With knees of a height with your hips it looks like you aren't getting much leg drive. Also if you were sliding down the bench with feet forward, but not with your current setup, is that not an indication that you were getting better leg drive? (Actually asking.) At my gym, the yoga mat is a necessity. You could also put a couple of resistance bands around the bench vertically to get the same effect.

Obviously all that with the usual caveats that I'm also struggling at bench and do not have all the answers.

Yea that sounds plausible. Needs more testing with some anti-slip. I'm pretty optimistic it may turn out to be the better option.

As a fellow tall, feet behind me (I.e. towards my head) is the only way I can get adequate leg drive. Putting my feet far enough forward/wide enough to keep my knees below bench level gave me essentially no drive. YMMV of course.

Noted. Will see if I can get some more miles out of it.

5/3/1 Squat C1 TM285
Saturday, 10 December 2016 at 13:09

Squat 5/3/1
Set 1: 225 lb × 5
Set 2: 245 lb × 3
Set 3: 270 lb × 6

Deadlift
Set 1: 185 lb × 10
Set 2: 185 lb × 10
Set 3: 185 lb × 10
Set 4: 185 lb × 10
Set 5: 185 lb × 10

Notes: Rest 60s

Leg Press
Set 1: 450 lb × 10
Set 2: 450 lb × 10
Set 3: 450 lb × 10

Ab Roller
Set 1: 15 reps
Set 2: 15 reps
Set 3: 10 reps

https://strong.app.link/oinqvQ3eZy

Squats went better this time. Reasonably straight bar path except for last 2 reps which were a bit forward. 6 reps on week 3 amrap seems good for first cycle.

I thought I was screwed after rep 3 was such a grinder but rep 4 felt easier so kept going. Maybe took a little long between reps tho.

DL's gave me a huge lat pump and also have some shin bruising so that's a good sign wrt to tightness and keeping the bar close imo.

Try to get your elbows down and in instead of up and out. You should be doing a lat pull down motion rather than a rear delt fly if that makes sense

Elbows high will push the bar up your neck and forward when you start grinding and engage every muscle. Elbows down should actually help with the tough reps getting forward that you mention

Hmm yea that makes sense. Ill try

5/3/1 OHP C1 TM120
Monday, 12 December 2016 at 12:51

Overhead Press 5/3/1
Set 1: 90 lb × 5
Set 2: 100 lb × 3
Set 3: 115 lb × 7

Bench Press
Set 1: 125 lb × 10
Set 2: 125 lb × 10
Set 3: 125 lb × 10
Set 4: 125 lb × 10
Set 5: 125 lb × 10

Chin Up
Set 1: 10 reps
Set 2: 10 reps
Set 3: 10 reps
Set 4: 9 reps
Set 5: 9 reps

Face Pull
Set 1: 33 lb × 15
Set 2: 33 lb × 15
Set 3: 33 lb × 15

Barbell Curl
Set 1: 55 lb × 15
Set 2: 55 lb × 15
Set 3: 55 lb × 15

Tricep overhead extension
Set 1: 55 lb × 14
Set 2: 55 lb × 14
Set 3: 55 lb × 14

https://strong.app.link/vhV7yOAw2y

OHP fine, probably had at least one more. Form looking reasonable too imo.

Bench I tried feet forward and out as far as my mobility allowed. Yoga mat works great for not slipping down the bench but now grip on the floor was a problem. I had shoes on and had no grip with my worn out Vans. Barefoot was better but only just about enough to get some leg drive. Needs some more grooving tho but drive on some reps looks pretty ok, other reps not so much.

5/3/1 Deadlift C1 Week 3 TM310
Tuesday, 13 December 2016 at 13:05

Deadlift 5/3/1
Set 1: 235 lb × 5
Set 2: 265 lb × 3
Set 3: 295 lb × 7 @8,5 (Rep PR)

Squat
Set 1: 175 lb × 10
Set 2: 175 lb × 10
Set 3: 175 lb × 10
Set 4: 175 lb × 10
Set 5: 175 lb × 10

Notes: 60s rest

Lying Leg Curl
Set 1: 130 lb × 12
Set 2: 130 lb × 12
Set 3: 130 lb × 11

Hanging Leg Raise
Set 1: 10 reps
Set 2: 10 reps
Set 3: 10 reps

https://strong.app.link/NqWv1GEc4y

DL's felt good but I'm not sure they look as good as they feel. I think lumbar is looking safe at least but I'm not sure. Upper back is not looking as tight as possible. How do these look to you guys?

Tried putting elbows more forward on squats, felt fine. Feel a bit more upper back tightness but looks like I'm extending lower back a bit more as a result. Something to look out for. Maybe a tiny buttwink on some reps. Bar path solid, depth on point.

Back looks fine on deads. You're fairly tall, right? I ask because for me I would aim for starting with a more vertical shin angle and possibly higher hips... but that's obviously going to depend a bit on your proportions.

I guess you could call 6'4"/194 fairly tall
I just do the Rippetoe approach, bar over middle of foot, bend knees, shin touch bar and keep your hips there. When I set my back I do sometimes drop my hips a bit though, I should probably try to prevent that.

Yep. Fairly tall.

If you watch closely, you can see the bar roll forward as you bend your knees and your shins come forward. That said, you're probably right. At 6'4 it's probably going to be hard to get in a starting position without a bit more shin angle and then kind of starting by squatting it up.

Yea I noticed that. Just have to focus on keeping hips up once shins touch the bar and also not moving the bar.

5/3/1 Bench C2 week 1 TM205
Thursday, 15 December 2016 at 12:38

Bench Press 5/3/1
Set 1: 135 lb × 5
Set 2: 155 lb × 5
Set 3: 175 lb × 10

Overhead Press
Set 1: 75 lb × 10
Set 2: 75 lb × 10
Set 3: 75 lb × 10
Set 4: 75 lb × 10
Set 5: 75 lb × 10

Notes: 60s rest

T Bar Row
Set 1: 82,5 lb × 10
Set 2: 82,5 lb × 10
Set 3: 82,5 lb × 10
Set 4: 82,5 lb × 10
Set 5: 82,5 lb × 10

Notes: 60s rest

Pull Up
Set 1: 8 reps
Set 2: 8 reps
Set 3: 8 reps
Set 4: 6 reps

Concentration Curl
Set 1: 55 lb × 12
Set 2: 55 lb × 10
Set 3: 55 lb × 10

Tricep Pushdown
Set 1: 55 lb × 15
Set 2: 55 lb × 15
Set 3: 55 lb × 12

Cable lateral raise
Set 1: 6 lb × 12
Set 2: 6 lb × 12
Set 3: 6 lb × 12

https://strong.app.link/WgQ7mar67y

Slightly disappointing only to get 10 reps with 175, was shooting for at least 11.
Tried this foot position in my lower sets and that felt great but by the looks of it didn't get as much leg drive as I thought.

Yeah, you had an 11th IMO, judging from the speed of #10. Gotta breathe better in these higher rep sets so you don't feel like dying by the end.

Yea probably. I'm not yet used to sets longer than 5-6 reps. I also need to work on staying tighter throughout, notice the difference in arch in rep 1 vs rep 10.

Re: tightness, I re re-emphasized the "pull the bar apart" cue on my incline bench sets today and it helped a lot. Big difference between being mindful of keeping your shoulders pinned and actively cueing yourself to do so constantly throughout the lift.

Until you actually know what "tight" means and what leg drive feels like...you have no idea what you are doing.

From the video, you are not tight enough and I don't believe you have much, if any leg drive going on.

Also your elbows are flapping and getting out of position.

Shoulders and scaps are ****ed too...

Yea I definitely don't have a clue. I'm now convinced bench is the hardest lift of all. I need a lesson too..

Have you watched So You Think You Can Bench on youtube? I watch it every few months.

Relating to what I was talking about earlier, your upper back/traps/scaps should be cramping/sore at the end of a set. And BPA is right that you're not tight; resetting things every rep just means you're loose, and I agree you're getting little to no push from your lower body.

I have, a couple times. I'll watch again. That's where I got the feet way back position from before. I think I'll go back to that, I got the most out of that position I think.
I'll also keep the pull-apart cue in mind. Or try at least. I know of the cue but there's so much **** going on in my head already I keep forgetting, lol.

But really, a lesson would be awesome. I'll find out if there's even such a thing around here but I doubt it tbh.

5/3/1 Squat C2 TM 295
Friday, 16 December 2016 at 21:32

Squat 5/3/1
Set 1: 190 lb × 5
Set 2: 220 lb × 5
Set 3: 250 lb × 10

Deadlift
Set 1: 190 lb × 10
Set 2: 190 lb × 10
Set 3: 190 lb × 10
Set 4: 190 lb × 10
Set 5: 190 lb × 10

Leg Press
Set 1: 460 lb × 10
Set 2: 460 lb × 10
Set 3: 460 lb × 10

Ab Roller
Set 1: 15 reps
Set 2: 15 reps
Set 3: 15 reps

https://strong.app.link/zTwX91DK

Squat went reasonable. 10 reps with 250, I'll call that a win over 7 reps with 255 a while back.
Only thing was bar wasn't sitting well on my traps, tried to adjust after 5 reps but didn't work so just kept going. Also struggling with tendency to let my elbows drift back.

Had doms in my quads and lower back from benching correctly on Monday.

No idea what correctly meant until then.

Need before and after vid imo!
Who did you have the lesson with? And how did you come by him?

I live in FL. Found a USPA certified PL coach in Tampa. About an hour away from me.

I have a before video posted in my log...Cha watched it and was like lol terrible. That's when I decided to get the lesson set up.

There was a lot to the lesson. But, most impacting was getting in an arched position that was super tight, incredibly uncomfortable and required me to stretch out my quads to be able to do it. Then, driving heels through the floor all the way to lock out. Which was the leg drive that I shoudl have been doing and wasnt. And it was painful when I was driving my heels down. Need to get better mobility but still it's the intensity of doing it correctly that is mostly responsible.

I worked up to 3 sets of 225...I was was wiped out after it.