Why Does One Arm Never Lock Out?

How To Correct An Uneven Lockout In The Bench Press

The Bench Press in Powerlifting is the most simple of lifts to execute but we see a whole host of different styles at play more recently.

Feet back, feet forwards, sinking into the chest (which I hate by the way), different grip styles, elbows out, elbows tucked. The one common problem you will see across all styles that will result in a failed lift at the top end of what lifters can produce is uneven lockout, you will have the lifter complaining that they “just can’t lock the elbow out” or “I have no power in the arm”. A logical way to look at this issue would be to assume there is a lack of pressing strength, the strength of the triceps, pectorals, deltoids but I don’t believe that is the case.

With this newsletter I will giving my thoughts, based on 100’s if not 1000’s of athletes and Powerlifters I have coached;

• Why this happens

• Why just getting stronger won’t help

• What areas you need to be addressing

• Example exercises to use

Why Can’t I Lock Out

One thing to clear up straight away, it is unlikely to be your tricep strength.

The reason for the lack of power in one arm at lockout will be due to the changing of joint position at the shoulder and the resultant reduction in stability at the shoulder. This lack of stability do a couple of things;

1. It will change the length tension relationship of the triceps. This biomechanical change results in the triceps not being able to produce as much force as it is capable of.

2. A central handbrake effect due to a change in joint position sense. Your brain will just not send enough signal to all the muscles involved if it senses instability at the joint. So force production is reduced.

These two things will be a much larger part of the equation when it comes to an uneven lockout or failure of the lift. Much more than general strength of the big mobilisers.

More Bench Press Isn’t The Answer

If we follow the common investigation and practice used if you were trying to fix this problem we would get stuck at exactly the same point every time you got close to your maximum.

You may begin increasing the work performed on all the big primary movers, this will not work as they likely are carrying more resting tone already, so additional work will only further increase this tone and further decrease active extension through the shoulder. You may look to just increase the total volume of pressing in the belief that more will equals better, this again will likely not yield results as muscular strength and power are already there, all you achieve is the reinforcement of poor motor patterns and technique.

There is a more more subtle approach.

The Key Ingredients (And they’re much smaller than you think)

Of all the people I assess who raise concerns about an uneven lockout only a very small percentage will have true isolated triceps weakness. What I find 99% of the time is the following;

• Lack of Shoulder Extension

Meaning the anterior structures of the shoulder, pectorals, anterior deltoids and possibly scalenes (neck) will be limiting how much shoulder extension the lifter can go through before losing joint position. You may get equal range but only because the joint position of the shoulder translates forwards. Not great for bench press.

• Lack of Internal Rotation

The external rotators of the shoulder can limit internal rotation. The posterior shoulder muscles, teres minor and infraspinatus specifically will be higher tone (tighter) and not provide as much range as the should during the press.

• Lack of Internal Rotation Strength and Endurance

Whether the muscle is higher in tone because of an overload response or through not having enough mobility generally at the joint the answer is almost always a lack of strength. There will always be a clear asymmetry between the left and right side in regards to strength and endurance of teres minor and infraspinatus.

Because of these 3 things combined we will see a very specific set of things happen during the execution of the bench press.

• Shoulder Hitching (Caused by lack of shoulder extension)

As the bar begins to descend to the chest you will see the shoulder begin to work its way further towards the head.

• Elbow Drop (Caused by weak and hypertonic Infraspinatus and Teres Minor)

There will be a very clear asymmetrical pattern the elbows. One will significantly drop in towards the body relative to the opposite side.

• Throwing The Bar

As the press is initiated you will observe that the bar is almost ‘thrown’ rather than pressed. Giving the picture of an uneven bar horizontally.

Good to know but now what would you do about it?

A Different Way To Prepare

You must look at Powerlifting from a global preparation perspective, its not just ‘stretching’ or ‘strength’ or ‘prehab’.

All problems with the human body and movement are multi-factoral. It is never one thing. So the answer lies in addressing all of the above with a combination of interventions.

Pre-Training

• Shoulder Extension

Firstly we have to improve tissue quality and pliability, we need more stretch tolerance in the muscles limiting shoulder extension. This would entail the use of soft tissue release methods through the pectorals, deltoids, scalenes.

• Shoulder Internal Rotation

After that we should target the shoulder external rotators with the same practice. Increase stretch tolerance of the teres minor and infraspinatus

• Rotator Cuff Potentiation

We need to ‘fire up’ the cuff muscles that are lagging (for want of a better word). Activities that improve neuromuscular function through range and prepare the system more adequately for providing stability.

Post Training

• Rotator Cuff Strength

Use high load isometric exercises to increase maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) of the posterior cuff muscles. You will gain strength and increase the size of these muscles very rapidly using isometrics. Really important for the maximal efforts in training.

• Rotator Cuff Endurance

Use of isolated rotator cuff exercises to increase the capacity of the muscle for work. This will improve strength through range, increase capillarisation of the muscle and improve its fatigue resistance. Really important to improve function of the shoulder over the course of a pressing workout and to recover adequately from session to session.

You may be wondering why I haven’t mentioned any technical cueing for correcting this problem. I would have spent a long time researching skill acquisition and motor control over my career and in some instances there would be a cause for more internal and external cueing of the movement. For most lifters you should start by addressing the most obvious things, do you have range? Do you have strength? Specific skill cueing can lead to lots of confusion, increasing range and strength should lead to a self correction, the body will always take the path of least resistance under load, give yourself the tools to change that.

Example Warmup Sequence

Soft Tissue Release

All performed for 90-120s.

• Stick Release (Pec Major and Minor)

• Hockey Ball Release (Anterior Deltoids)

• Stick Release / Self Release (Scalenes)

• Hockey Ball Release (Posterior Shoulder)

Pre-Activation

All performed for 10-15 repetition until you feel a light burn

• Theraband Overhead Press (Infraspinatus and Terese Minor activation)

• Kettlebell Bottoms Up Press (Infraspinatus and Teres Minor activation and proprioception)