Bench form check

[Cellist]

[mgil]

@VikingCellist, overall these are pretty good. I’m guessing this is a later set. Strive to make the reps as consistent as possible. A little bit of elbow flare at the end.

[Cellist]

I think it was set 4 of 11. I was hoping I could build some good habits with all the practice. I think I see what you mean on rep 6, the elbow movement indicates abduction on the concentric. That is “flare”. Adduction is called “tuck”, correct?

[chrisd]

There's nothing that stands out as bad here.

The flare at the end would seem pretty normal if you are getting tired.

Abduction is flare.

The bar actually travels towards your head earlier in the last two reps ( I think). That would avoid overloading tired deltoids and transfer the load to your pecs and triceps. This would seem like a good idea. Once the bar is over the glenohumeral joints, the humerii are vertical, so your elbows will need to travel outwards to achieve this.

ETA. You did eleven sets!?!?

[Sumo]

@VikingCellist If your goal is to solidify technique then you'd be better off with less reps per set to eliminate the fatigue creeping in and affecting your technique. Think of it this way, 2-3 reps with less than ideal technique doesn't seem like much, but that's 30%-40% of your total work.

[Cellist]

@Sumo Thanks, I just wanted to make sure I’m not doing anything bad. My goals are fat loss, and hypertrophy. Some fatigue is necessary, but I wasn’t getting close on this set, but it was more a matter of concentration and focus.

Some bench technique describe, what sounds to me like forearm supination, “squeeze the bar”. That coincides with adduction and tightens pecs. I let go of that, but it was conscious and not fatigue related.

If I were trying to perfect PL technique, I’d try to be closer to 1-3RM and practice under conditions like lift-off and pause, since the motor patterns would be closer.