The bench press is one of the most popular exercises around. It’s hard to walk into a commercial gym without being asked the famous question, “How much ya bench?” This popularity isn’t without good reason because, assuming it’s a good fit for the person who does it, it can be a great exercise. Although it may not seem like a complex exercise at first glance, it does require a fair amount of skill to bench press efficiently. This blog will help you in developing your bench press technique so you can bench press safely and efficiently.

 

The Bench Press Set-Up

When we set up for the bench press we want five points of contact when performing the lift. Those five points are our head, upper back, hips, and both feet. We start with our eyes under the bar or even slightly in front, with the bar pulled to the front of the pins. Our feet will be pulled in close so they are under our knees or even closer, with our whole foot flat on the floor. For a traditional bench press we want our hands to be in a position that allows us to keep our wrists over our elbows during the descent. We don’t need a super wide or narrow grip for a conventional bench press. Lastly, our shoulder blades will be retracted on the bench (pinched together), like the finish position of a row.

We can think of this shoulder blade retraction as our “shoulders hugging the bench,” or “putting our shoulder blades in your back pocket.” When our shoulder blades aren’t pinched back our shoulders have more wiggle room and this puts us in a less stable position. When we pinch our shoulder blades together however, we create a much more stable position to press from. It’s hard to press a significant amount of weight if we don’t have a stable base to press from. Below is a video demonstrating a proper set-up.

 

 

Unracking And Racking The Bar

Once we have established a solid set-up, the next step is unracking the bar for the lift. Now, I get this might seem like common sense because you simply lift the bar out of the rack, but there’s a common mistake that can easily mess up the set-up. That mistake is pressing the bar out of the rack instead of pulling the bar out of the rack.

If we simply press the bar straight up instead of pulling the bar out, we increase the likelihood of losing our shoulder blade position. We want to think of pulling the bar into position much like when we perform a KB Pullover on the floor, or when performing a straight arm lat pulldown. You can see an example of this unracking technique in the video below. The first two reps show a poor unracking technique (pressing bar out) followed by two good reps (pulling bar out).

Once we have performed our set we have to re-rack the bar of course. Just like unracking the bar there are better ways to perform this action. A common mistake is trying to set the bar down on the pins instead of keeping the arms locked. It’s less safe to try to set the bar down because it’s harder to support a heavy weight with bent arms, and there is a chance we can miss the pins. The easiest way to re-rack the bar is to simply keep the arms locked and drive the bar straight into the rack. Once the rack has hit both sides we know we are safely over top of the pins. This can also be seen in the video below in the second half of it.

 

 

Breaking The Bar

When it comes to the bench press, the position of our elbows will be similar to that of other upper body presses and rows. We want our elbows to come down at a roughly 45-degree angle from our torso. This position is the safest and most efficient to press from. The easiest way to put ourselves in this position is to think of “breaking the bar” on the way down (don’t actually break the bar please). By acting as if we’re breaking the bar in half we not only create more tension on the bar, which helps us produce more force, but it also naturally puts our elbows in a good position. This can be seen in the video below.

 

 

Bar Path

When speaking of the bar path during the bench press most are taught to press the bar straight up vertically. This is incorrect. The argument for a vertical bar path was made using the lens of physics, since a vertical path means the bar would travel the smallest distance and would thus be easier. This does not consider the biomechanics at play during the lift though.

When bench pressing we want good joint stacking in our upper body. At lockout, our hands are over our elbows which are over our shoulders. If we are “breaking the bar” properly as discussed in the last section, then the bar should naturally drift forwards (meaning the bar will hit lower on the chest) to keep the wrist stacked over the elbow.

By consequence of this joint stacking, the moment arm between the shoulders and the bar increases, which means the shoulder is under more load in this position. Although this is the position we want at the bottom of the lift, and is normal, we want to decrease that moment arm sooner than later. We accomplish this by driving the bar “back towards the rack” on the ascent. If however, we drove the bar vertically up, then bar would end in front of the shoulders which is a waste of energy. It would also cause the lift to be more challenging than it needs to be.

So, instead of a vertical bar path we actually want to have a diagonal bar path. This decreases the moment arm on the shoulder that is naturally created on the way down and allows us to press more efficiently. This technique can be seen in the video below.

 

 

Myth Busting

One thing I do want to address in this blog is a controversial topic among some individuals. So I’m just going to say it…arching your back during the bench press is not inherently bad. Your spine won’t automatically explode when arching during a set.

The bench press is one of the few exercises in which we want to be in a Macho Man position (arching). We arch our back because this allows us to retract our shoulder blades and creates a stable pressing position. But, this arching doesn’t need to be excessive, nor should it come solely from our lumbar spine (lower back). We want most of this arch to come from our thoracic spine (upper back). We arch enough to get our shoulder blades in a good position and that’s all. The goal, unless you’re a powerlifter, is not to create the biggest arch you can.

If you do compete in powerlifting though, then a bigger arch will help you since the bar doesn’t have to travel as far. For most of us that don’t compete in this sport it’s not necessary nor super beneficial to arch more than needed.

 

Let’s look at an example of a full bench press set to give you an idea of how a normal set would look, set-up and all:

 

 

Conclusion

The bench press is a staple of most gym-goers’ programs and for good reason. Although it won’t always be the best fit right away for everyone, assuming the individual performing them has the proper pre-requisites, it can be a great exercise. When performed correctly, the bench press is a great way to safely and effectively build upper body strength.