How to Bench – Don’t Press Out of Your Arch
How to Bench Press – Don’t Press Out of Your Arch
In this article, we are going to focus on one of the most common errors I see people make on the bench press.
A good setup on the bench requires a great amount of tension throughout the entire body. This is coupled with thoracic (upper back) extension and power breathing. The upper back extension sets the lifter up onto their traps and locks their hips into the floor, providing their have the appropriate hip mobility.
The problem arises when the weight nears a lifter’s rep max and the effort required to lock the weight, pushes them out of a good arch – specifically, they lose the retraction and depression of their shoulder blades and they protract the shoulders to lockout the weight. This is a big issue especially for the next repetition in the set. The good stable platform they created with the tensioning in the lats and upper back, along with the retraction of the shoulders, has been lost. And all subsequent repetitions will be placing a great amount of strain on the anterior aspect of the shoulders.
Pressing Out of the Arch
Proper Pressing Technique
If you have the appropriate upper back strength and mobility to get a good setup on the bench, you should be able to keep it throughout the duration of the entire set. But as we know, fatigue changes everything. Stay away from the “grinder” reps and stick with a weight you can control and still maintain good form.
And remember, putting everything you have into a rep, doesn’t mean you have to lose form. Keep practicing and keep that arch!
By Smitty on January 4th, 2012
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VERY-VERY HARD TO SEE BLUE PRINTING ON BLACK BACK GROUND. OTHER THAN THAT. LIKE!!
Always good advice, Smitty! Thanks!
im 16yo and i always do the 3×3 system 90% from 1RM and ive gain lots of strength my current max bench press was 150kg .. do you have more tips u wanna share with us? cos i read lots of ur articles and gonna try it out soon!