Tricep imbalance = wonky bench press

moya_bleh · February 2015

Hi,

I've got a problem when benching. When I up the weight to anything less than 8 reps my left side starts lagging. I can feel my left tricep beginning to give way after a few reps, leading to the barbell slanting.

Other than lowering the weight and studying my form and also switching to dumbbells, what can I do to sort out the strength imbalance in my triceps?

Any info would be greatly appreciated

paj315 · February 2015

I'd try some lockouts. My trainer has added these in for me to help my weak lockout. They suck but I can def feel my triceps burning after a few!

osmondphoto · February 2015

I used to bench wonky too, the way I over come it is by tilting it to the opposite sides. After a while when you start back doing it normally the movement became more balance. I do this on the 2nd to the last and final set usually.

Plus I usually do single hand accessory work and do more on the weak hand with 1-2 extra reps, specially on tricep works. This will maintain the dominan sides while breaking down and rebuilding the weak sides.

I had my acl work on my leg which mess up the muscle balance, and also shoulder surgery too. So I had to overcome bunch of imbalance, you just need to spend extra care on them weak part to get them up to speed.

moya_bleh · February 2015

Thanks folks

AllanMisner · February 2015

Just work up to when your form breaks down and (as you noted) do some dumbbell work. Over time, the left arm should catch up to the right.

alyhuggan · February 2015

If you don't already do fairly heavy close grip bench press (6-8 rep range.) In the past 2 years I don't think I've ever failed a bench press on the lockout, close grip bench really helps with it. It should help strengthen your weaker tricep too!

DopeItUp · February 2015

Honestly it will probably sort itself over time but the db idea isn't a bad one either. I never bothered, myself. It just equalized over time naturally.