00:00okay welcome everyone to the first episode of technique Tuesday where every week we're going
00:13to be taking an in-depth look at the lost art and science of training technique so just as a quick
00:19general outline for the most part we're going to be breaking each exercise up into four sections
00:25so we'll look at the muscles we're going to be targeting how to set up for the exercise we'll
00:30look at execution of the movement and then common errors that I see many people make so without
00:34further ado let's jump right into it with the bench press exercise so the muscles will be targeting
00:40here in order of involvement are the pec major both the sternal so the mid and lower and clavicular
00:47or upper heads the triceps brachii the anterior or front deltoid and to a lesser extent the lats but
00:54they'll actually only be active when the shoulder is behind the torso that's only at the very bottom
00:59of the press and the primary actions being trained are horizontal shoulder adduction which will be
01:04carried out mainly by the pecs and the anterior deltoids some degree of shoulder flexion carried
01:09out by the upper pecs and the front delt and elbow extension which will be mainly handled by the
01:14triceps now before we get into the full setup I think it's important to emphasize here that you
01:19should only try to compare your bench strength to your starting place and not anyone else's bench
01:25strength because there are just so many extraneous factors that can contribute to performance on this
01:30lift like your arm length ribcage size muscle origins and insertions your lumbar spine mobility
01:37the size and strength of your upper back for creating a stable base of support and on and on
01:43okay so the setup on the bench press is extremely important so you may want to play this back a couple
01:48of times what I'm going to go through first is technically a strength focused powerlifting style
01:53bench press however for reasons I've explained in other videos to do with maximizing load minimizing
01:59injury risk and optimizing overall pec recruitment I still think this style of bench press is a great
02:06mass builder for anyone with the primary goal of building size still throughout the video I'll explain
02:11some modifications that you can make if you purely have bodybuilding interests here we go first you want to
02:16double check that you have the right weight on both sides that the bar is centered in the middle of
02:21the rack and that you have a spotter handy if you're training at high efforts you want to lie flat on the
02:26bench with your head back behind the bar with your feet up on the bench and you want to squeeze your
02:32shoulder blades together keeping them in this retracted position throughout the whole setup and execution of
02:38the lift set up your arch by lifting your arms up and grabbing the bar with a shoulder width grip
02:42or you can reach back and push against the uprights of the bench but I personally just prefer to grab
02:48the bar you want to lift your hips up high while thinking about pulling your shoulder blades to your
02:53butt which will help force you into scapular depression and push your upper body forward while keeping your
02:59feet in place but you can go up onto your toes if you find you can get more arched that way now at this
03:04point you should have your back planted down on the bench and your eyes should be directly under the barbell you
03:10want to position your lower body for leg drive by lowering one foot at a time positioning your feet
03:15as far back as you comfortably can and keep your legs in close to the bench when viewed from front
03:20on for regulation technique your heels should be planted on the ground so you may have to externally
03:26rotate your feet or point your toes out to get your heels down also make sure you've dropped your hips
03:31down so that your butt is touching the bench now you want to take your grip width at this point i widen my
03:36grip which is definitely on the wider side since i'm simply stronger with a wider grip now it's worth
03:41noting that research has found that wider grips will target the sternal head of the pecs and the
03:46anterior delts more while a closer grip will target the triceps and clavicular or upper chest more but i
03:52think using a variety of grip widths in training or experimenting and finding what works best for you
03:57makes sense however an important factor in determining grip width should be whether or not your joints are
04:02stacked from the rear position meaning the wrist should be roughly positioned over the elbows
04:08however i think it's also worth noting that some advanced power lifters won't always keep the joints
04:12perfectly stacked so they can get out wider but in any case one 2007 study suggests that a max width
04:19of 1.5 times biacromial distance so roughly 1.5 times shoulder width is best for reducing injury without
04:26seriously compromising maximal strength another important point when it comes to grip you want to make
04:31sure you have your wrist joints stacked meaning from the side view your wrist should be directly below
04:36your knuckles you want to avoid excessive hyper extension here of the wrist and you can correct
04:41this by thinking about punching the ceiling as a cue right before the lift off i'll do one last check
04:47to make sure my shoulder blades are retracted and depressed by cranking my elbows forward which i think
04:52of as me sort of screwing my back into position now for those strictly interested in bodybuilding only
04:58the same general setup can still apply however you won't need as extreme of an arch you may want to
05:04take slightly more of a narrow grip to increase the range of motion and because your arch will be
05:08smaller your feet can be a little further forward but still for the sake of shoulder health and stability
05:14you'll still want to keep your shoulder blades retracted throughout the lift and maintain some arch in
05:19your lumbar spine now with that said i think people do tend to exaggerate the difference in range of
05:23motion between a big arch and a small arch and i think it's worth noting that the distance traveled
05:28by the bar isn't necessarily the same as joint range of motion for example just compare the joint
05:33angles in these two bench press styles the position of the humerus relative to the torso at the end of
05:39the range of motion is actually very similar despite the fact that the bar will have traveled further
05:44in the flat back press um so i think you should get to work on building your arch and just not worry too
05:48much about limiting your range of motion when using it so we've got the bench press set up and now
05:53it's time to actually execute the set and we're going to break down the execution into four distinct
05:59phases so we have unrack brace descend and press so first unrack the bar by having your spotter help
06:09you lift out not up or if you're unracking by yourself you may want to keep your butt elevated for
06:15the lift off component and then drop your hips down once you've unracked however i personally prefer to
06:20just have a spotter handy whenever going near maximal effort to just help with the lift off and at this
06:25point you want to ensure you have four main points of contact so your head your upper back your glutes
06:31and your feet should all be planted and now that you're in position you want to take a deep breath
06:35into your gut pressing the air out against your belt if you have one you can also cue yourself to puff
06:41your chest out at this point to expand your rib cage as much as possible grip the bar as hard as
06:46you can and you can optionally use the cue to bend the bar or to rip the bar in half which will activate
06:53your upper back muscles to help maintain tightness during the descent so you want to drop your elbows
06:58down at a 45 degree angle relative to your torso when viewed from the top and there is a unanimous agreement
07:03on this from the best powerlifting coaches but when viewed from the side on the elbows shouldn't be too
07:09far out in front of the bar and you can make it a goal to keep the elbow stacked under the bar and
07:14when viewed from the side the descending bar path should be down and slightly forward at the same
07:19time you want to touch your chest just below nipple level toward the bottom of your sternum which should
07:24be the highest contact point on your chest you can optionally pause on your chest for about a second
07:29until the bar becomes emotionless which is required for competitive powerlifting but if you're purely
07:34bodybuilding you can simply tap your chest without a pause just make sure you ensure that the touch
07:40is still well controlled and you're not just bouncing the weight off your chest so after your optional
07:45pause you want to explode the bar off your chest driving your heels into the floor and you want to
07:51think about pressing the bar back toward your face and off your chest rather than just driving the bar
07:56straight up you can also think about pushing the floor away from you with your feet to help initiate that
08:02leg drive and enforce this back and up bar path now of course you don't want to press the bar too far
08:07back so that it hits the rack or you lose control now just bring it back into balance over the shoulder
08:12joint restoring that starting position now on the way up you're likely to encounter a sticking point
08:17if training at high efforts where the lift will feel most difficult and it's likely where you'll
08:21fail the lift if going for a max effort set research shows that it tends to be in the first 20 to 40 percent
08:26of the movement so about three to four inches off the chest but that will be individual typically the
08:31more advanced you are the lower the sticking point will be the newer you are the more it'll be in
08:36the mid-range so to break through the sticking point you want to make sure you're pressing the bar up and
08:40back not just straight up you can also try flaring the elbows out a bit more as this is going to get
08:45your pecs more involved to help the triceps and you can think about lifting the bar off your chest with max
08:51speed and that'll also likely help you sort of blast through that point where deceleration would normally happen
08:57but personally i think the simplest solution is that you probably just need stronger pecs and triceps
09:02so once you're accelerating past the sticking point you now have the option to exhale but you can
09:06hold your breath until you completely lock the lift out and as you near the end range of motion the bar
09:12should complete that arc back toward the starting position with the bar back over the nipples now at
09:16this point we would just repeat the process starting with bracing descending and pressing again for however
09:22many reps your program calls for so three common errors that i see all the time with the bench press
09:27are first over tucking or under tucking the elbows now the cue to tuck your elbows actually originated in
09:34equipped power lifting but without a bench hurt this cue probably won't be as helpful to you now it's
09:39probably just as common to see people not tucking enough completely just flaring their elbows out to
09:44be parallel with the bar and i think this is also not ideal since it puts your shoulder at an increased
09:49risk of injury and it makes the bar path much less efficient since the bar is forced to go straight
09:54up and down most people just simply won't be as strong benching with completely flared elbows now
09:59like i said earlier a slight tuck is good however as you get to that sticking point more of a flare
10:04might help you get the elbows more stacked under the bar and allow you to finish out the lift
10:08if you have difficulty figuring out exactly how you're using your elbows i'd recommend doing slow
10:13eccentric presses with lighter weights or throughout the entire negative you're being mindful of where your
10:18elbows are and where they're going now the second common error is benching with a completely flat
10:23back now you may not need quite as extreme of an arch as a competitive power lifter however maintaining
10:29some arch in your spine confers at least three major benefits first the lumbar and thoracic vertebrae
10:34and introvertebral discs are actually safer in the lordotic or arched position the more decline pushing
10:41angle is safer for the shoulder joint and you'll most likely be simply stronger in this position meaning
10:46more total load is going to be placed on the active muscle groups now the third error that i see a
10:50lot is lack of leg drive if your feet are just positioned wherever or just out in front of you
10:55on the bench rather than tucked in behind you you're just not maximizing your strength potential on the
11:01bench press now figuring out how to use your legs in the bench press may take time but i think it's really
11:06important to master um so i've linked a few really good articles down there in the description and alongside this
11:12video i'm going to be releasing my bench press specialization program like most of my programs
11:16this is more of a bench press training manual and it covers way more of the detail that i didn't have
11:21time to touch in this video and it comes with an eight week training program that's designed for
11:26intermediate to advanced level lifters who have the goal of increasing strength on their bench press
11:31but it's actually more than just a bench program it's actually an upper lower training split that'll have
11:35you in the gym five days per week and it has a specific focus on developing bench strength as that
11:41exercise is hit three times per week using daily undulating periodization so the program is 29.99
11:46however if you use the discount code technique tuesday you'll be able to save 10 bucks off
11:51the program knocking it down to 19.99 for the first week of launch and you can learn more about that
11:56over on my website if you go to jeffnippard.com or you can click that first link in the description
12:01i really hope that you enjoyed the video i've been excited about this series for a long time i'm glad we've
12:05finally got it underway please leave me a like if you enjoyed the video don't forget to subscribe
12:09if you happen to be new and i'll see you guys all here next tuesday
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