weight vs form

So when you are strength training, at what point do you stop adding weight and focus on form instead?

As an example, my bench press has stalled atm, b/c even though I can go significantly higher then 225 lbs (say +40 or so) on my 1rm, my wrist will break higher than that (the usual palm thrust), and I feel like I lose good form and tightness overall. So I have been stalled for a good 3 weeks now, trying to get the form using lighter weights, but then I feel like my workout isn't getting me where I want to go b/c it seems like I am not feeling as much of the burn as I could.

Alternatively is it worth it to focus on isolation exercises in the problem areas that are giving out on these compound lifts?

If your form breaks - the weight is too heavy.

drop a few pounds until form is good again and work back up from there.



Profit?

Form and ROM always trumps weight. Don't be one of the gym rats stacking up hudge weight for 1/4-reps, drop the ego and focus on being actually strong.

as the weight gets heavier, form is going to break down a little bit

unless it's really terrible, it's not something that would stop me from adding weight

i'm not really sure what you're describing for your bench, so i can't tell you whether i think it's a big deal or not

it sounds like he's bending his hands back and putting the weight on his palm kind of like a push up.

i don't know if this a serious issue.

it is a major form fault and will damage the wrist

I've also never seen an experienced bencher do what he's describing. Not sure what your problem is but try taking a slightly different grip on the bar and make sure the weight of it is over the middle of your forearm. It is not normal at all to experience any problems keeping the wrist straight, even at the heaviest weights. You are doing something wrong. Make sure you are gripping like the second picture, not the first:

http://stronglifts.com/wp-content/uploads/bench-press-wrists-grip.jpg

in terms of general advice for these situations, major form faults should be addressed on a case by case basis. while some degradation of form is normal at limit weights, even a novice lifter should be able to maintain largely decent or at least safe form even at a maximal load.

I don't understand why you're worried about supporting a weight 50 lbs higher than your one rep max. Are you putting 3 bills up in the air when a hot chick walks by, then slapping it down on the rest again after she leaves?

I feel more of a "burn" from doing 3x10s of a moderate weight (especially after), or 5x5's of a fairly heavy weight than I ever would pushing up 1 rep of something barely liftable.

Just keep plugging away, maybe throw in some forearm exercises if you feel like your grip is going to start breaking down at higher weights. I've never encountered wrist strain like what you describe in a bench though, usually the weight rests on the fat thumb region of my palm, and requires minimal lateral support from the forearm. It's mainly delt, chest tricep muscles involved in stabilizing and raising/lowering.

How wide/narrow is your grip on the bar?

i agree how much something burns is evidence of how much muscle i will build

sometime i sit on my foot when i play video game and when i m done my foot gonna be really muscle

i o nly care about form and rest really

then i just eat fat meals

right now i make whole wheathome mad mac and cheese and bbq chicken breasts

then i do my jelqs

i like 2 eat raw egg and drink gallon of milk a day

i m hugeeee

If you are concerned with your wrist bending back get straps that your hands can rest on taking stress off your wrist. People will cry about it being not natural or cheating, but in the mean time your bench will go up and your chest will get bigger.

u do not sound like u r that big

probably work on ur form d00d

u do not sound like u r that big

probably work on ur form d00d

I am not 1rep maxing! I am doing a linear progression program something like SS, and the problem is people have pointed out that my form fails around 225*5 on the bench b/c of the bent wrist (which I take it can lead to injury eventually) amongst other issues. This is something like 30lbs lower than what my work sets had been a few weeks before. Similarly, on squats my form dips something like 40 or 50 lbs before what would normally be a work set (for instance I don't go deep enough, my back begins to buckle, etc). In short, a lot of the small stabilizer muscles are obviously giving out, whereas the larger muscle groups are still progressing.

The reason I ask is b/c the program is supposed to be a linear progression, yet for 2 or 3 weeks I basically haven't been able to correct the form and to progress to higher weights. I think the wrist issue (which is as Tekman said) is a mental thing more than anything else, as i've had trainers look over my form under lower loads and it seemed ok...

y is ur form failing

maybe the weight is 2 heavy

u need 2 have good form and not just go up in weight cuz a gallon of milk says so

something is ****ed up

why are you 40-50lbs lower in work sets than 2-3 weeks ago?

if your form broke down significantly, you shouldn't have upped the weight the next workout

don't bother answering, this is all rhetorical

just figure out wtf went wrong and fix it

Use wrist wraps? You are almost certainly over thinking this. Eat more food, sleep more sleep and don't make up your own routine and you should be fine

I've said it before, but flat barbell bench is by far the worst exercise in terms of injury potential weighed against benefit. If you want upper body strength, do presses and weighted dips. If you want to build up your pecs for aesthetic reasons, do dumbbell bench/flies and lighter weight wide grip smith machine bench (using as little tricep push as possible). Athletically, the flat bench is almost worthless.* From a bodybuilding perspective, it's unnecessary.* The only reason to flat bench is to get better at flat benching. So basically there's no point doing it unless you're trying to compete in powerlifting. Heavy flat benching inevitably leads to shoulder injures, which are notoriously difficult to recover from. You can also **** up your elbow pretty easily and get a nice case of tendinitis, and mess up your wrist as the OP was complaining about. And many times these injuries will pop out of nowhere, even with good form, maybe even pushing weight you've done before.


* I don't mean this in the sense that it won't make you stronger or add mass, only that these goals can be met just as well with other exercises without incurring the added injury risk of heavy flat benching.

do you have any data to back up your claims or are you just speaking out of your ass?

because, for the record, you are more likely to injure yourself playing tennis than lifting weights

y would dumbbell bench put more mass than barbell bench