How to Bench Press more than Mamdani
How do you get to Carnegie Hall?
Recently the Democratic nominee in the NYC mayoral election tried to bench press in public and it didn’t go well for him.
Now he’s the laughing stock of half the internet for a few days1. To help all of you avoid the same fate, I’m going to outline his biggest mistakes and teach you how to avoid them.
Mistake #1, Wrong Clothes
I’m not commenting on the fashion2 but his shirt is bad for lifting. It’s too tight. He’s not going to be able to move his arms, shoulders, and chest freely in that shirt. It makes the lift a bit harder and he needs all the help he can get.
We fix this by wearing loose or stretchy clothes, like any sort of athletic wear. Mamdani couldn’t have changed his shirt, but he either could have taken off the collared shirt and just worn his undershirt or he could have undone several buttons, especially on the cuffs, to make the fit much looser. He did take off his jacket, but there’s a lot more he could have done.
Mistake #2, He’s Too High on the Bench
Mamdani lay down on the bench so the bar is across his chest. That’s where you want the bar when you’re executing the movement, but if you try and do your reps in the position he’s in you’ll hit the rack on every concentric. When the bar is racked it needs to be higher on your body. To avoid hitting the rack he had to move the bar laterally while pressing, which kept him from using full force in the movement.
We all can fix this by laying on the bench so the racked bar is over your nose or eyes. Then when you push the bar up to prepare for the first rep, it naturally moved over your chest and you seamlessly avoid any obstructions.
Mistake #3, Sloppy Form
Mamdani is unsure of where to put his hands3, he’s isn’t using leg drive4, and his shoulders are out of position5. Good form on the bench press means you’ll lift more weight, stimulate more growth, and have less risk of injury.
Mamdani could have fixed this by working with his trainer or more experienced gym buddy to fix his form. You don’t want to regularly do exercises like the bench press with bad form because that makes it much harder to switch to good form. It’s better not to have bad habits in the first place.
I’m making some assumptions with that solution, which brings me to…
Mistake #4, Attempting a One Rep Max on a New Lift
I don’t think Mamdani does any sort of bench press regularly. I think he went to an event that had a lot of men who do bench press regularly, correctly noticed the vibe that the bench press available there was easy6, and figured he could manage a rep or two7.
Attempting a extreme lift with bad form is a good way to get hurt. Mamdani has a spotter and is weak enough that he’s not attempting anything very heavy, so his risk is still very very low, but this sort of behavior without a spotter and with heavier weights is how people get hurt.
How To Avoid Embarrassing Yourself Like This
To follow this advice you’ll need a few things: to be in good health with no relevent injuries8, gym with a bench press station or a squat rack9, willingness to push yourself, >300 ng/dL of testosterone in your blood10.
Step 1: Go to the gym at least twice a week
Step 2: Have someone at the gym, either a friend or a trainer, demonstrate a bench press for you. Have them watch you while you do it the first time.
Step 3: Bench Press 1-2 times a week. If you’re only benching once a week do some other chest exercise the other session.
Step 4: Start with just the bar. It weighs 45 pounds on its own. Do three sets of five reps.
Step 5: If you successfully did three sets of five reps last time, add the smallest amount of weight you can11 to each side and try again. The goal is to lift a little heavier than last time, but still the same number of sets and reps.
Step 5a: If you failed at doing three sets of 5, repeat the same weight in your next session. If you fail three sessions in a row, ask for help from a trainer or friend.
Step 6: Keep doing this for 3 months.
After 3 months, you’ll be benching 135 for sets of 5. If you can’t do that yet, you should still be able to bench 135 for a single rep. If, for whatever reason you can’t bench 135lbs for a single rep, you’ll know your body and the movement enough to respect the weight and not attempt it in front of strangers.
He’s still from a rich family, married, and he’s probably going to be mayor of NYC before he’s 35. We don’t have to feel bad for him.
I’m sure @dieworkwear thinks this is an amazing outfit.
Lots of good options here.
Which is fine if you’re trying to lift less weight but still stimulate your pecs.
This is just a mistake.
Because it is easy for young men who bench press regularly.
If he was a more talented athlete it might have worked. Some people are blessed with the ability to see something like a bench press performed and just do it correctly on the first try. Great form, solid positioning, and flexible attire could have let him get a single real rep. But the stories I hear about people like that are all from Division One athletes or better.
A new friend of mine had trouble getting his bench press up. After working with him for half an hour I noticed a giant scar on his arm. His arm was broken a few years earlier, and one of his triceps was super weak.
NOT A SMITH MACHINE
Sorry ladies, but testosterone is a hell of a drug.
At most gyms this will be adding a 5lb weight to each side for a total of 10lbs. If you gym has 2.5lbs plates, use those. If you gym has 1.25lb or 1lb plates, you don’t need to go that light.