help you get more practice.

#9

Watching you set up reminded me of this :rofl: