Paused Bench Press - Pavel Style

[BendtheBar]

Thought I would quote this.

1. Grip the bar as wide as you feel comfortable in order to shorten your pressing stroke
2. Resist conventional wisdom to squeeze the bar at takeoff, instead, maintain a loosey-goosey, lack-of-tension grip
3. Lower the bar to the chest quickly while maintaining control. I shoot for speed just shy of free fall. With heavy weights, you’ll be tempted to inch the bar down, wearing yourself out in the process. Resist this urge and commit to an authoritative descent. You’re the boss; not the stupid ass-barbell!
4. Let your chest support the full weight of the bar rather than tensed musculature.
5. Initiate your press with a forceful squeeze of the bar accompanied by violent leg drive (Pavel describes a foot stomp)

I will try a looser grip this benching session just for fun.

[Tannhauser]

Thanks for posting that. Good stuff.

I'll try that next session on bench and see how it goes.

If there are no further entries in my training log, you'll know that my grip was a bit too loose.

[dmaipa]

This type of technique is also used during dynamic bench in the west-side method. I'm not a big fan of bouncing off the sternum. I see that going on way too much in the college gym I work at and I think it creates a bad habit.

[jslep]

if you watch jay in the vid though he is not a bouncer in fact he is very controlled with that speed. he stops that weight right at his chest rather than letting the weight stop on the chest if that makes sense.

i believe that the quicker descent is a better approach and i did try the looser grip but this technique would have to be worked on a little. i don't think its just quickly picked up or perfected.

[Ryano]

This technique might be O.K. for a D.E. bench session with less than 50% 1rm. However, I prefer to lift every lift like a comp lift to instill muscle memory. There are to many things to think about during a lift so you must rely on muscle memory. That would leave out most of this technique. You simply can NOT lift a max weight with a loose grip effectively. If I don't squeeze the bar prior to taking the weight, I get an "OH SHIT" factor. I.M.O.

[Off Road]

I tried this during warm-ups last night. The faster desent works well, but I couldn't loosen my death grip for fear that the bar would fly out of my hands. But once the weight got heavier I was back to my old style. Fear factor.

[Fazc]

Yep OR, it takes some practice to get the hang of it on work sets.

I'm still in contact with Chuck occasionaly, I might ask him to come over and give is 2 cents.

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by Off Road

I tried this during warm-ups last night. The faster desent works well, but I couldn't loosen my death grip for fear that the bar would fly out of my hands. But once the weight got heavier I was back to my old style. Fear factor.

I did the same on close grip triples last night. The first was the hardest. My brain was still in "holy heck this weight is heavy I am going to die" mode. 2nd and third reps I loosened a bit but still felt like a death grip.

[Off Road]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

I did the same on close grip triples last night. The first was the hardest. My brain was still in "holy heck this weight is heavy I am going to die" mode. 2nd and third reps I loosened a bit but still felt like a death grip.

I saw your journal...the weight was heavy enough to do some serious damage

[Disciple X]

I think the foot stomp is great, the fast decent could be useful, but you're asking for a smashed face with a loose grip...