T Nation

Losing Tightness w/ Speed Bench

Powerlifting
#1

I recently read in a Dave Tate article that said dynamic effort bench sets should be finished in less than 3.5 seconds. Yesterday I proceeded to try and do this (as opposed to waiting a second or two between reps).

When I blast up I find that I lose a lot of tightness. I think this is because when I push the bar to the top, my upper back moves up the bench a little bit.

Does anyone run into this issue? I tried changing my feet positioning, and that made it a little better but did not entirely fix the situation.

#2

try chalking the bench where your upper back lies.

#3

How wide is your grip? When I used to do dynamic work with a closer bench grip I found I could not stabilize my body as well as when I used a wider grip.

#4

Normal Grip - Ring Finger on That liney thing

#5

3 stabilized reps with a pause between them is better than 1 stabilized rep and 2 haphazard ones.

#6

ring finger on the line is narrow. move it out one finger if not 2.

I had the same problem. chalk the bench, but what likely is happening as well is that your shoulders are coming out. when you flex your traps and pinch your shoulder blades together before you take the bar, that is the position you want your shoulders to be in the entire time. when you lock out don’t allow your shoulders to press the bar up the last few inches, keep them down.

#7

Like Dave Tate said in his “So You Think You Can Bench” series, you should be really uncomfortable when you set up. You should be so tight that it’s hard to breath. As far as you legs go, have someone try and push them in when you in the middle of a warm up set, or something relatively light. If you legs cave, then you’re not tight enough. It’s a total body lift, so everything should be tight and you should be sweating before you even get into your work sets. Hope this helps.

Luke

#8

Thanks for the responses

Eagles, I actually had this issue after watching SYTYCB and as a result of become much tighter i slide. I think I might be driveing too much through my toes and need to push through my heels more.

Mat, the pinching thing also helped thanks. I will test out a wider grip next week.

#9

I was having the same problem. I started using bands and it ended right there. The bands prevent the bar momentum from “popping” me up and losing the tightness.

#10

keep your traps flexed the whole time. mine sometime cramp during a set.

#11

[quote]matsm21 wrote:
keep your traps flexed the whole time. mine sometime cramp during a set.[/quote]

x2
I can’t see what you’re doing, but it sounds like you are locking out above where you need to. Kinda reminds me of a scap pushup. If this is the case just lock out your elbows and finish there, keep those shoulder blades tucked and tight. Pretend there’s a $100 bill between them, so don’t lose it.