Those of you that made the bb to pl'er bench conversion

[BlkWS6]

Tonight, I decided to try to bench more in a powerlifting fashion. I brought my grip in to pinky on the rings from index on the ring, because I found this is the only way I could truly keep my elbows tucked in at the side. Well it definitely felt weird, and I couldnt press the same amount of weight that I was used too. Although I imagine changing a form that I have been used to for the last 6yrs or so would feel quite foreign and be a little bit harder. I remember reading in a post that spatts said her chest doesnt get a pump after benching, well I must have been doing something right because I did not really feel a pump in my chest tonight either. For those of you who did make the conversion, did it feel really awkward for you at first, and how did you do afterwards? Did you change your grip width at all, to keep the elbows closer in? Also, did you add any other work for chest to make sure that it is fully exercised? Im interested to see how I will do with this, but I would like to get some input from those of you that have been through this conversion (ie. Joker, Citruscide and a few others I believe). Thanks!

 

[coolcolj]

I get a huge pump in my pecs and triceps!

My grip is quite narrow, thumbs 3 inches from the inner edge of the knurled area. I lower to sternum and squeeze my shoulder blades together. Yet my elbows are hardly tucked in, its more to do with my arm length I think.

I don't feel as explosive, but there is definitely greater stability. And no more cuff discomfort even though I bench ballsiticly.

Maybe you can try just squeezing the shoulder blades together using a moderate grip like me, lower to the sternum but keep the elbows out. Works for me

 

[Thaibox]

I'm making the transition right now. I'm having the same problem getting the feel for it. Today was chest day, and I did conventional sets mixed in with PL sets. The trechnique still feels odd to me right now, but its only the 3rd time I've done them. Like you said, I've been doing the same thing for so damn long, I spend too much of my focus on my position and movement and not enough on getting the weight up. We'll get used to it, and I thik it will pay off. Its just one of those things.

You know your problem could also be that when you were going to buy an F-body, you bought a pontiac instead of a Chevy

 

[Thaibox]

Hey CCJ, I mean no disrespect my friend....but that pic today is the best so far. Beautiful girl. Sorry man, I took a lot of percodan tonight

 

[JOKER47]

Yes, it felt really wierd the first few times I tried it. I can't tell you in olympic bar terms where my hands are as I don't use a standard BB. But, it's approximately shoulder width or just a hair wider. (I tried several different hand placements before I found my most powerful spot.) My elbows flare out a little bit, but not much at all. I always try to keep them in, which helps me from flaring them out to far.

I also do incline DB for chest, and at the end of the workout I have a good pump in my chest. Probably more from the incline DB's than from the flat BB.

My explosiveness is getting there, but not where I would like it to be yet.

I do more for my tri's on chest/tri day than I do for bench.


.02,
Joker

 

[BlkWS6]

Hahahah Thai........first my Pontiac was the reason I was overtrained, and now it is the reason my bench feels weird. Don't be jealous of the Batmobile!!! I do love Camaro's though, but normally I only see the front of them cause they tend always be in my rear view mirror

 

[JOKER47]

And no more cuff discomfort even though I bench ballsiticly.

That's by far the biggest improvement for me also, BlkWS6. No pain in my cuffs at all.


Joker

 

[RusPA81]

Hahahah Thai........first my Pontiac was the reason I was overtrained, and now it is the reason my bench feels weird. Don't be jealous of the Batmobile!!! I do love Camaro's though, but normally I only see the front of them cause they tend always be in my rear view mirror

Hahahaa. Go MOPAR.

 

[BlkWS6]

Joker: I never had cuff discomfort before (knock on wood). You are actually one of the reasons I decided to give this a try, because I read that you gained 30lbs on the bench over your old way of bench pressing. Keeping tucked makes perfect sense to me, I just hope that I get the feel of it and that I make some progress. The thing that worries me most, is the fact that I drastically changed my grip in order to stay tucked. I have tried staying tucked with index on the ring, and found it near impossible for me and very discomforting. Im just worred that this much increased ROM will hinder my benching performance. Although Bfold goes pinky on ring, and he is a very big guy with a bigger bench then mine. So I guess lengthening the ROM isnt a huge deal.

 

[JOKER47]

Joker: I never had cuff discomfort before (knock on wood). You are actually one of the reasons I decided to give this a try, because I read that you gained 30lbs on the bench over your old way of bench pressing. Keeping tucked makes perfect sense to me, I just hope that I get the feel of it and that I make some progress. The thing that worries me most, is the fact that I drastically changed my grip in order to stay tucked. I have tried staying tucked with index on the ring, and found it near impossible for me and very discomforting. Im just worred that this much increased ROM will hinder my benching performance. Although Bfold goes pinky on ring, and he is a very big guy with a bigger bench then mine. So I guess lengthening the ROM isnt a huge deal.

Well, the reason I am up 30lbs was due to the intense discomfort I had benching BB style. It would cause me to almost drop the bar on myself a few times. So, I changed because I had to in order to BB bench at all.

Keep trying different grip widths until you find one that is comfortable for you. You will also want to add in some additional tri work due to the increased amount of tricep being used now. My chest/tri day is like this:

Flat BB bench - PL style
4 board press
incline DB bench
weighted parallel dips
close-grip press

...in that order.

That's not the only way to do a workout, but just a suggestion.

.02,
Joker