Bench Talk: The Eccentric/Descent

In the second part of this series we’re going to go over the pressing motion of the bench. In the previous article, Bench Talk: The Setup, I described how to put yourself in a good position and some considerations when getting set up for bench.  

The first step is lifting off the bar from the rack. You can do this yourself or get a liftoff. If you are doing this yourself, you need to make sure you do not lose the tension in your upper back and let your shoulder blades get out of position. Getting a liftoff will help maintain a stable position, making it easier to start the descent of the motion. A general rule of thumb I like to follow on the liftoff is to assist about 25%. If you assist too much on the liftoff and then “drop” too much of the weight on the person performing the lift, you can throw off the tension generated in the setup and “shock” the system. This is no bueno if you’re performing at or above 80% of your max.

On the descent of the lift, continue to “spread the bar” or “bend the bar in half.” By doing this, you will continue to engage the lats and external rotators of the shoulder, controlling the descent of the lift and keeping the shoulder in a good position. As the bar is being lowered, the elbows should remain in a downward position. This will fall somewhere around a 45-degrees angle in relation to your arm, if were perfectly horizontal (figure 1). You do not want your elbows flaring out. Novice/younger lifters will want to do flare their elbows out, trying to use only their pectorals to compensate, straying away from their weak triceps.  

Figure 1: Arm position as the bar is lowered in relation to a horizontal.

In addition to keeping the upper back tight and maintaining a good shoulder/arm position, the wrist and the elbow should remain directly above and below each other (figure 2). If the elbow flexes or the wrist bends back, this will throw off the line of force applied to the bar, causing compensatory muscle action. This will make you biomechanically inefficient and waste energy that could be contributing to lifting more weight. Ideally, keeping the bar’s downward force perfectly in the line of the force exerted by the body will give you the best force transfer into the bar. A good way to think about this is trying to keep the wrist-elbow line perpendicular to the floor.

Figure 2: Line of force from the bar with variations in elbow and wrist position.

Other than what is going on with the arms, the core should be braced, glutes should be tight, and feet firmly planted into the floor during the bar’s descent. This is referred to as “staying tight” and will provide you with the best, most stable base from which to press when it comes time for the pressing portion of the lift.

Ryan Goodell, CSCS

For consultation/personal training/coaching inquiries email: ryangoodell@weightsandstuff.com

If you enjoyed this and would like to help me out please share this article! 
New posts every Sunday! 

If you are interested in other content from Weights and Stuff you can find it at:

YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0T2GjxJbPNzN_pz7U4qt1A

Website:  http://www.weightsandstuff.com/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/WeightsandStuff.wns/

Instagram:  @weights_andstuff

Twitter:  @weightsnstuff