raw benches

Albany Strength!! Right in my hometown, only been there once though. Ben White is a beast, there are a bunch of strong mofo's coming outa that place. Thanks for the links.
 
http://www.irongame.com/ is a great web site with a bunch of videos and fairly up to date records in PLing. top 20 in each weight class for the open division.

for any of you guys who find PLing interesting please check it out.

and for the best PLing mag outr there check out this link.

http://www.powermagonline.com/

they have some articles posted (i think) as well as how to subscribe and they have the online store to buy PLing equipment like wraps, suits, etc.....
 
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mudge. bro with a few simple adjustments to you form and set up i believe we can put 25+lbs on your bench without you getting any stronger, if you interested.

nice bench BTW, congrats on a job well done. sweet.
 
pullinbig said:
mudge. bro with a few simple adjustments to you form and set up i believe we can put 25+lbs on your bench without you getting any stronger, if you interested.

I have obvious problems with bar speed, thats a given. Once I get off the chest its la la land when I use heavy weights, I fail half way up as a general rule, if I start bringing the arms out when I'm close to failing I can lock it out but its my arms that are hurting me right now with the numbers.

I swear I bring it low although it doesn't much look like it, I wanted to get an overhead type video at some point to see my arms better. I go very slow on the negative to get myself into position and such, but I could use more speed through the whole thing. This clip was October 4th I think...
 
Mudge said:
I have obvious problems with bar speed, thats a given. Once I get off the chest its la la land when I use heavy weights, I fail half way up as a general rule, if I start bringing the arms out when I'm close to failing I can lock it out but its my arms that are hurting me right now with the numbers.

I swear I bring it low although it doesn't much look like it, I wanted to get an overhead type video at some point to see my arms better. I go very slow on the negative to get myself into position and such, but I could use more speed through the whole thing. This clip was October 4th I think...

just a couple of simple adjustments if you wanna play around a bit. nothing to do with bar speed or how low the bar is as i couldnt tell in that clip.

your elbows were fairly wide on decsent. keep those tucked by your side till you get the bar slightly off the chest on the push. this will allow more lats to be used to get the weight moving off your chest which will make you more stable and save energy for the lockout with tris, pecs and delts. you want your arms to flair on the way up so at the top they are completely flaired. this gives you a wider base and more leverage for lock out.

you also used almost 0 leg drive as well. getting those big tree trunks of yours into the bench will make a big differnce not only on shirted benches but raw as well. ill get some footage this weekend from the gym of proper set up for compettion benching. i have a meet coming up 1/22/05 and start training this saturday for that meet. (just got asked to do the meet yesterday and ill do bench only to get another couple of records and not be gone all day to boot, its at my gym NC APF state meet)

anyway just a couple of observations for you or anyone thats interested.
 
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I am absolutely interested. I am relatively convinced of my arms being somewhat in as much as I can handle, I go pretty low, but I will see what I can do.

Leg drive is something I have never mastered, so there is definitely something there.

Much grass senior cheezy
 
Mudge said:
I am absolutely interested. I am relatively convinced of my arms being somewhat in as much as I can handle, I go pretty low, but I will see what I can do.

Leg drive is something I have never mastered, so there is definitely something there.

Much grass senior cheezy

ill get some clips up. the way to incorprate the legs more is to tuck them up under you before you bench (it is a very uncomforatable position). this will insure that they are tight to start with and once you start to drive it will not allow your ass to fly off the bench either, which is where most folks run into trouble when trying to use leg drive. and as we all know if that ass comes off the bench the lift is no good.

i also noticed your grip loked a little narrow. hard to tell for sure on the clip. are your index fingers just outside the rings? the wider you grip the less bar travel you gonna have. shorter stroke equals more weight moved. tucking the legs also gives a nice arch which also shortens the stroke. if you can knock 3" off of a 15" stroke look how much energy you save for lock out. 20%.
 
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pullinbig said:
i also noticed your grip loked a little narrow. hard to tell for sure on the clip. are your index fingers just outside the rings? the wider you grip the less bar travel you gonna have. shorter stroke equals more weight moved. tucking the legs also gives a nice arch which also shortens the stroke. if you can knock 3" off of a 15" stroke look how much energy you save for lock out. 20%.

I'm 6'2" and riiiiiight on the rings, I have gone to where I put my thumb on the rings before but eventually it bothered me in the shoulder department and makes it tough to keep my arms inside. I am still working on form somewhat, but there seems to be a limit to how low on my chest I can go (benching in the gut) without just about losing the bar, and I have to go ultra low to keep the arms inside... Generally I am around 3 inches or so below the nips.

I get some low back pump even doing heavy benches, does that tell you anything? I do try to bring my legs a bit under but they are not mega under, I do remember some guys putting their feet somewhat under the bench even...
 
Mudge said:
I'm 6'2" and riiiiiight on the rings, I have gone to where I put my thumb on the rings before but eventually it bothered me in the shoulder department and makes it tough to keep my arms inside. I am still working on form somewhat, but there seems to be a limit to how low on my chest I can go (benching in the gut) without just about losing the bar, and I have to go ultra low to keep the arms inside... Generally I am around 3 inches or so below the nips.

I get some low back pump even doing heavy benches, does that tell you anything? I do try to bring my legs a bit under but they are not mega under, I do remember some guys putting their feet somewhat under the bench even...

for raw benching you not gonna be able to go too low or you tear your front delts up. with a shirt i touch close to my navel but for raw benching about where you are.

if you look at jeff in the clips you can see how he tucks his legs. bear in mind he is 5'6 tops so his short legs are not touching like some one who is yours or my height.

also if you getting lower back pain get a peice of pvc about 4" in diameter and put it under the small of your back whie warming up. this will enable a bigger arch more comfortably.

if you noticed also jeff tries to touch his ass and shoulders together (bigger arch). he also draws his shoulder blades together to shorten the stroke even more.

i would also suggest you do some rtack work from about 4 and 6 inches off your chest. thats you weak spot. make sure to set the bar down each time and relax, then press again.

my batteries where dead today (duh) so ill get some clips next saturday of some raw benching and set up.

heres the routine we did today.

5x5 5 board.
5x5 4 board (the board work is pitch and catch with a wide grip, add 30lbs each set)
5x5 4-6" lockouts. (lockouts were medium grip, add 30lbs each set)

i was spent before lockouts. =0l i can also tell that messing with this dc program for the last few months i have lost some strength as far as PLing goes. my numbers moved up for that kinda training (dc) but thats it.

next week we'll add shirt work before racks.
 
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Thanks, I will have to try the rack stuff 4-6", once I get off the chest its sleepy time... Next week I will do some warmup sets and have a pic taken overhead so I can see whats up with my arms, after a couple sets I'll know I'm in my groove and not cheating the camera.

I liked DCs stuff for a change of pace but for me, as someone who only gave it 2 weeks, it wasn't working for me in terms of numbers. Not a real criticism because I'm sure I could have done things differently under guidance yada yada, I'm just not big on 20-30 second rest periods. It sure is a burner though.

I watched Jeff's clips awhile back and he just about folds in half backwards.
 
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