Power lifting bench, pausing on chest

[jackfrost88]

So i'm getting ready for my first competition and have never done the PL style where you hold at the top, bring down, then press when the judge tells you too. With a "touch and go" style I have hit 275, and would not even think of missing anything in the 260's.

Tried the PL style for the first time today and barely moved 245 up... I have longish arms and have no experience with the 2-3second pause at the bottom.

Any pointers to bring up my bench to where it should be?

[600@50]

Stay tight as you bring the bar down. Envision your body being a spring compressed as the bar comes down and exploding on the way up. There are some good vids on elitefts dot com and Mark Bell's supertraining dot tv sites. But to get good starting strength takes training with pauses and very little touch and go benches. DBs help the start too as do Spoto presses. It literally takes years to learn to bench correctly.

[Nubster]

A pause will cause you to lift less. That's just the way it is. Losing 30 pounds off your bench isn't out of the norm. I did my first comp a couple weeks ago. In training I was hitting 405 paused but I can touch and go 450. There's a guy that I lift with that can touch and go 675 but his comp. PR is 585 I believe. So the more you can touch and go, the more you lose with a pause it seems.

[Khazima]

Just pause every rep from now until the meet and find your groove, it'll become natural in no time. A good starting point is probably going to be lowering the bar slightly lower on your chest, to the sternum/top of the abs instead of the nipple/just below.

I've been pausing all my reps for months now and my paused bench is now significantly better than my touch and go bench.

Dan greens got a great video on the bench, briefly discussing the two primary styles of benching. Would recommend watching it.

[marcus300]

Watch this video with Mark Bell and Eric Spoto for tricks of the trade on the bench press. Excellent video imho

[jackfrost88]

Thanks guys, great info. Don't have a whole lot of time but will incorporate into my program

[Khazima]

Watch this video with Mark Bell and Eric Spoto for tricks of the trade on the bench press. Excellent video imho

I literally had the link copied ready to post in this thread! Haha

[haggendaz]

I know dead stop help with competition pause bench. Probably don't want to start these before this meet but something to think about in the future. It's where you rest the bar on pins about an inch away from the chest. You focus on exploding off the pins as fast as you can while using good form. You will use significantly less weight but teaches strength and explosion out of the hole. But obviously you best bet is practice competition pause bench. Good luck in your first meet buddy!

[Ugbodybuilder]

Depends if you compete equipped or raw. If your equipped not need to pause in training the shirt will make the bottom of the bench motion the easiest point.

[songdog]

Too many guys bounce the bar off their chest.

[papathesmurf]

I watched a power lifting meet in August and watched a guy bounce 500 lbs off his chest and into his face.

[600@50]

I watched a power lifting meet in August and watched a guy bounce 500 lbs off his chest and into his face.

Unfortunately this happens way more than it should.

[prenes]

keep tight, dont freaking bounce the weights off your chest. raise chest to bar the last inch and hold. visualize elbows being pulled together on a string.....i know that sounds dumb but it works for me.

[Couchlock]

Watch this video with Mark Bell and Eric Spoto for tricks of the trade on the bench press. Excellent video imho

I had that on deck as well