98 kg + 98 kg + 111 kg bridged, 100 kg + 112½ kg bridged
I was challenged to an internet bench competition a couple of months ago and you will see from earlier posts here and here what I have done so far.
Given my benching strength that I wasn’t too enthusiastic about the challenge but I figured that the best way of getting better at the bench was to bench. It has proven to be most satisfying and best of all my bench is getting better…
I was asked a question regarding my technique and why I did a bridge bench after the normal bench and this is my answer;
“I am using the same techniques as a powerlifter uses to lift the most weight.
A bridge bench [where the butt raises of the bench] can be seen as an exaggerated competition style bench, it emphasizes the arch and the decreased range of motion and thus emphasizes the amount of weight used but is still similar enough to the competition style bench to be of use to it. So for example it helps with locking out of the weight in a competition style bench.
An alternative to the bridge bench might be board presses wherein boards are placed on the chest, again this emphasizes weight though not arch. It is of particular use to shirted benchers because the shirt means that the arms start working hard to lock the weight out. The boards mimic the springiness of a competition style bench.
The idea with arching is not just to get a short stroke but to get the lats and chest to push the weight up, a flat back bench [like a beginner does them] doesn’t do this and in fact somewhat subluxes the shoulders (I call them shoulder dislocates!) – so the strongest and most stable position for the shoulders is to shrug them back and arch so that the shoulders are tight and the biggest muscles (chest, lats) push.
Whilst shirted benchers keep their elbows low (because the shirt is doing the work of the chest), raw benchers must use these muscles thus on lowering the bar the elbows tend to be in to get spring from the lats but on blasting up the elbows come out to get the chest into the move. The stronger the lats, triceps and shoulders in relation to the chest the later the delay in the elbows coming out, however the ratio (rather than absolute) strength of the muscle groups tends to be the similar from person to person so the elbows come out for most people.
Partials in the rack and decline benches are not really as similar to the competition style bench as one might imagine so they are not used much.”
I was also asked if my elbows weren’t too wide on pressing up, I answered;
“I think you will find that most raw benching does not involve keeping the arms in like they do with bench shirts.”
In summary, I use the powerlifter type of bench rather than the ‘bodybuilder’ bench as the powerlifter style is safer on the shoulders and allows more weight to be used. I do the bridge bench after as it acclimatises me to heavier benching and stresses the muscles further.