timiacobucci Posted September 21, 2008 Share Posted September 21, 2008 just one more point that he has no idea what he's talking about. Right up there with not teaching us snatch, not teaching us back arch on bench, among a few others. Do you really want someone teaching you how to snatch that doesn't even know how to bench correctly? My football coaches were always very hesitant to teach us olympic lifts. Learning how very technical they are now and how important it is to get them just right, I understand why they would not want to try and teach them to a bunch of strong, impatient, competitive teenagers. Not that I really bench ever, but one thing I think could help to learn to use allot more lat engagement, which I think is probably one of the hardest things to learn just from benching is training the bent press. That lift just straight does not work if you don't know how to retract your shoulders and engage your lats all the way. I imagine if you setup your back to bench like you are going to bent press it will get you in the right position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Lipinski Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 You bring up a good point Tim, the guy might be showing a little bit of good sense to not teach the snatch if he doesn't know it. I know if I were to train anyone, I would avoid the olympic lifts. I know what they are for, how to do them, etc., but I have never PROPERLY done a snatch or a clean. I can do something ugly as hell resembling the lifts, but nothing I would teach somebody else. Also, teaching a curved bar path for the bench isn't exactly stupid. I wouldn't say that not teaching an arch is stupid. In my opinion Smitty's way is better, but not for everyone. Also, even many of the "straight up and down" bar path guys have a little bit of curve to the lift. If you look at my video and Smitty's model, the thing we both have in common is short ROM. Long armed guys (you might be one Josh) may not ever get perfect at the straight up and down bar path. Another thing not mentioned is that to perfect this style of benching, your triceps must get strong. If your pecs are relatively stronger than your triceps, you will probably bench more with a curved bar path. Before I learned straight line benching, I spent 1-2 years specializing on strong triceps. Learning to bench that way was easy after that, because I was going to my new strengths. All that being said, I believe that this method is the safest way to bench in the long term. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jad Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 I'd be surprised if my triceps weren't stronger than my pecs due to the fact the various shoulder injuries kept me off the bench so long. I still don't bench, I do some triceps-parallel-to-the-floor reps on the cybex machine and the occaisional pec dec for good measure. I still hit tris pretty hard but had to eliminate the weighted dips and close grips for obvious reasons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lifesnotfair Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 Josh, I was reading an article while the Olympics were happening, and a gymnast was saying how important dips are for gymnastics. He said many have problems doing them, but some can do them if they tuck their knees in. I tried it and could do them, if I don't tuck them it hurts my AC joint. Tucking knees leans the torso a little bit, it seems. Just in case you ever wanna try a dip again... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jad Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 Josh, I was reading an article while the Olympics were happening, and a gymnast was saying how important dips are for gymnastics. He said many have problems doing them, but some can do them if they tuck their knees in. I tried it and could do them, if I don't tuck them it hurts my AC joint. Tucking knees leans the torso a little bit, it seems. Just in case you ever wanna try a dip again... I'll have to give that a spin. Thanks for the tip! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikingsrule92 Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 just one more point that he has no idea what he's talking about. Right up there with not teaching us snatch, not teaching us back arch on bench, among a few others. Do you really want someone teaching you how to snatch that doesn't even know how to bench correctly? My football coaches were always very hesitant to teach us olympic lifts. Learning how very technical they are now and how important it is to get them just right, I understand why they would not want to try and teach them to a bunch of strong, impatient, competitive teenagers. Not that I really bench ever, but one thing I think could help to learn to use allot more lat engagement, which I think is probably one of the hardest things to learn just from benching is training the bent press. That lift just straight does not work if you don't know how to retract your shoulders and engage your lats all the way. I imagine if you setup your back to bench like you are going to bent press it will get you in the right position. No, I'm saying I wanted a guy who all around knew more about weightlifting and how to teach it. The only one mine ever tought was the clean. Apparently now the new guy is teaching jerk. If he's teaching it right then I'm glad he is. But honeslty I wish the coaches tought more then the 4-5 most basic lifts and said they were all you needed or could ever want to succeed in lifting and all of that. Of course they're a great foundation, but they're not all there is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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