Size Matters

Yes size does matter. Now get your mind out of the gutter. Did you or do you travel from one facility to another? How about competition? Did you ever lift great one day. Go to another bench and just lift horribly. Especially at a competition. Your warming up and it feels great. Every thing is running on eight cylinders. Your name is called. You get set up with a very comfortable opener. You bring it down nicely with confidence. You hear the press command and BAM!! Some were in the lift you just stall and miss the lift. You think things out and try to correct them. In turn you are making things worse. At one time or another it has happened to all of us. Especially the shorter lifters. Some times the taller lifters.
I spotted for my wife this last event. Our plan was to open with 132, then 143, then hit a PR of 165. She missed her opener. A weight she works out with every chest day. Though the judge called an early rack and she would have made the lift, she attempted it again. This time she fought right through it. One thing. There is no way she should be fighting this weight. Next up 137.5. She totally bombed!! She was so aggravated. As I walked her back to the locker room we past up the warm up area. I stopped her and told her not to look at the weight. Just lift it. She got in to the bench. I handed her out the bar. I counted to three then told her to start. She brought it down for a three second pause. I called press. She SMOKED it! She got up and asked the weight. 145! She could not figure it out. I did. I pulled out my tape measure. 16 inches by 12.
The bench she competed with. 171/2 by 11. Huge difference. The height effected her leg drive, the width effected her shoulders. So in the future. Bring a tape measure. Size up the competition bench. Know how it will effect you. If it's taller, your going to lose leg drive. If its narrower, your going to lose your shoulders. Adapt accordingly. For now on, we will be carrying 1 1/2 inch thick blocks. This way when I run into a 17 1/4 to 17 1/2 inch bench I'll just lift off of the 1 1/2 inch blocks. I'll be pressing off a 16-16 1/4 inch bench. Exactly what I train off of. A 16 inch bench.