036 : 013 STRENGTH +STRUCTURE

On one level, part of this session is me being tired of answering questions, but if you want to be a little more generous, then we can say that this session should empower the player to understand a little more about proper bench press setup, and how to better gauge their strength end endurance. 

Warmup

Appropriately. shoulder CARs are great, banded pull aparts, scapular pushups, front and lateral raises, etc. 

Technical practice

bench press hand position –

Start in an extremely narrow grip (thumbs touching) and execute 2 reps with an empty bar, move each of your hands ~ 4” wider and execute another 2 reps, move each of your hands another ~ 4” wider and execute  2 more reps. keep doing this until you are as wide as you can reach, then rack the bar (you may have to move your hands to get it back on the rack)

Repeat starting wide and working to narrow.

bench press chest position –

Un-rack the bar and hold it directly above your eyes (this should feel too high) let it slowly drift towards your feet until its near your belly button (this should feel too low) keep bouncing it between “too high” and “too low” shrinking the window each time until you have the bar at the place where it feels the easiest to hold. This is your top position. Lower the bar to ~ 1/4” off your chest and move it as high as your collar bones (too high) and as low as your hip bones (too low). Bounce between “too high” and “too low” shrinking the window each time until you have the bar at the place where it feels the easiest to hold. This is your bottom position. do 5 slow reps trying to cycle between your top and bottom position pausing at the top and bottom to check your work by moving it slightly higher and lower to make sure you are hitting the float points. 

bench press shoulder position –

This is the hardest one to write out – lie on the bench and extend your arms towards the ceiling allowing your scapula to protract and really reach as high as possible. This is the full range. a bench press has an intentionally limited range, so while keeping your elbows locked tuck one shoulder at a time under your body pinning the shoulder blade between your body and the bench. Drive the scapula down towards your back pocket making sure your neck “stays long”. After you get both shoulders tucked, execute 5 reps of the bench press movement without the bar, after the 5th rep let your shoulders untuck and reach as far as possible.

repeat this whole action holding the barbell.

Work

5x3 tempo bench press – 5 second lower, 1 second hold at bottom, 5 second raise, 1 second hold at top

add weight each round if/when appropriate.

then

every :30 for 10:00 execute 5-20 reps of bench press

then

every :30 for 10:00 execute ~ 3-12 reps of body row 

then

every :30 for 10:00 execute 5-15 reps of z-press (empty bar)

Flow

For the technical practice portion, it is also important to feel how changing hand position affects the muscles involved, simple ways to shift the stress a little more to your shoulders or into the triceps. The “right” position is the one that serves you best on the day. The goal of this practice is to communicate better with your body. 

The “correct” chest position is usually more consistent than the hand position, but it is still worth inspecting on occasion. 

The shoulder position can be tricky to correct even in person and even more so virtually. It is good to notice how it alters your grip and your back arch. m\My friend described it like a body builder doing a lat flare pose and that always stuck with me. 

For the work, the flow is pretty simple. Slow reps bring attention to your body and the effect of a light weight. Once you get done with the slow reps, you should have an idea of what weight is useful to tackle the volume piece. (hint: its pretty light)

For the bench press piece make sure you reset each time, this will help you get more comfortable setting up on a bar. I often make people sit up between sets to mess them up and get the used to running through there checklist each time. 

For the body rows, the idea is to simply move the bench out of the way and try and mimic your bech setup as closely as possible. keep the shoulder retraction, back arch, and leg drive – and touch the bar to the same spot on your chest as before. 

Finally, the z- press. Try to keep your legs straight out in front for the full 10 minutes, an empty bar (or a lighter bar) is usually appropriate at this point.