In 2018, I had lost over 150 pounds on my shirted bench press and was extremely frustrated and eager to fix the issues. I had just recently squatted 1,000 pounds and my bench was killing my total. Check out my other article "Why Shirted Board Presses Are Killing Your Bench Press" for details on why.
I was then invited to train at the Adirondack Barbell Club in Glens Falls, New York, under the tutelage of the prominent bench press technician, Bill Crawford. Then, I began traveling there every other Friday, or even sometimes every week, to train with him and his crew. I would even sleep in his gym overnight from time to time.
Upon seeing my bench press, Bill knew exactly what was wrong with it, and we set out immediately to fix it. First off, my shoulders were beat, and Bill knew it just by watching me lift. He took me off the weekly dynamic effort or “speed” bench press that I had been doing literally for years. Turns out, I could not recover from that much benching, and it was holding back my bench press, plus putting me at risk of permanent injury. We added a lockout training day in its place, doing mostly rack lockouts and raw board presses.
RECENT: Why Shirted Board Presses Are Killing Your Bench Press
Second, I had zero idea how to touch my chest after years of board pressing. From there on, I was subject to the most brutal training I had ever done for the bench, including, holding heavy weights for extended amounts of time before and after the press, and the impossible triples with 50-80 percent in my competition shirt. I say impossible because that is what some lifters have told me, but I am here to tell you that it is possible, and likely the best thing you can do to improve your shirted bench. However, most will never even try, because IT IS HARD!
The Beauty in Proper Bar Path
Bill also altered my bar path on the descent and the press. Instead of just taking the bar way out, then straight down, and I will tell you what evil that leads to in a moment. The bar was lowered higher and with elbows not tucked, until the shirt locked up entirely, then and only then, the elbows were tucked and the bar angled to the belly for an easy touch.
The problem with what a non-Metal Militia trained bencher does is once they just lower that bar straight down and tuck their elbows from the start, the shirt locks up, and they end up “handcuffed.” They have no move left besides a desperate struggle to push their belly up to try and eke out a half-assed touch for the judge.
With the way I was shown, when the shirt locks up, you always have that second move, and it is a premeditated plan, not flying by the seat of your pants in desperation to touch.
So once you have touched the weight in a way easier fashion, and you did not burn yourself out trying, you get the "PRESS" command. A lot of lifters then try to launch the bar straight up, a great number ending up just short of lockout and getting red lights.
Slope vs Vertical
Bill explained the press path to me this way: He said if you had a 45-degree leg press and a vertical leg press, which one could you do more weight on? The answer is the 45-degree leg press is much easier, as we have all seen gym rats load these things up with every plate in the gym.
So, it is simple physics. Did ancient Egyptians move their stones vertically, or up a slope? Physics tells us pushing something up a slope is considerably easier than lifting it vertically. So, I was taught to press back from the touch, at as much of an angle as I could without dumping the bar. This does take some practice and is another reason we always did triples. The bar slightly falling back, under control, actually helps you get to lockout easier and faster.
Then you will say, well, shoulder rotation is bad, that is why we press up in a straight line. Again, I am here to tell you that I pressed in a straight line for years and years, and my shoulders were still messed up. It did not make any difference.
I trained with some of the best Westside Barbell ever produced. I had a fantastic squat and an okay deadlift for not being a gifted deadlifter, but over four years, I lost over 150 pounds off my bench. We trained to two boards in a shirt, never touching, and it was a total disaster for my bench press, considering I started there with a high six hundred press in a poly shirt. They used to say that anything you could press to a two board, you could press in a meet… WRONG!
Bench Press with Power
How are you going to get the bar to your chest in a position of power that you can press it, or without dumping it? You better be technically proficient at touching, and most people I see are not because they only ever try to touch for three attempts at a meet. The five percent that are successful with exclusive shirted board work have a greater natural ability, in two aspects: physiological ability and an adaptation ability.
Training to boards exclusively in a shirt and never touching in training is like a 500-meter runner only training for 400-meter and saying the last 100-meter will be there on meet day. It very likely will not be!
Yes, extremely gifted lifters can manage to be successful regardless of the situation. But I am not extremely gifted at powerlifting, and neither are 90 percent of the people reading this. You need to learn these skills and apply them to be a successful, “less than gifted” powerlifter. And that is what I learned there, that anyone can be taught this skill and increase their bench press with skill, not with hope and copying what the greats do.
If you are trained in this manner, you then have a plan, a checklist in your head of what you need to do to successfully complete the bench press—how to lower it, how to touch it, and how to press it. I am in no way against the Westside way of training. I trained with Westside for ten-plus years. But, you need to decide what works and what does not work for you and apply it, not blindly follow what one person or gym says.
The End of My Time at Adirondack Barbell
Like all good things, my time at Adirondack Barbell came to an end. I had just coached a certain well-known shirt manufacturer to his overall win of the lightweight class at the APF Nationals in 2019. Within a week, the Metal Militia Vice President called and insisted that I could not charge other members for coaching. I will help anyone, within reason, for free. But these guys and girls were getting my weekly attention and a full training program. Of course, I refused to comply, as this was part of my income at the time, and that was that. I resigned from my executive position with the organization and never set foot in that gym again. But I did get what I went there for in the first place, and that was to learn how to bench press in a shirt from one of the best of all time.
Nathan Robertson is the previous owner of Amherst Powerlifting Club in Nova Scotia, Canada, and the current owner of Berserker Barbell in Saskatchewan, Canada. He competed for 25+ years in powerlifting, is an IPA Canada Chairman, and is an IPA and WPC International Judge. Nathan is one of only six 1000-pound squatters in Canada and a Top-10 overall Bencher in Canada. He is also a multiple IPA World Record Holder.
Can you share something of the metal militia style of training? I mean set, reps and exercise that you were doing? There is not that much on the internet. Thanks!