Technique quirks (when benching)

Not sure which board this thread is most appropriate for. Not entirely sure of the difference between "Biomechanics" and "Eye of Sheiko" if they are both dealing with technique. I'll leave that up to the mods.

Benchpress technique fascinates me. I'd like to think of myself as a technically-minded lifter and enjoy analysing competition footage with technique in mind.

My benchpress technique is somewhat quirky and I was curious as to whether others use a similar method or have opinions about it's effectiveness.

I am tall and relatively long limbed. I have excellent ankle flexion and spinal extension which means I am able to arch very high. It helps reduce the range of motion my shoulders have to move through very significantly.

Where my technique varies from many others is seen in the way I grip the bar. I retract my shoulders and use a maximum legal grip width but internally rotate my arms significantly in the starting position. In this position my elbows are pointing outwards, directly parallel with the bar. My hands are also turned inwards so that my thumbs point towards my groin and the bar sits diagonally across the palm of my hand. All of this adds up to a very tight position. The groove I press in is very narrow and hard to deviate from because my upper back literally "runs out of room" and I literally can not lift my butt from the bench because my hip is maximally extended. I have noticed many of the Japanese lifters use a similar style as does Mike Tuchscherer (see this video for a demonstration of what I am describing).

It seems a popular American phenomenon at the moment to fear monger about shoulder injury whilst benchpressing. The result it seems has been the increased popularity in a narrow grip, elbows tucked style of benchpressing.

What are people's opinions about this style of benchpressing? Do you think it carries a higher risk of injury? Do you have any particular quirks to your technique that you find "work for you"?

Not sure which board this thread is most appropriate for. Not entirely sure of the difference between "Biomechanics" and "Eye of Sheiko" if they are both dealing with technique. I'll leave that up to the mods.

Benchpress technique fascinates me. I'd like to think of myself as a technically-minded lifter and enjoy analysing competition footage with technique in mind.

My benchpress technique is somewhat quirky and I was curious as to whether others use a similar method or have opinions about it's effectiveness.

I am tall and relatively long limbed. I have excellent ankle flexion and spinal extension which means I am able to arch very high. It helps reduce the range of motion my shoulders have to move through very significantly.

Where my technique varies from many others is seen in the way I grip the bar. I retract my shoulders and use a maximum legal grip width but internally rotate my arms significantly in the starting position. In this position my elbows are pointing outwards, directly parallel with the bar. My hands are also turned inwards so that my thumbs point towards my groin and the bar sits diagonally across the palm of my hand. All of this adds up to a very tight position. The groove I press in is very narrow and hard to deviate from because my upper back literally "runs out of room" and I literally can not lift my butt from the bench because my hip is maximally extended. I have noticed many of the Japanese lifters use a similar style as does Mike Tuchscherer (see this video for a demonstration of what I am describing).

It seems a popular American phenomenon at the moment to fear monger about shoulder injury whilst benchpressing. The result it seems has been the increased popularity in a narrow grip, elbows tucked style of benchpressing.

What are people's opinions about this style of benchpressing? Do you think it carries a higher risk of injury? Do you have any particular quirks to your technique that you find "work for you"?

Good question! I would say that it is more appropriate in video section. You can have pratical advice. I do not see biomechanics argument herein.

If possible, post a clear video.

Thanks

Good question! I would say that it is more appropriate in video section. You can have pratical advice. I do not see biomechanics argument herein.

If possible, post a clear video.

Thanks

I recently bought a camera to record my training sessions. I'm still working it all out though. In the meantime the video of Mike Tuchscherer benching I linked to in my original post shows the same style that I use.

Quote from: BuccioniPL link=topic=45.msg360#msg360 date=1402325670

Good question! I would say that it is more appropriate in video section. You can have pratical advice. I do not see biomechanics argument herein.

If possible, post a clear video.

Thanks

I recently bought a camera to record my training sessions. I'm still working it all out though. In the meantime the video of Mike Tuchscherer benching I linked to in my original post shows the same style that I use.

Sounds good! look to see your bench on video!

For injuries: normally as you have mentioned, people point out that large elbows cause pec problems, but I think that with great arch, pointing elbows parallel to the barbell could be a very good option. It's sort of declined bench.
In my case, with a little arch, I have to use a more tucked position of them.

It must also be said that  Sheiko provides pec muscles exercises along each microcycle. These are aimed to make blood flowing into pecs after a bench, and to strengthen the muscles themselves.
It provides a great help to avoid injuries.

For wrists position, I honestly tried it, but i think can be an option only if you have great wrist mobility, also to shorten a bit the ROM. Otherwise can cause problems along the entire bench chain. That's my little experience with it.