I knew I was a wreck when it came to form and setup on the bench press – and the squat and the deadlift and the … well, everything – but I didn’t realize how much my setup was lacking.
In fact, I was lacking even before I sat down on the bench. The exercises Dave had me do were quite the eye-opener to the things I was doing wrong. When it came to pulling the shoulder blades together, I wasn’t even close, as the video will prove.
Simply correcting this – and doing this exercise every day – has already made a big difference. I’ve gone from shrugging to pulling my shoulder blades together and, as Dave said, it makes a big, big difference.
I did well on the second exercise, which focused on pulling my lats to demonstrate pulling the bar out with my lats. Unfortunately, I never really applied this to my bench press before. I was the dope that thought the bench press was for your chest, shoulders and triceps, completely shutting off every other part of my body during the lift.
I couldn’t have been more misinformed.
The lats and back have such a huge role in the bench press and I’ve neglected it far too long. Before even getting under the bar, I had learned a great deal about my lacking technique.
These were huge tips and great tools to apply into my preparation. Now, I’m focusing much more on keeping my back tight throughout the lift, using it in the way it is supposed to be used for the bench press.
I’ve done two bench workouts since this first video and the results are already there.
I’m currently following 5/3/1 and on the first day, I did three more reps with the same weight.
A week later, I jumped up 10 pounds and matched my reps and I’m confident it could have been a 15 pound jump.
This remains a work in progress, as I have a ways to go to perfect my technique, but it’s a start and I’m already in a much better place than I was before.