Dealing with a narrow bench

[mmafreedom]

Hey guys, sorry to start a new thread if this has already been addressed but I had a search and couldn't see anything.

I recently had to move to a new gym and the benches there are more narrow than i'm used to. I feel as though I can't retract my scapula far enough and dig my traps into the bench. It feels like atleast half of my shoulder girdle is unsupported.
Does anyone have any tips on what to do in this situation? I'm used to getting my grip, , pulling back my scaupla and arching my back, digging my traps into the bench and then unracking and pressing off a stable support but i'm completely thrown off now. Very frustrating to watch your lifts drop off by quite a bit of weight due to such a silly thing.

Another possible thing which may be making me lose my tightness is the bench only has two rack heights, which are either too long making me lose my tightness or too short in which I have to exert energy getting the weight up off the rack before even doing one press. Which is the lesser of two evils in your opinion?

[Tosa]

Are you a powerlifter?

Because between trying to do serious benching on a crappy bench, or just doing more overhead lifting, personally I'd choose just doing more overhead lifting.

[mmafreedom]

I wouldn't classify myself as a powerlifter, but i'm trying to get as strong as possible in all my lifts.

But I hadn't thought of swapping to more overhead work and just a bit of bench work. The gym has awesome power racks so OHP is very accessible. And I definitely notice a carry over to my bench when I increase my OHP. I just finished up at the gym and I can do close grip bench and keep my tightness (since my arms are long enough to get the bar out of the rack without losing my form), so I think I might just have to follow that route. Perhaps OHP twice a week and bench once, instead of the current bench twice and OHP once scheme i'm doing.

Much appreciated Tosa!

[apizur]

Look for one of those rolling benches that people stick under the smitch machine or use for box squats... they may be wider. The way our squat racks are set up at our gym you can use them for make shift bench racks.

[cheez whiz]

Dumbbell bench.

I've spent six months where there was no good bench, but I was still able to progress because I just worked on db bench.