Bench Press Lockout “the last inch”

By Leighton Best

I was just doing my usual trawl through the Internet for powerlifting articles and I read a short piece by Lee Hayward ‘How to increase your bench press with proper technique”. The article explores the basics of bench technique and the transition from gym bunny to powerlifter.

Before reading the article I expected to see most of the usual bench technique points that I have read before, but it is always interesting to see these expressed from a slightly different point of view. As expected the article covered the standard points: retracting the shoulder blades, leg drive, proper breathing and tucking the elbows.

However, the article also included something that I have used to help my bench but something that has often been overlooked when writing about bench technique. That technique is pulling the elbows in at the lockout to finish the lift.

This technique is more a question of teaching your brain how to lockout a heavy weight. When I first starting benching around the 200kg mark I found that I would often get within 2 inches of lockout but couldn’t finish the lift. After some reflection I realised that I was trying to lockout by pushing the bar away from my body and in doing this my brain was trying to fire my chest. As a result I ended up basically performing a static hold for 3 seconds with no chance of ever finishing the lift.

In actual fact at this point I did not have to push the bar but almost just pull my elbows in and straighten my arms. When I first starting working on this I would visualise a piece of string on the inside of my elbow pulling my arm straight at the lockout.

In Lee’s article he demonstrates the technique by getting readers to push against a wall as if trying to push a car. Implementing this technique has definitely helped to push up my bench. Since teaching myself (teaching my brain) what to do when locking out I found that I haven’t missed any lifts in that last few inches. You can check out Lee’s article at Criticalbench.com

http://www.criticalbench.com/increase_bench_proper_technique.htm