Spotting the Bench Press: Don't Make These Mistakes!
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Spotting the bench press shouldn’t be complicated, but people mess it up frequently, so let’s briefly discuss how NOT to spot the bench press.
Don’t Yank Your Lifter Out of Position
Take an over-under grip on the barbell (i.e., one hand facing up and one hand facing down - also known as an alternating grip or mixed grip) and simply provide enough assistance to help guide the bar into place. Don’t pull your lifter out of position because you’re so eager to help.
Stay Out of Your Lifter’s Line of Sight
You should give your lifter an unobstructed line of sight to the ceiling; with this in mind, stay relatively close to the bench so you can provide assistance if necessary, but beyond that, stay out of the way. Don’t straddle the bench, don’t straddle your lifter (yes, I’ve seen this), and don’t even lean over your lifter.
Keep your hands, your face, and your body out of the way and out of your lifter’s line of sight - none of those things are in the way of your lifting buddy on his other lifts, and they shouldn’t be in the way on the bench press, either.
Don’t Space Out
Pay attention to your lifter. Get your hands out of your pockets, put down your coffee, and simply pay attention to your lifter so that - in the event that he needs assistance - you’re actually prepared to provide it.
Don’t Touch the Bar
This is the big one, folks - they’ve even got shirts about this one. Lifting is not a team sport. Benching is not a team sport. If you touch the bar, the rep doesn’t count, so stay out of the way. Don’t. Touch. The. Bar.
“I’m all pinkies, bro!” Don’t be like these fools.
Of course, you need to be able to provide assistance in the event that the barbell goes anywhere other than up, but beyond that, stay out of your lifter’s way. The spotter shouldn’t exist (figuratively speaking) unless the lifter needs help.
As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.
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The Bench Press: You're Forgetting to Do This - Part 4
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In this article - our last in this series - we cover an aspect that is forgotten very frequently by new lifters (ahem . . . sometimes even experienced lifters) . . .
Retract your shoulders blades.
Which picture is correct? Hint: It’s not the one on the left.
Imagine you’re sitting upright and have a pen oriented vertically between your shoulder blades. Now, pull your shoulder blades back so that you’re pinching the pen in place (see photos below).
This is what you want to do when benching as well - only lying down. Retract the shoulder blades before you unrack the barbell, re-retract them after the unrack as well in case you lose some shoulder positioning during the process of unracking, and then keep them retracted throughout the set. Additionally, if needed, re-retract them between reps if they get out of position.
Retracting the shoulder blades creates more stability and puts us in a stronger, safer, and more efficient position from which to bench. Not having your shoulders retracted is the benching equivalent of squatting while standing on your toes - just plain dumb.
Retracting your shoulders also has the added bonus of shaving off just a bit of distance that the bar has to travel (just like squatting while flat-footed means you don’t squat as far as you would if you stupidly squatted while balanced up on your toes).
As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.
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The Bench Press: You're Forgetting to Do This - Part 3
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You’re all set to bench - your grip is pronated, your shoulder blades are pinched back, and you’re driving with your legs, but you’re still forgetting one thing . . .
Jeremiah correctly fixes his gaze at a point on the ceiling.
Find your focal point.
After you’ve unracked the barbell but before starting the first rep, find a point directly above you on the ceiling and stare at that point. You now have created a “sight picture” as you can still see the barbell in your periphery even while staring at the ceiling. You’re going to recreate this picture at the end of each rep, so remind yourself that the bar needs to finish in this exact same position every single time.
Then, simply stare at that focal point during each rep and even between reps - there’s no need to introduce unnecessary variability into your benching by having to re-find the focal point before each rep, so just keep looking at it like you do in the squat (watch the included video).
Having a stationary reference point makes for a more consistent and efficient bar path, and it makes for better balance as well (we don’t watch the bar since it’s a moving reference point).
As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.
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The Bench Press: You're Forgetting to Do This - Part 2
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When benching, you know you’re supposed to retract your shoulder blades, push with your legs, and drive that bar up and back to its original starting position, but you’re still forgetting one thing . . .
Get your grip right.
When taking your grip for the bench, you want the barbell to rest on the base or heel of the palm, i.e., directly over the bones of your forearm. This ensures that you have efficient force transfer between you and the bar, which is rather important when trying to move heavy weights. On the other hand, having the bar back toward your fingers causes your wrists to be in full extension (i.e., bent backwards), which is a flimsy and weak position for them to be in when trying to support a heavy load.
To achieve the correct grip, pronate your hands slightly by internally rotating your arms a bit and then squeezing the bar tightly with your fingers (scroll through the photos below for a demonstration).
If this doesn’t quite make sense, you can use the “diamond grip” approach described in this short article.
As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.
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The Bench Press: You're Forgetting to Do This - Part 1
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You’re all set to bench - your grip is pronated, your shoulder blades are pinched back, and you’ve got your focal point nailed down, but you’re forgetting one thing . . .
Use. Your. Legs.
Don’t worry - Dave is NOT forgetting to do this.
When benching, drive up the bench with your legs. In other words, use your legs to drive your body in the direction of your head (i.e., “up the bench”). You should be driving in such a manner that - if the barbell wasn’t pinning your shoulders to the bench - you might actually start sliding up the bench.
Make sure you’re driving horizontally and not vertically - remember that the rep doesn’t count if your butt comes up off the bench. Drive with your legs throughout the entire rep - drive hard on the descent and drive even harder on the ascent.
Leg drive is easy to forget about - especially if you’re new to the bench press - but it’s important. Your legs give you lateral stability (the bench doesn’t help much here as it’s not very wide), they support your arch, and they help make everything between your feet and your shoulders that much more rigid, which makes for a more stable platform from which to bench.
So use your legs next time, and if you find that you keep forgetting, write “leg drive” down in your training log as a cue for yourself next time.
As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.
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