Barbell Shrugged - Building a Badass Bench Press with Anders Varner, Doug Larson and Travis Mash — Barbell Shrugged #397Building a Badass Bench Press with Anders Varner, Doug Larson and Travis Mash — Barbell Shrugged #397

Episode Date: May 27, 2019

The Bench Press is a hallmark of the power lifts. Everyone wants to know how much you bench. In the One Ton Challenge, if you are going to make it into the One Ton Club, you will need a big bench. In this episode of Barbell Shrugged, Anders Varner, Doug Larson, and Coach Travis Mash outline the technique, mobility, and training to increase your bench and get in to the One Yon Club.   Minute Breakdown:   0-10 - How to increase your bench press 11-20 - Improving your arch for a bigger bench 21-30 - Improving mobility in the shoulders and chest 31-40 - Over extending your shoulders at the top of the bench 41-50 - Writing a program for increasing your bench   Join the One Ton Challenge Leaderboard, record your PR’s and track your progress.   “What is the One Ton Challenge”   “How Strong is Strong Enough”   “How do I Start the One Ton Challenge” Use code “SHRUGGED” to save 15% on the best recovery tracking tool in strength with Whoop.   Save $20 on your first 48 can of FITAID ZERO and FITAID RX ZERO www.lifeaidbevco.com/shrugged   ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Show notes at: http://www.shruggedcollective.com/bbs-onetonchallengebench ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ► Subscribe to Barbell Shrugged's Channel Here ► Subscribe to Shrugged Collective's Channel Here http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedSubscribe 📲 🎧 Listen to the audio version on the Apple Podcast App or Stitcher for Android Here- http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedApple http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedStitcher Shrugged Collective is a network of fitness, health and performance shows that help people achieve their physical and mental health goals.  Usually in the gym, but outside as well. In 2012 they posted their first Barbell Shrugged podcast and have been putting out weekly free videos and podcasts ever since. Along the way we've created successful online coaching programs including The Shrugged Strength Challenge, The Muscle Gain Challenge, FLIGHT, Barbell Shredded, and Barbell Bikini. We're also dedicated to helping affiliate gym owners grow their businesses and better serve their members by providing owners tools and resources like the Barbell Business Podcast. Find Shrugged Collective and their flagship show Barbell Shrugged here: SUBSCRIBE ON ITUNES ► http://bit.ly/ShruggedCollectiveiTunes WEBSITE ► https://www.ShruggedCollective.com INSTAGRAM ► https://instagram.com/shruggedcollective FACEBOOK ► https://facebook.com/barbellshruggedpodcast TWITTER ► http://twitter.com/barbellshrugged

The One Ton Challenge training plan is here. Shrug Family, Travis Mash, the best weightlifting coach in the country, coming off winning Best Male and Best Female Lifter at USA Weightlifting Nationals, Team USA Head Coach, and three-time Strongest Man in the World, is here to help you PR your snatch, clean, jerk, squat, deadlift, and bench press, and getting you into the one-ton club. The one-ton training plan is 12 months, broken into eight-week cycles for gaining strength across all six lifts, while focusing on each lift for eight-week cycles.

It finishes with a four-week peak cycle before completing all six lifts and entering into the one-ton club. This program starts with an eight-week squat cycle that will be the foundation for building strength, technique, and power that translates into PRs and a one-ton total exceeding 2,000 pounds, 1,200 for you ladies, and into the one-ton club. Ready to get started? Head over to theonetonchallenge.com forward slash join to start your journey into the one-ton club today. The cart is open today through Friday, May 31st.

So get over to theonetonch ton challenge.com forward slash join today in sport of the one ton challenge. And because we'll be hosting the one ton challenge at the CrossFit games this year, FitAid is offering $20 off 48 cans of their brand new FitAid Zero and FitAid RX Zero. The brand new sugar-free recovery blends provide high quality clean nutrients with zero sugar to help your body recover after intense physical activity or exercise they're naturally sweetened with monk fruit and bastivia locale and have a refreshing citrus taste you'll love contain bcaa's l-glutamine l-arginine, vitamin C, and D3, B3 complex, or B complex, glucosamine, turmeric, CoQ10, and omega-3s. There are two ways to save.

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to save 15%. I have been using mine for almost five months now and love tracking my HRV, daily strain workouts, and sleep quality. It allows me to tailor my workout intensity to my recovery and sleep, creating better workouts, better recovery, and larger strength gains because I'm not overtrained. Get to WHOOP.com and use coupon code SHRUGGED to save 15%. We're talking bench press today.

Get over to the one-tonchallenge.com forward slash join. Cannot wait to get you strong and get you into the one-ton club. Welcome to Barbell Shrugged. I'm Anders Varner, Doug Larson, Coach Travis Mash in the house. We're talking one-ton challenge. We're going to talk about the thing that I know the least about today, the bench press. If you have not gotten over to the one-tonchallenge.com, we've got to tell you what the one-ton challenge is.

Our goal here, we are testing the lifelong pursuit of strength. We are here to guide you on your journey to the lifelong pursuit of strength. And in order for us to make sure we are reaching our goals, we have created the one-ton challenge because that is the ultimate goal, 2,000 pounds. My boy John Cena created this challenge, looked at me after I hit 2,009 pounds, got my name stenciled on his garage door at Hard Knocks, said, go share it with the world. So that's what we're here doing, sharing it with the world, the lifelong pursuit of strength. And along the way, you are going to need to master the snatch, clean, the jerk, the squat, the dead, the bench,

combining the power lifts, the Olympic lifts the squat, the dead, the bench, combining the power lifts, the Olympic lifts, all into the one-ton total so you can reach the elite level and enter into the one-ton club. And that's what we are here for. And to get you started, make sure you get over to the one-tonchallenge.com. That's where we're going to get your name on the leaderboard. Find out where you're starting and when you finish the one year one ton the one ton training plan with coach travis mash we know you're going to be significantly higher on that leaderboard we can't wait to watch the journey so make sure you get your your uh your numbers in the leaderboard there's going to be a one ton or the one ton challenge starter kit which we'll go over at the end of this show so make sure you stick around for the entire thing but today we're going to dig into the bench press make sure

that when you lay down on that bench big weights are going from your hands touching your chest finishing with lockout because the bench press to me is the hardest thing i've always just been a meathead when it comes to bench press get it off the rack hopefully i got a spotter near me hopefully they put it in a good position and i'm going to drop that thing on my chest as fast as i can and then push my legs are kicking all over the place. I look like a little child out there doing whatever the – when a baby learns to walk, the first thing they do, their legs are flailing all over the place uncontrollably. That's what I look like. Not really that bad, but I don't know how to bench press.

I've never been taught the setup. I've never been taught the thing. So when I got into the one-ton challenge I was doing the actual challenge it was like I gotta save this thing for last I just need to know that I can have a number there that I can hit I ended up hitting 285 which was I've only bench pressed 300 one time and I feel like that's pathetic compared to how actually strong I am because I've never had somebody actually teach me how to bench press and what's really going on. It's just been like these little chesticles of mine have always been,

they're not the biggest. But if I was to engage all the pieces that need to be engaged and actually train for it, which we have in the one-time training plan, the eight-week cycle specifically dedicated to getting a big bench press, I should be hitting 315. You've got to be a man and put three wheels on that thing. I don't think most people think about the bench press being a highly technical lift.

They think, like, snatching is really technical. Bench pressing is like, yeah, there's some technique to it, but not nearly as much as snatching. But you talk to Travis, and Travis, you were saying earlier, you think bench press might even be the most technical of all the movements. Arguably could be the most technical. Yeah. And the people who think it's not technical probably don't bench much,

is what I would say, because there's so much to it. The guys, there's a group called Metal Militia, and they really reinvented the way bench pressing was done. I remember that. Who were they? I wish you hadn't asked me because I forgot his name. It was a huge powerlifting company, right? Yes. Yes.

I know where they're from they're from new york they're from you know near on the way to lake i remember the shirts they had cool shirts yeah it was awesome and they totally changed um totally changed the way that the benching was done and that was they were like it was during that wpo area era of power lifting you know you had west side would teach one way and metal militia was teaching this other and they started beating west side then west side learned about metal militia's way and then they took it back to west side what were the differentiating factors there like what was what was metal militia doing that was unique and different and working so well they were which

is what perfect we'll get into the the setup they were really teaching uh a really good setup you know digging the shoulder blades you know down, down together and then, you know, pulling them, retracting them together and suppressing them down and really getting up tall onto the, you know, the rear delts and the traps and then bringing the butt as close to the shoulders as possible, causing that really good arch. But then they would pull the feet underneath them, you know, as far as they could to the point where you could really drive your feet into the ground

without your butt coming up. That was key. Because basically Westside just laid down and benched. They didn't really do much as far as the setup goes. They were pretty flat. You'll watch a lot of their lifters in the early 2000s or late 90s. They just basically laid down and benched. But these dudes were setting up

and getting that nice arch pulling you know the feet underneath where they could really drive their heels down into the ground you know making it a full body movement yeah and i really launched the barbell you know and i think that position too a lot of people would be like oh this battle for the back i mean i've never in my lif lifetime, and I think every powerlifter would agree, I've never seen one person hurt their back from bench pressing. I have seen a lot of people hurt their shoulders. And this position I'm telling you about decreases a lot of that because it limits the range of motion that you'll experience.

Yeah, I think it's easier on your shoulder to be in that arch position. Like the range of motion is lower, so you don't go into any extreme extension with your elbow going behind your body and then you're also in more of a decline position right which you're always going to be stronger pressing in a decline than a flat bench so it's shorter range of motion and you're at a better pressing angle you're just going to press more weight and it's easier on your shoulder yeah because you know get you know the one thing you got to overcome is that is that shoulder flexor moment. You're trying to get into extension, which is bring your –

there's two things you've got to overcome when it comes to the shoulder. You've got to get into shoulder extension, like raising the bar, raising your arms straight out in front, but also bringing it into the body, which is horizontal flexor. You've got to do those two things. So when it's on your chest at the highest point, which is somewhere around your sternum, you know, by pushing back, immediately, you know, cuts down that,

the distance that the bar is from the shoulder, therefore making the, you know, your ability to extend the shoulder easier. Is that clear enough? You know, if you push straight up, now the bar is as far as possible as it can be from the shoulder, making it difficult, which is also what Westside used to say. They would say push straight because a straight line was a shorter distance.

But they weren't taking into consideration physics, meaning I've shortened that flexor moment by going backwards, by making it much easier to extend at the shoulder. Louie Simmons must have been so pissed off when someone was smarter than him. You know, the good thing about him is he adapts. He's ready to learn. Like, if you really show him and you start beating his guys, then he's – He seems very open to whatever method works the best.

He just wants to be the best. He doesn't want to get beat. That's what he – so, like, when these dudes just started whipping them in bench, then they were like, whoa, timeout. Now they all are pretty good at setting up really good. If you watch their guys now, they all get into good positions. Yeah. And if you watch their guys now they all get into good positions and when you're getting into the one time challenge specifically the goal is to lift as much weight as possible

we need to learn how to do that arch you don't need to look like the most flexible female in the world that's got her chest and she's only moving the bar an inch and a half you don't have to go there but it's really important to be able to understand it's super cool I benched with a girl

that was a world record holder and like, we both hit 265. Mine looked like more of a one rep max. Doug made fun of me. When people complain about girls getting those

massive arches and only moving the bar five inches, I'm like, you don't complain with someone seven foot seven and they can dunk without jumping, you know?

Right. Those people not be allowed to play basketball? No. There born to bench absolutely tell me the rules and i'll maximize every aspect i can without breaking the rules absolutely and if this girl just has the natural build to be able to you know make a five inch you know range of motion then do you know her emily who no No. H-U? No. She's pretty cool. Yeah. World record holder. Who dat? Her and Steffi. But yeah. Steffi just got beat. Yeah.

Pretty big time. Which she did. She still is awesome. She's still my favorite. She smashed the girl on the deadlift, but then lost on the other two. The squat and bench. I mean, yeah, pretty big. That was at the US Open, right?

US Open. Yeah, San Diego. The Kearns Open now. They call it the Kearns U.S. Open, right? U.S. Open. Yeah, San Diego. And then they call it the Kerns Open. Right. Yeah, which is another example of why our one-ton challenge is awesome because you might get whipped in the deadlift, but now you have five other lifts to make up for it. So just because someone can deadlift like Seve,

she can deadlift more than most boys. Right. Is she 5X now? 5X bodyx now she's not 5x body weight she's 4x body weight no no she's like she weighs 120 4x is 480 she pulls she pulls 520 yeah just over 4x but i'm saying it like that's not a big deal like the only 4x body weight thousand that would be 800 for me that would be ridiculous There was another guy that set a nice world record at that same event. Dr. Deadlift, the 970. That's right.

He was well over 4X. But, which I think he's awesome. I'm not hating. I like that guy. But, you know, Uri Belkin just destrominated everyone. Like, he dominated, destroyed everybody. Because he was good at all three. Which is what we're trying to make you good at all six.

Yeah. That's a true master. So when we teach kind of that arch position, even for somebody that doesn't have this hypermobile thoracic spine to get themselves in this over, crazy arched-looking position, what can the normal person look for in their setup to really maximize the position of the bench without putting their shoulders in a bad spot?

I would do this. If you could get different, because this is cheap. Something I'm about to tell you now is a trick that all of you guys can use. Not a trick, like a tool that all of you can use, and it's very cheap, but get different height PVCvc pipes you know like start small and put that you know under your back and you start working on your arch around that then you get a bigger one and a bigger one and a bigger one and a bigger one that's exactly what i did i didn't have really good range of motion you know my thoracic spine to get into a good arch

until i worked at it but you know you can keep it on there the entire time you bench and you get better at it and better at it and then uh then it's then you have a great art so i have a good arts and i'm definitely not the most mobile person there is but i worked on it the drill she had me doing was kind of like doing a bridge over the over the bench so laying on the bench with your back and then just letting your hands kind of like hang over your head so you're looking behind you um and then just slowly creeping your hands in it's kind of like a gymnastics uh movement piece it's a good way to you know to get into a good stretch the pvc pipe you can leave it while you're actually doing the movement so you know so now you're in in that good position while you're performing look this is why the one-time challenge

is so great like you get some power lifters show show up. It's going to be awesome, right? They're going to bench the shit out of it. And it's going to be a really, really strong lift for them, which is also going to be counteracted by they've got to go snatch. And now it's going to get weird. Like, even if you have, you know, you do the math of 400-pound bench, a 500-pound squat, and a 600-pound deadlift, you've still got 400 pounds on the back,

or 500 pounds on the backside of this thing that you've got to get for an Olympic total. And if you don't have the range of motion, you might be out of luck. Yeah, 500 is a big number when you can't put your arms up your head. Yeah, man. You know, it's like tell somebody to run a race without legs. It's not going to happen. Right? Yeah.

So we were talking a little bit before we turned the mics on about kind of that setup position also like in the shoulder, turning the lats on in every show we've done so far. We've really talked about back positioning and that shoulder's not just back but suppressing and down. And that is the strongest position for the shoulder and controlling the barbell on the way down yeah it puts the shoulder in a much better position you know puts the the ball that fits into the socket into where it has a little bit more room to move and not be you know when you when you're four you're laying down and you're internally rotated you get the ball you know that now it's starting to grind. You know, grinding, you get rotator cuff impingements

because of that bad position. But when you get the shoulder back and down, there's a little room, and now you don't get all of that, you know, unnecessary, you know, I guess rubbing of any tendons and ligaments that's in there. So it's a better position. Also limits the range of motion, making it easier. You know, as far as the setup goes, let's start there. You know, where do you put your hands?

Well, a good starting spot would be when the bar is on your, you know, at the highest point or your forearm straight up and down. Now, is that, you know, universal? No. Some people do pretty good, you know, depending on their strengths and weaknesses. Yeah. So that was, you know, before, if I can jump in, just talk about where your hands go.

The best in the world have a very wide grip. Not always. A lot of times. A lot of times. And that's a range of motion. They can maintain the strength. They've got the shoulder capacity to handle big weights at that load. But if you look at, like, an NFL player,

a lineman that's blocking, having your elbows in close to your body is the strongest position. So anatomically, you would think having it just almost like shoulder with the part but hands with the shoulder um that's that's anatomically seems like it should be the best position but maybe not the best position to maximize your one ton total probably not because here's uh most people probably not most people always say maximize your grip because when you get the bar drifting back it's not really the same position as it will be yep and when you're playing football plus they're in because so is the person's body like you can't be out wide because you won't touch them yeah either so you got to consider

they're there not because necessarily it's the strongest position but it's because they have to be because you got to look at the width of their body. So, like, you know, being wide, here's what it does. For a lot of people, especially if you have strong pecs, it assists at the elbow. If you don't have, like, I don't have, my triceps are not as strong as my pecs. So, a wide is only natural because, obviously, the range of motion now at the elbow is less. Right. Now, when I bring it in, it's much greater. only natural because obviously the range of motion now at the at the elbow is less right now when i

bring it in it's much greater now it's easier on my pecs harder on my triceps so you got to decide you know where's my strengths and weaknesses yeah so with me it's obvious it's my chest is my strength my triceps my weakness it's smaller range of motion so everything points to go wide with yeah yeah right that's that's equally true the longer your arms are the longer your arms are the more elbow extension strength will be your limiter and focusing on training your triceps to be stronger will help improve your bench press but if you can if you can cut down on the elbow range of motion by widening your grip then now you're you're combating that weakness at some level absolutely you see i was a great deadlifter

because you know for you know the way my body is set up my arms are long too like yours so like yeah not as long but i'm five seven midgets so but like so like that's why my bench was you know out of the gate weaker than most people's you know i could out deadlift them but then they would out bench me so when i maximized my grip it really strengthened you know my triceps and pecs and then i was able to set the world record for five minutes. When you're grabbing the barbell, too, even if it's that wide, is your grip, is that something where it's like we grab it, we're trying to break the bar, you start to feel all that activation, not just. Pull it apart and bend it.

And then the grip strength, I mean, if you just hold the fist as hard as you can and keep holding it, you'll feel all the musculature into your shoulder, into your core, all of a sudden tighten up. And thinking about that stuff before you even take the bar out of the rack, now everything's activated. Now everything's ready to fire. And if you can get a lift off, it's better because you get in a good position because you've pulled your shoulders down and back.

You've gotten that good arch. You've got two choices with your feet. Either pull them way back, so now, you know, up onto the balls of your feet, and still so you can drive with your, you know, by jamming your heels into the ground. Or put them out in front of you and to the side. You know, there's like two basic options. You know, if I put them out in front of me and wide, I can push back and I still won't. The key is being able to use leg drive without my butt coming out.

I assume that's one of our rules. And so choose one of those two. Still the same as with the way you set up the torso is the same. Where you put your feet is – I really believe it or not, I'm better at benching by putting them out in front of me and wide. However, I'm better at keeping my range of motion when I pull them under. So I opt to do that because of my shoulders. I think the leg drive thing is confusing for a lot of people that have never felt it. How does that work?

How does pushing with your legs transfer into the bar actually moving? You think about it as a punch. When you're going to punch someone, it originates from the hips, really. But to torque at the hip, they've got to apply pressure to the ground with the feet. It's the same thing. So you think about punching. Ryan Cannelli was really instrumental in teaching me this. I watched his video back in the day when you guys were just little babies, probably.

But he was talking about, ah, you push all at the same time. It's like if I were going to punch someone. It would start from the ground, end with the hands. It's the same thing with bench pressing. You really shove those heels into the ground, and it really, what I would think it does, number one, it really launches my body, my torso, which in a way kind of throws the weight. Yeah, you get a little bounce in there.

Yeah, it's almost like a heave. The key is once the butt, are we doing a pause or is it just touch and go? Touch and go. So when you – so you bring it down slowly and under control, and then you push with the heels. Yes, you're definitely going to get a launch. You recruit some more fibers. You know, I don't know – I can't say that 100%

because I don't think there's been a study, but I can say for sure if I can bench way more by using leg drive than if I put my feet on the bench straight out in front of me. It disconnects things. I feel like a part of it, like when the bar is on your chest and then you get a little leg drive, it just gives you just a little bit of momentum right off the chest. In a lot of people's case, just having that.01% extra bar speed

is going to help you get through that sticking point. I'll bench with you boys today, and I am the king of leg drive. Because my arms are long, you for sure should learn to use leg drive to get the bar going. Because that's the big thing, because I'm bound up, because I have longer arms. When I launch to there, now I'm in a good position. Now I can finish it. I'm staying there like everyone can longer arms. But when I launch it to there, now I'm in a good position. Now I can finish it. I'm staying there like everyone can see me. You guys can see me.

It's like getting as much speed as possible before you hit the peak of your sticking point is really important. That way you can try to outrun your sticking point, so to speak. Absolutely. It's like if your weakness in the deadlift is lockout, the faster you can get that bar moving before you get to the lockout the more likely you are to cruise through that that sticking point you know that's another reason why you're saying grab the bar you know and trying to break it by pulling apart and trying to break it you've engaged your triceps so a lot of people are late on you know

initiating the triceps they'll go and it's time and they'll get a little dip and now you're in bad yeah in a bad situation but if i'm already bending it and breaking it my triceps, they'll go and it's time and they'll get a little dip. And now you're in a bad situation. But if I'm already bending it and breaking it, my triceps are engaged and there's a good chance that when I launch it off my chest, it'll go right through that middle sticking point because they're already engaged. Before we even get it to our chest, the descent of the bar is a massive piece. Under control. You've got to be able to control it.

A lot of times when I'm thinking about benching or when I see the best in the world bench pressing, I don't even think of the descent as going down as much as stabilizing the bar to get it exactly where you want it into an ideal pressing position. And that's where a lot of the back stuff comes in, of being able to just control and then allow gravity to pull it down while you're kind of like slowly lowering it into the perfect position. I'm going to tell you this will help.

I'm going to tell you the story because it's to help clarify the descent, how important it is. There was a guy named Scott Mendelsohn. You guys ever heard of that guy? No. He's probably still, he's definitely one of the top five benchers of all time. I saw that dude warming up, you know, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw like 135 pounds

and it didn't touch. And in my eyes, I thought he benched raw. And then he goes to 225 and he couldn't touch his chest and he throws it up. Same thing with 315. I look over there

and the dude is raw. He is so tight and it's like he has an internal bench shirt. And he was so tight and the way he grabbed it and torqu and caused so much tightness in his muscles, it took him 405 to touch it to his chest. That was like a lot of the Olympic lifter guys in the earlier days of CrossFit

when Klokov and Vasily were going around and doing their tour and they had their certs. Vasily, I don't think, could get into a front rack unless he had like 400 pounds on the bar to like actually pull his hands down to get him into a front rack position for the jerk and that's like a loaded spring which is leads me to my point jordan is like that can't travel he can't it takes him like quite a bit of weight before he can actually get into a front rack and then he can jerk 212 kilos at 89 kilos. So it's amazing. But it's the same thing with the bench press. When I cause all this muscle stiffness, it's also like a coil.

When it does get to your chest, everything is coiled like a snake. If you've ever read the sports gene, they talk about the high jump. It kind of debunks the 10,000-hour rule of mastery of like, well, you could jump a million times and 10x your 10,000 hours, but the guy with the really tight Achilles is going to kick your ass and he doesn't have to do anything. He's just naturally born to jump like that. The more tension we can create on the way down with the barbell, it's like having that really, really powerful, like tight Achilles and your explosiveness on the way up. Your body just isn't loose at that bottom position. It's dying to get back to the comfortable place.

That is where the lats come into play. You know, like there was a moment where bench pressing where people were talking way too much about the lats because it doesn't press so like but it does assist with you know decelerating the bar and so you know when you engage when you start to pull the bar apart and you engage you know the lats the mid upper traps the rear delts it really it's like starting to make a coil like effect as you decelerate so it it also alleviates you know some of the stress that's on the muscles, the primary movers, which is good because you're saving it for the time when it's ready to, you know, everything to contract and throw the bar up.

Where are you bringing the bar down specifically? I see a lot of people, especially, like, call them beginner to intermediate level lifters um when they start bench pressing they think that it's coming down to the middle of their chest which then really keeps your elbows out because they have a narrow grip the elbow comes out they're unable to really get it into that which is a very powerful position you know a little bit lower on the chest yeah we talk about um you know a lot of people used to say tuck the elbows but it causes the oh now look at my form if you can't see it but when you tuck your elbows it now you don't have a vertical form but if i do this if i slide my

forearms towards my hips everything the key is like the humerus the angle of the humerus you look at your elbow compared to your to your shoulders the elbow should be below the shoulders that's the key so like you know saying tuck causes a bad position the forearms saying slide the forearms together towards the hips creates a much better position now my forearms it's like a wall now instead of a you know a diagonal wall straight up and it's a vertical wall and so then you want to bring it to the highest point now some people go you know i say to the highest point that's for most people most people it's like you know right at the solar flexes or the you know what is this little non-velo it's your xiphoid process so when you bring it to that is for most people now sometimes it can be a little lower because

some people like their upper abs might be however for most people if you touch there you're going to get a bad angle at the forearms you're going to get the elbow behind the hand and like that's a it's a tough one to get the bar going back so like for 99% of people and for our listeners i would say you can't go wrong but you know touching that the xiphoid process and it's it's high because you've gotten a good arch position and it makes it real easy to push back because it's almost like falling off the mountain yeah it's easy to get it going back then the key is then to flare the elbows so now the forms are you know it's like a catch it's almost like a throw and a catch yeah you know so you push back flare the elbows so now the elbows

are underneath the bar and then finish the way yeah Yeah, I think that angle when people are coming down and really being able to see from the elbow to the wrist, having a straight line there, because whatever your line of action is on the bar, if that gets out and that elbow spins and now you've got a funky angle coming up straight into the bar, you're not actually driving with 100% of your strength and power into the bar. You're driving at an angle,

and that angle is just taking away power and strength from you. I would say for some people who have weak shoulders who have really trouble getting the bar going back, the only time I would say the form shouldn't be straight up and down is that person. They can have it where the elbows are on the, where the bar is closer to have it where the elbows are on the you know where the bar is closer to the shoulders than the elbows that makes i think that paints the better picture

because then it's easier to get it going back but then you got to be super fast getting the elbows around to lock it out yeah my uh one of my my other pet peeves drives me crazy when you're when you're kind of in that beginner intermediate level is watching the wrist and you see people grab the bar and they hold it more in the knuckles versus the base of their palm here right and the amount of power that you're losing by just gripping the barbell in a wrong place and having it across those knuckles so when you put the barbell in your hand make sure it's coming across the palm of your hand from if you were to draw like a 45 degree angle from you know the midpoint of your thumb and index finger straight across your palm into the into the back of your uh the outside of

your pinky finger or not of the finger but at the base of your your palm right you make sure that that grip is so tight it drives me insane when you see somebody that's really big and strong and then all of a sudden and then they've got wrist problems most of the time that's why people have like really big wrist wraps on because they're not gripping the bar in the right place or really activating their grip

to understand how that makes you stronger if you pull out if you squeeze the bar and try to pull it apart then bend it that should you know as long you pull out, if you squeeze the bar and try to pull it apart, then bend it, that should, you know, as long as the bar is in the proper position, that should end the whole wrist being bent too much. You know, if you do wear wrist wraps, I would recommend starting, you know,

with the wrap about in the middle of the hand, and then it will definitely keep you at neutral. But, you know, if you'll just do it correctly, you don't have to worry about it. So just grab the bar, pull it apart, make sure it's in the base of your hand, not towards your knuckles. That's where it goes wrong. I would also tell, I mean, this is my opinion.

Do what you want. But, like, I would recommend our athletes not to use a false grip. Main reason is it's an accident when you have it. Eventually, it comes out of your hands and if you don't have a spot you're talking about false grip where their their thumb is not around the bar yeah right so i mean you know do what you want but like i would recommend you know i think it's going to happen eventually you're going the bar's going to come out especially if you're losing using an olympic barbell that spins yeah yeah eventually because

what happens it just takes a quick second for your wrist to give way. I've done it. You don't have to watch very many bench press fail videos before you go, ah, okay, I'm wrapping my thumb around the bar. Just make sure someone's near. Guaranteed. It's just not worth it. Watch the 315 fall on someone's throat. You're just like, whoa, okay.

Especially when you're actually doing the one-ton challenge make sure you have a spotter for that you don't if you've got bumper plates for the rest of the lifts you can bail pretty easily yeah but the bench is not something you're bailing on and that's going to land in one of two places on your chest and roll to your throat or just your throat luckily nowadays they make safety racks for most benches you know which we have too so where you know if someone misses the rack will catch it yeah yeah you're gonna want you're on a spot or anywhere just someone to give you a lift just so you can maintain that that scapular down and back position like trying

to get the bar out of rack when it's 100 of your max and keep the perfect scapular position is just basically not happening yeah you know what i would say is that if you are lifting by yourself start with the bar you know start with your nose under the barbell. If you have somebody there, you start with your eyes under the barbell. Your nose under the barbell makes it a little bit easier to lift off, but then if you go back too far, you're going to hit the racks. So you've got to have a really good bar path. But if you have a spotter, it's good to start with your eyes under the barbell

so it's not quite too bad to lift out, but you can still push back and not worry about the racks being being someone who doesn't compete in power lifting anymore i don't bench for not for a judge for judges to tell me it's like i need white lights to call the lift on all that if i don't have a spotter a lot oftentimes i'll just press right off of pins i'll just set pins in a cage up where like the bar the bar is right on my chest but just resting on the, set myself up in a perfect position, just do bottoms up presses. Start at the bottom, press the lockout, and then lower back to the cage. Some people do exactly what you're talking about,

and they set the pins up to where when I'm in an arch, like the bar touches my chest. If I'm out of an arch, it sets on the pins, so you're totally safe. See what I mean? You can even start with a regular bench press and do regular and if you get stuck you just undo your arch and the bar sitting on the pins and you're totally safe yeah so a lot of people you know um blaine sumner who is the vanilla gorilla he benches like that you guys know who that is vanilla gorilla no i don't know that guy I do. I won't forget his name. He's unbelievable.

He does USAPL. He's an unbelievable power. He does single ply. But he does raw and single ply. He is incredibly strong and lifts the majority of the time by himself. He's got some very creative ways of lifting by yourself without getting killed. Specifically for the bench, you bring up kind of those tools, the single ply. Get rid of your bench shirt.

We want to know how strong you are. Naked. Naked. If you do the bench press naked, we'll give an extra 10 pounds. Yeah. Just to waist naked? I don't think I have. No pun intended.

I've never had the balls to try to lift weights all the way naked. Who was the MMA guy, Chuck Liddell, that had a huge Instagram video or something of him doing, like doing hack squats naked with his wife or girlfriend or whoever it was, and she was naked too in their garage? It's like, well, if you knock people out for a living, who's going to say something? What are you going to do? What are you going to do if you're like a cop? Like, sir, this is indecent exposure, and Chuck Liddell's got his mohawk looking at you, and he's like, okay, well well i'll be over here doing hack squats and uh you can write the ticket for me if you'd like the the final piece that i kind of want to get into and i see this a ton even with very very good lifters myself uh if you wanted to put me in that because i'm in the one-ton club i'll go with

that um is is when you get to the top, right? When I try to explain it, even though I don't do it perfectly myself, but you drive up and everything's great, and then we see people kind of break down at the top, and they get this, like, super reach. Bad mistake. And it's a really dangerous position for your shoulder. Right.

And two, you're coming completely disconnected after you just did what is inside like a 95 plus percent effort. And you're taking all the musculature that's tied together. And you're like overextending with really bad parts of your body that shouldn't be stressed with that much weight. I recommend you stay, keep your shoulders, you know, retracted, suppressed, together and down, and push yourself away. Yeah. Like when you get to the tip top, instead of trying to push up, push yourself away. And a lot of times that's because people just don't have a spotter there or they don't have the thing to catch the weight. Right.

And in order to get it back on the pens, they got to overextend. Don't do that, number one. Like if you're by yourself or even if you have someone with you, don't. Men are so silly. They just want to pretend that they're taller than they are. On the bench press, they'll set the pins higher than they should. Squatting, they'll be on their tiptoes. I'm like, you're not tall, man.

And nobody cares. That's why you're good at squatting. You're little. Put the bar where you can comfortably take it off and comfortably set it back. And you should be barely missing the hooks. Right. Like, if you're spotting someone

and you lift the bar way up and then out to the lifter, like, you're just going to pull them out of position. Out of position. They're going to have to reach, basically. They're going to lose that scapular position because you're pulling them up. You want to just basically push the bar,

bump it right over the hooks and then straight forward over their chest. And then be able to comfortably rack the bar. Yeah, man. I don't know why people do that. Well, it's a really dangerous position. You can, like, the stability of the bench press really is, like, from lowering it, having the speed and power to lift it,

it's all based off of stabilizing. Stabilizing the setup and the liftoff. And then once you have that position, stabilizing the bar nice and slow on the way down so you're in a good, powerful pressing position. And then you get to the top, and now you've completed it, done all the work, and all of a sudden it's like, let's just throw our scap out of whack here, internally rotate, and now disaster. So make sure we're not doing that stuff. I mean, we're probably over-emphasizing what the bench press,

kind of the dangers of it. But it is the only lift that you're going to have weight over your head, or not over your head, but over your face, basically. Over your face and throat. And you want to be making sure that the form's tight. You've got somebody with you to, look, you might be setting a PR on your bench press. And if that goes screwy, things are going to get weird quick.

Just do it right. We've given you, like, several ways to be safe, so use everything that we've told you and you'll be fine. I mean, I've never seen someone in my gym get hurt benching. I just, you know, we all have heard the horror stories, like, you know, one in a million. But if you're just wise, do the things we said. Wrap your thumb around, use the pins if you're by by yourself or get a spider and you'll be safe is it anything one thing i want

to talk about too is like the the importance of the tricep on um having a big bench press huge man i mean the guy you know i always joke about and i had a world record for five minutes the dude who beat me kenny patterson i mean his triceps look like Mount Everest. They were so big. And, like, that was why he beat me. He just had much stronger triceps, which you're going to be doing a lot of tricep work regardless because triceps are so important to holding a weight above your head, you know, and to finishing the bench. Pretty much anything when a bar is in your hands, it's important to have strong.

Yeah, you're going to need snatching, cleaning, I mean need snatching, jerking, and benching. We're going to do a lot of tricep work. What are your favorite tricep accessory movements? Dips are the best, but the closer you get to, say, peaking something, you've got to eliminate because there's a lot of muscular damage. I hope people understand when I say muscular damage, I'm not saying you got hurt. I'm just saying muscles break down, they adapt and get stronger,

which is a good thing. But you don't want too much of that when it's getting closer to maxing out and peaking. So let's say it's great for the mesocycle one, for example. Do dips all the time. Now when it's getting closer to maxing out, go to dumbbell tricep extensions or where Louis Simmons calls them the dumbbell rock and rolls. I like those. I like close grip benching i like um close grip i mean a shoulder seated

shoulder press you know from like nose level off the pins we do that even with our weightlifters it's great for stabilizing yeah the red um you know those are my favorite push downs we you know we will do like band push downs to keep our so, we will do band push-downs to keep our – not to necessarily get our triceps strong, but to keep them strong, keep the hypertrophy that we've gained in the earlier blocks. There's very much just an accumulation of reps, volume, and when it comes to that stuff, I don't do a ton of tricep work. I'll do sets of eight, you know, four by eight dips.

Just throw them in there. To me, that's the best. Yeah. That's tricep work. Because you're just accumulating reps over and over to ensure that you have that movement pattern. And if there is, like you were saying, a single accessory that really is in that pushing plane that we're going to be getting in the bench press, a dip's a phenomenal one. Your chest is a little bit forward. You're just in a more upright vertical position where the bench press is more horizontal,

but it's the same pressing plane that you're going to be in in the bench press. Close grip floor presses are great. It's a really good one because most people's, depending on how you're built, but for most people that's their sticking point. For you it would be great because you have your long arms like me. Chris, my partner here, when he does a floor press, it's a bench press. When his elbows touch, the bar touches his chest.

Short little arms, especially short arms. Ulna and radius. As far as the bench press goes, too, I think it's one of the, probably one of the only lifts. Like you think about the back squat, some of the Olympic lifts, like that bar is going to be moving fast or it's on your back. So the side-to-side lateral or unilateral differences that we're working with, they don't really show themselves as much as they do in the bench. Right. show themselves as much as they do in the bench, where if you've got a weak left or right side, it's going to be a big problem in the bench because the way that you're pushing is going to be significantly different than, say,

like a squat where it's let's stand up and you've got a small hip shift, something like that. But your ability to be very strong on both sides and the bench press is really important. Fixing some of those unilateral differences, dumbbells. Dumbbells. Yeah.

Cattlebells, if you don't have dumbbells. You know, I like, you. Dumbbells. Dumbbells. Kettlebells. If you don't have dumbbells. Kettlebells are awesome. If you've got to choose between having dumbbells or kettlebells, just have a bunch of kettlebells. You can do anything you want with them. I love having the dumbbells to train bench press. Me too.

Because the lowering of the weight, it trains the that that bar path so well because if you don't if if you got to set it if you got a dumbbell in your hand or a barbell the barbell you're going to be able to hide the imbalances very well and with a dumbbell as soon as your wrist isn't in that 90 degree angle or not your wrist but your forearm isn't not in that 90 degree angle you're going to drop it yeah it's going to be really painful, and that weight's not coming down. It's definitely not going back up. You'll learn that bar path very quickly with a set of dumbbells, probably faster than you would with a barbell if you have those imbalances.

It's so good. It's crazy. Dumbbells are awesome because when you go too wide with dumbbells, it creates this flexor moment. You're not going to bring the bar to me if it's too close. It creates an flexor moment yeah i gotta bring the bar to me if it's too close it creates an extensor moment so it really teaches you like you said to keep a straight up and down forearm yeah which is important to bench press especially like if you are a um close grip guy it's good to do close grip you know dumbbells because you're using it's the same when i bench close in my you

know my wrist is inside my elbow, it creates an extensor moment. But it's hard to train with a bench because it's fixed. However, when I do it with dumbbells, it trains it more than it would with a barbell. So it really assists the barbell quite a bit. Did that make sense? Mm-hmm. Good. Totally.

Yeah. Let's get into the program, the one-ton training plan here that you have written. We've got an eight-week block set up. Totally. Yeah. Let's get into the program, the one-ton training plan here that you have written. We've got an eight-week block set up. Right. We're going to be still doing the snatch, clean, jerk, squat, dead, bench. Of course, the bench. Right. Squat, dead.

With a big emphasis on the bench press. We've got that four-week accumulation phase where we're really just working on hypertrophy, getting you strong, working on bar path. Right. But one thing I'm interested in is when pushing from different areas. So we've got dips for accessory, but especially in the powerlifting world, we'll see people benching off blocks, working on different pieces of the bench press. Max effort.

Yeah. Yes. Are we going to see some of that stuff? Yeah. You're always going to see the conjugate method with me, whether it's weightlifting or powerlifting. I may be not as extreme as Louie would do. I might not change the bars, but you don't have to be so extreme. Yeah.

Those dudes, most of his guys are at the peak. That's all they're doing. Yeah. They've been training so long. They've got to get extreme to create an adaptation. But even my guys, we will, instead of changing a bar, do a pause. Instead of using bands, slow it down to eccentric. There's so many ways to use the conjugate method without getting too crazy.

You don't need the bamboo bar with the bands hanging off the sides with the kettlebells bouncing around. Those things are so hard. They're great for videos. First time I ever did it, I was like, oh, my God, this is so much harder than I thought it was going to be. There's a pretty cool video of Hunter doing an overhead carry with one of those, and he gets out of control and he's like.

Flying around. Yeah, he goes flying around. Once you start, it doesn't stop. That's a wrap. Yeah. That's a wrap. Just drop it. Get out of there.

Yeah. So we've got the first four weeks of that accumulation phase yeah um how much volume can you can you actually get through in the bench press because in a way the the pack the shoulder it's a very vulnerable joint if you don't have the um the the technique down and understand the movement um So if you start to get out of line, a certain amount of volume is going to become very difficult on the joints. That's where, you know, thank God we're going to have a coach that you'll be able to communicate with.

And so sometimes you might find that, you know, the coach will tell you to lower it. Like if you've got issues, you know. Yeah. That's beautiful that we're guiding people. Yeah. But, you know, obviously the higher volume, like, you know, Crystal, you know crystal you know morgan my freak's mom you know we upped her my freak's mom yeah she's a freak too but she's strong she was stagnant you're saying morgan's a freak because

he's 15 years old and he squats like five or six hundred pounds what was 418 yesterday something like that jerked 418 yesterday turn it off for you boys oh a good freak yeah oh yeah he's the best kind of freak so freaky strong up in our volume and frequency really is paying off dividends it's getting our bench well into the 200s yeah pretty awesome for a 42 year old mother you know to be benching in the 200s i think it's pretty awesome but yeah um yeah we're gonna you know i tell you the biggest thing you can look forward to after that first mesocycle, that first four-week block, is if I were you, I would schedule a trip to the beach because you're going to be nice and jacked. Every dude knows big pecs pulls chicks. That's how I got my wife.

I just flexed my pec. A little pec flex. She was, like, bouncing them back and forth. Yeah, let's go home. Let's go home. So we take that first four weeks. We move that into what you actually call the getting jacked piece. Right.

We're going to be inside 90%. We're going to be benching a lot. Yeah. High frequency. Yeah. High intensity and like putting weight on the bar. Yeah, moving the bar fast. Making sure your shoulders, lats, pecs, everything's firing.

That position gets dialed in in the first four weeks and then moving into – let's actually start moving some weights around, building up to a peak phase at the end of the eight weeks. Slap it on, baby. PRs. Yeah. How much a bench is the best, right? That's the question. It's the man question.

Right? Yeah. Is there any – as we look at the one ton total as a complete whole, and we are putting together like a full strength program with an emphasis on the bench for those two mesos and that training block, do you slow down the programming a little bit on the overhead work with the jerk just to protect the shoulders? No, because otherwise, I mean, a little bit really if overhead work with the jerk just to protect the shoulders no because otherwise i mean a little bit really if i'm if i'm not careful you will mess that position up it'll be hard to get back to it so we definitely have got to maintain you know our athletes ability to stay

overhead in a good position because if you lose it then now we gotta spend quality time trying to get it back yeah now you've lost time that you could have been going forward. This is why I love the One Ton Challenge. It's like a puzzle. It's an awesome puzzle to put together. I think for any good coach, it's like every good coach's dream. It's just so many moving parts to make this perfect program. I love that. Make sure you get over to theonetonchallenge.com.

We've got the One Ton Training Plan launching soon. Doug's going to talk about all that. But get signed up for the leaderboard. We want to get all the strong people in one place. Right now we have three of them in one office talking about the One Ton Challenge. But we're going to get all the people, all the strong people in the world, understanding what the One Ton Challenge is, how we can get you to 2,000 pounds, 1,200 for females.

So if you get signed up for the leaderboard, put in all your PRs. That's where we start. That's the base of the one ton challenge. And then Coach Travis Maddow is going to take over your life. We've got 12 months plus a one-month max phase, the crescendo leading to the one-ton weekend where you're going to go PR all six lifts, break into the one-ton club, hitting 2 pounds 1200 for females and it all starts over at the one ton challenge.com getting your current prs in there you're also going to get access to the one ton challenge starter kit which is us just walking you through the entire process a lot of the

history uh behind it getting to Cena's house, doing the one-ton challenge myself. Doug's done it. Mash has done it. It's the thing that we love to do. We're going to walk you through the technique. Doug's got tons of technique videos to make you more proficient at the snatch, clean jerk, squat dead and bench.

And then on top of that, we've got some nutrition, some recovery, just the entire rule set set everything you need to know so you can start lifting if you've never done the one ton challenge before how to get into the training program and then if you have done it let's get your lifts in there let's make you strong as hell and uh let's get into the one ton club that's that's the rare air that we want everybody to get to to really test this lifelong pursuit of strength so uh once you get in there registered it's going to put you on the vip list which gets uh doug can tell you uh where that that gets you and how you can get registered for the one-ton training plan yeah for the registration the vip list people get um early access so monday may 27th everyone that

has put their lifts into the leaderboard or downloaded the starter kit will be able to register the day before the rest of our audience. There's only so many spots in this program. Everyone gets coached, and so because everyone's getting coached, it's not just an unlimited number of people since it's not purely just a digital product where we can scale it to the masses. Everyone's getting coached, so only so many people can sign up for it. So if you're on the VIP list, you get early access. That basically ensures your spot in the program because you can sign up before we announce it to the rest of our enormous audience over social media

and over our email list. So the 27th is VIP early access. Tuesday, the 28th, we open the cart for the entire audience. And then June 6th is a Thursday. That'll be the last day available to sign up for the program. And then the following Monday, June 10th, everyone that signed up will start the program together. Everyone's doing the same workouts on the same days. You're in a Facebook group with your coach.

Everyone's doing the same workouts. So all the questions in the group will be relevant to you as well since you're doing the same workouts on the same days people you know you'll be doing your maxes at the end of each eight week chunk you know two four week mesocycles per movement you'll be doing a max so the first movement you're doing is the squat you got four weeks of hypertrophy basically and then you have four weeks of raw strength specifically for the squat and then you'll max out when everyone maxes out you know know record your lifts put them in the facebook group um you know celebrate pr celebrate everyone else's prs uh it's really fun in those facebook groups when when everyone's maxing on the same days and everyone's just posting their their new prs and everyone's super excited about it then you update

your leaderboard you kind of see how the leaderboard changes and where you fall who who jumped way ahead in the numbers who who fell behind, who got way stronger, who just got kind of stronger, et cetera, et cetera. So end of May, early June, registration will be open. And I'm excited to see you guys get stronger. It's a master of a gangster program for you. Yeah, if you want to go back, we started this thing off the prologue with John Cena going over a ton of just the history and why he created the One Ton Challenge and why we are taking it

taking this thing to the audience and why it's so important to us to be testing this lifelong pursuit of strength. Week one was the squat. Week two was the snatch. This week the bench. We're going to the deadlift

next week which is going to be the thing that's the biggest lift you might have. You're probably going to have the biggest deadlift so make sure you tune in next Monday. We're going to the deadlift next week, which is going to be the thing. That's the biggest lift you might have. You're probably going to have the biggest deadlift. So make sure you tune in next Monday. We're going over the deadlift and, uh, we're going to teach you how to get jacked. Big pulls off the ground.

We'll see you next week. Whoop. The best recovery tracking tool in strength. Whoop.com. Use the code shrugged to save 15%. That's it folks. We'll see you next week getting strong again and on wednesday we've got johan blake on the pot i raced him this week that man is fast we'll see you on wednesday