Fix your Pressing Pattern with the Exercise of the Week

Fixing the Bench Press Part 1

Bench Press with RNT

 

The bench press is probably without a doubt the most popular exercise in the United States. No one ever asks “How much you deadlift?”, but at some point someone will ask you “How mucha bench?!?” Whatever you answer be it 225 or 495 that person will tell you how they used to bench that before a shoulder injury or their buddy’s cousin benched 600 back in high school, but let’s not get off topic…

If you walk into any commercial gym you will see many variation of the bench press and most of them are NOT good. Whether it be half reps, benching to what seems like their neck region or just bouncing it off their chest or what seemed like a contest on who can break their sternum first! The bottom line is most people just need to learn how to bench properly.  Of course there are finer points for competition lifters, but athlete and general fitness trainees alike can take a lot of technique pointers from a good competition bench press.

The first learn we will talk about it elbow and shoulder position in the bench press. The elbows should be “tucked” in towards the body at the bottom of the press. The upper arm should form about a 45 degree angle with the body. You will see many people’s upper arms form a 90 degree angle with their body(keeping the elbows out). This creates a lot of stress on the shoulder.  By tucking the elbows it will reduce the rotation of the shoulder and provide a lot less stress on the joint when going through a full range of motion. Remember the bench press is a total body exercise we aren’t looking to isolate the “pecs” here. Our goal is to build maximize upper body strength and power so we want to be as efficient as possible.

We can use a band around the wrist to teach proper pressing technique. The band we force the wrist together and cause the elbows to “flare” out.  By spreading the band apart this will activate the muscles in the upper back and cause the lifter to press with a more efficient technique.  The band will help the lifter feel the stabilizer muscles in the upper back “turn on” and can be used to help the lifter feel what tucking the elbows feels like for the bench press.  This is another form of RNT(reactive neuromuscular training) because it forces the lifter into the problem and lifter must actively fire their muscles in order to correct themselves.

Give the bench press with RNT a try if you are having trouble tucking the elbows and achieving the upper back during the bench press. It is important to think about “bending the bar” or “pulling the bar apart” when pressing to activate the upper back and keep the elbows tucked.

(NOTE the athlete in the video is pretty new to benching properly so he really DOESN’T do a good job of “flaring the elbows at the top, but the tucking  part is very good. Most people will have more problem tucking so it still worth while to watch and learn form the video)

 

Here is a video of myself performing the exercise.

 

Notice how I “tuck” the elbows as I lower the band to my chest and “flare” them out as I push the band away from me.  A useful cue for this is to think about “pulling the bar apart” or my personal favorite try and “bend the bar” as you lower it. By utilizing this style of pressing in your workout you will greatly reduce the stress on your shoulders(versus a typical “body building” style bench) as well as increase your overall stability in the lowering phase of the bench press.

Let me know how it works for you! Leave a comment below.