The competition Benchpress
In this picture Sherry is performing a competition style benchpress.
Pay attention to the arch in her back. Only the bottom of her butt, and tops of her
shoulders and traps are in contact with the bench. She is using her legs to drive her shoulders into the bench
even harder. The arch Sherry is using utilizes the pecs to their fullest advantage. It also works with her grip
to shorten the range of motion in getting the bar from her chest to the locked out position. One should "pinch"
the shoulder blades together while setting up for the competition benchpress. This keeps more of the shoulder in
actual contact with the bench, giving it something to push off with, which transfers more of one's effort into
movement of the bar. Pinching the shoulder blades together while setting up also keeps one much tighter for the
push.
The elbows should be "tucked" a bit more allowing the bar to touch low
on the chest. From there the bar should travel up in as straight of line as possible.
Remember this is for the competition benchpress. The idea of a competition benchpress
is NOT to build an optimum physic, but to do the most weight one possibly can for one repetition.
