Experiment to find what works best for you. There is no universal recommendation for everyone, a lot of people say to go as wide as possible to shorten the ROM but some of the best bencher (James Strickland, Jeremy Hoornstra) use a relatively close grip. Use close, medium and narrow grips because they will all help to build your bench.
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This^âŠDuring my second week of 5/3/1 I brought my grip in by one fingerlength(Had middle finger outer ring initially, now have ring finger on it) and it made a world of difference. I felt stronger all around and it definitely helped me improve my bench(PRs every week). Now im sure thats not the only reason, but it no doubt had a positive impact. During your warmups or deload weeks, take time to mess around with a few grips. Youll know which one works for you once youve tried out a few. Also, close-grip Bench press, OHP, and dips are your best friends when building a bigger bench.
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At one time I used a fairly close grip, I think it was about a thumbâs length from the smooth part of the bar. Going wider I just didnât have much drive off my chest, with that grip I think I benched 340 or so. I did a hypertrophy phase where I did a lot of wide grip benching (for high reps of course) and after that I felt like I was stronger with a slightly wider grip, these days Iâm benching with ring fingers on the rings. If you bring up certain weaknesses (maybe my pecs were weak before) then it can change what works best for you. Donât be afraid to experiment a bit, something that doesnât work for you today might work in a few months or years from now.
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I have a set of bands, a red, a blue, and a purple from elite fitness. You could buy those and wrap them around your back and do push up with them, I do this sometimes for my 3rd day when my shoulders are beat up, it takes about 20 minutes and you can do it in the comfort of your own home, and you can do some real progression comparatively too just doing body weight push ups
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To elaborate on what knobby brought up about shoulder position. You Gotta Get Those Shoulders down, back and together. If you look at your shoulders during your bench pressing, specifically the rear delt, or back of your shoulders, you can see they always stay âuntuckedâ or âunpacked.â You unpack the bar, and bench press away. You never let the shoulders settle back. As a result, it looks like you can barely straighten your arms. Lots of pressure on front delts and the weakest part of your pecs.
Check out this skinny dudes shoulder position.
Here is a nerdy explanation of some shoulder position stuff.
Here is a Power lifter dude explaining it. His setup is ridiculous. He gets his scraps so retracted, it looks like his arms are growing out of his back.
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Try widening your grip a little. Experiment with your grip with an unloaded bar, until you get a 90° angle, between your forearm and humerus at midpoint in the lift and your wrist is directly above your elbow in a straight vertical line. I would say that your closer grip is why your wrist is caving towards your face as well. Choke the life out of the bar and try snapping it in half.
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Too late to apply this session but next session then
Tweaked my shoulder a bit throwing ball on the beach the day before the workout but here is some 90kg doubles from today
Couldnât apply all the things at once like the gripping the bar hard af but my guineapig brain probably couldnât handle too much at once.
Was trying to: Pull feet back and engage legs more, retract scapula more, cheater arch more lol, widen the grip a finger width
So⊠better?
What still needs working on?
What should be prioritised?
Next session will implement some more stuff you guys have put up.
Thanks all for help so far
I didnât notice this part, but if you have issues with your wrists bending then other than keeping your hands and wrists tight you need to check you grip. If you hold the bar too close to your knuckles then it will be hard to keep your wrist straight, you want the bar closer to the âheelâ of your hand.
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Donât really think about this much to be honest. I just grab the bar and unrack. So I should hold and unrack the bar low in the hand? Will put it on the list
Your last two videos look fine to me, except that it looks like you arenât generating much tension in your legs. They should be so tight that if someone came over and pushed one of your legs it wouldnât even move. Iâm sure you have heard of ârootingâ/grab the floor with your feet and twist it, which Chris Duffin and Stuart McGill are recommending that people do, you can do that on bench as well.
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Umm donât know if this is common or not but when I go like 70% + tension in my legs in my set up it kinda feels like itâs taking away from my back tightness of that makes sense. Like itâs either tight back and loose legs or tight legs and loose back?
You know what, I had issues with this for a while myself. For some reason I was holding the bar slightly asymmetrically, it wasnât even noticeable by looking but I could tell that my left hand was off by a couple of millimetres or so, it was a little bit higher up than the right side and would make my wrist bend back slightly. It used to give me occasional wrist pain. Iâm sure that there are slight variations of how to hold the bar, but the way I do it now itâs like the bar is resting on the bones in very bottom of my palm, parallel to the base of my thumb. It feels more secure, causes no pain, and seems like it give me more power as well.
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Thatâs not good, but it probably has to do with trying to focus on so many things at once. In my experience, itâs hard to make technical changes with heavy (however you want to define that) weights. Just try your best and make sure that all your warmups are perfect, eventually it will feel natural and you will be able to do it with work sets and max attempts. This is one more reason to include submaximal work.
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Looking at your list, I really think that you would benefit from increased frequency at the moment. I know you can only train twice a week, do you bench both days? In my personal experience, the biggest benefit to more frequent training (like 3+ times a week for the same lift) if the ability to practice and improve your technique. My squat used to really suck, after a couple months of squatting 4-5 days a week it seemed much more natural and comfortable, it even seemed like squatting so often became pointless after a while because my technique was solid and I was always slightly fatigued. Now I squat twice a week, one heavy day and one light day (60%x2x5 sets), basically a warmup before deadlifts. If you can squeeze in a third bench session I think it will pay off.
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Probably lots of technique gains that way but unfortunately best I can do right now is throw in another day of pressing movements at home.
What would be the best back exercise/accessory for keeping my back tight? Like in terms of specifity and carryover and stuff.
Like a barbell seal row looks good but itâs hard to set up or with DBs but thatâs less specific?
Whatever rowing exercise you do, practice holding the weight at full contraction.
While your technique is improving doing higher volume at lower intensity (lighter weight more sets rather than more reps), focusing on perfect reps each time, in my experience improved bench more than higher intensity.
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I Like to alternate between pendlay rows and chest supported rows as assistance exercises on my bench days. You should be able to do a pendlay or bent-over row with the same weight that you bench(Or more, which is better) If you cant do that then work on that.
For the Chest supported rows, add a few second pause at the top position and its fine to use dumbells for this.
Also, if you need practice maintaining full body tightness, learn how to do RKC planks, they helped me out. Pretty sure there are a couple articles about them on Tnation.
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I think itâs mostly a coordination issue rather than an actual weakness. I canât think of any situation other than bench pressing where you have to push away from yourself while simultaneously keeping your shoulder blades retracted, it just takes some getting used to.
As for specific back exercises, seal/chest supported rows would be my first choice. Itâs not really hard to set up with a bar though, just use an adjustable bench and put it on an incline, row the bar off the floor. If you canât reach the bar then put it on plates or blocks, if the bar is too close to you and you donât get a full ROM then set the bench on plates. Otherwise, seated cable rows are a good substitute. Also band pull aparts or rear delt flys, there is no elbow flexion but I donât think that it matters.
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