http://youtu.be/WHk2sQTqYTM

Today was Day 5 at the gym. As you see my form... sucks.

Things which I'm aware to improve:
1. A better tighter arch
2. Unrack the bar more properly with the lats lol

Now the problem is as you see my elbows go down too far below the bench, and my wrist also caving in abit edy, shud be inline with elbow actually. Only thing I can think of is take a wider grip by putting my middle finger on the ring, currently pinky on ring. I touch the bar below nipple, near ending of ribcage.

Is there anything else to fix? Feels like my arms are tooooo long.

Seems like you're locking out your elbows at the end. You might wanna check that if you are.

Yes I do lockout.

Some say it's bad for joints, some say nothing wrong with it. I personally had no problems/pain with it, so I just lockout on all my lifts.

If you lockout long term effect, someone told me. Because the force of the weight will be supported there, not by you muscle. So I think is best not to lockout

1st and foremost, what purpose are you doing with this bench press? Are you trying to do strength for the big 3 or hypertrophy?

The answer will dictate your:
1. Amount of arch
2. Elbow Position
3. How high is your chest.

If you are going with hypertrophy, I think that form would be fine but if you are going with strength, yes you have a lot to fix (as per what Dave Tate video).

Haha, I just done watching Dave Tate's So you think you can bench. Really nice.

Um, I train for bodybuilding and strength but lean alot more towards bodybuilding. That's why my arch is not that high and my elbows are only tucked in 45degree.

I don't mind a slightly higher arch, which will cause more targeting to lower chest cause I'm also doing incline bench.

Umm, I think making the arch tighter and taking a wider grip will be sufficient fixes.

My advice would be, focus on a single goal. If you want to do hypertrophy, do a hyper trophy, same goes with strength. When you have become more experience, then you can start doing a hybrid or whatsoever as you have more knowledge on your body's mechanics.

My training is fully hypertrophy currently, 6-10 rep range.

I aim to get this form: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxEzx3545EQ

I like how Matt Ogus does it, and keeping feet in like him really works superb for me. Wrist directly above elbows is also important for me for good force production. Will adjust abit and take another vid tomorrow.

elbow going too low could be due to the length of your arm

Well, prevention is better than cure, am I right? It is a known fact that locking out puts unnecessary stress on your elbows. Another point is that by not locking out, you maintain the tension on the your chest muscles better and increases the time your muscles are under tension. Builds better.

Starting position should go up a bit further. Easier to unrack. Less stress on shoulder.

You bench at 45 degrees elbow but when on lockout, your elbow flared out to 90 degrees.

Oh yea, good point. I unconsiously rotate them on the way up. Will pay attention to this.

i have no idea about your form

but with mine, at the bottom of the lift, my elbows are flared out and inline/parallel with the bar, my back is contracted with lats flared out, when going up, open up your back, close your lats and contract your chest

last time when i just started, people always say back helps with bench, i have no idea how until i got this technique, not sure if it is good or bad but i feel comfortable

This post has been edited by Manlet: Jan 15 2015, 06:13 AM

Totally wrong IMO.
The only thing that move in bench press is your arm. Not your back, shoulder or body.
Elbows flared out and i'm not sure what you mean by opening the back, sounds like a shoulder joint killer.

Flaring elbows gonna fck up your rotator cuff real bad and you gonna get shoulder pain. This is because your rotator cuff is gonna get pinched and grinded under heavy weights in between the shoulder bones.

Basic bench knowledge. Can google for indepth info and anatomy diagrams.

You guys might find this helpful and interesting

www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2015/01/08/wisdom-young-gorilla-bench-press/

This post has been edited by DT1: Jan 15 2015, 01:09 PM

Update:

http://youtu.be/isGgsh_10cA

Arch is much tighter and better. Unracking is much proper. Elbow, wrist and bar is almost in a straight line at bottom.
Pinky finger on ring and bar is brought to sternum ending, slightly below nipples.

I just let my elbows rotate naturally. When I forced the rotation at top/start, it caused sharp pain in my elbow joint while benching. So, I'm just sticking to how my body turn it naturally, fully comfortable.

The green dot is where i put my pinky in the video. But after training, I tried putting my pinky on red and bench. This closer grip somehow felt much stronger, easier and comfortable. I think next Monday I try this closer grip.



I aim to bench in a way that it fully hits my lower chest only. This is cause I incline bench and flat bench everyday. No OHP.

This post has been edited by Armesh: Jan 15 2015, 08:31 PM

To my understanding , a closer grip would enphasize more on the triceps , that's why it's slighrly easier ? Just my 2cents

Yes the closer the grip, the more triceps involvement.

But triceps are smaller muscles compared to chest, and it shud be harder. It's the reason why CGBP uses much less weight than regular bench.

Yea ,but since it's a compound, your chest is also utilized (other muscles as well) during cgbp (and wider grip as well), so it's not entirely triceps even though triceps are a smaller muscle group. Probably that's why it seems easier compare to wider grip .