This article includes Clint Darden's video breakdown of his client's bench training for the week. He explains the specific adjustments that Brian needs to make to improve his training and his bench press strength.
I ask each and every client that I work with to send me a video of their training each week. This is a very important part of getting better as a lifter. These videos are used to determine their strengths, weaknesses, as well as the direction of their training and injury prevention. ALL OF THIS is very important to keeping them making progress in the most effective and efficient manner possible.
Board Press
Watch his leg drive as well as how he is pulling his neck down and back. This is making the bar fly towards his face and lose the tightness he needs to press a PR. This problem is extremely common and I do it myself a lot of the time. We catch ourselves WATCHING the bar go down and up instead of just freaking knowing where the bar is (I mean, it is in your hands, isn't it?).
In some cases, this is easily rectified by adding a scoop of protein powder, two scoops of ice cream, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, one tablespoon of salted butter, and a liter of soft drink to each meal. This will help you to fill out your Rear Neck Bloat (RNB) so it physically WON'T come off of the bench. Between your rear neck bloat and your third chin...problem solved. You can also work on building larger traps and a thicker neck (this method is probably safer for your cholesterol).
In his case, I think it is simply a setup issue where he needs to:
- Put his lower neck on the pad instead of his upper back.
- Tuck his lats DOWN towards his glutes instead of together.
- Add Rear Neck Bloat (it's a thing, REALLY)
This is compounding together when he lets out his air and makes his range of motion much longer than it needs to be. You can only see this when the video is slowed down and stopped, but when you add max weight to the bar it all starts to matter so much more. This may not matter much off of a three board but it will be huge off a one board and the full bench press, especially when you are trying to squeak out that five-pound PR that you've worked (and ate) your tail off for.
Record your training on video and make sure a heavy critic is watching it with a close evil eye!
