The best bench press

  What would you name the most used, abused, misused exercise at the gym? I would say that it is the bench press. It is a complex basic exercise in bodybuilding and power lifting. It has helped many people to develop their upper body; it has also helped a few to become champions. It wastes the time of probably even more people and sent many of them to hospitals and doctors; every year a few people all over the world are killed by it as well.

   There are several reasons why people bench press. One of the reasons – that is what a new comer usually can see at the gym; another – bench press has become a kind of a measurement of strength and progress for athletes of different kinds of sport, apart from power lifting itself. “How much do you bench press?” – That is the question guys ask each other during idle talks.

   Men and women both can benefit from the bench press, developing and shaping their upper body muscles and strength. Yet it must be done with a proper technique, otherwise an injury or something even worse can happen. Let us start with some general recommendations.  

-Lie on a horizontal bench, face up, and butt on the bench and feet on the ground

- grab the barbell and take it off the rack

-inhale and lower the bar to the chest

-extend arms pushing the bar up and exhale

-put the bar back to the rack

Now let us give a detailed look at the movement. First, ask yourself why you want to bench press. Do you want to build great chest and arms muscles or press a record weight? The technique of power lifting press at competition for a maximum weight is quite different from the usual training press at the gym (first of all because of an excessive bridging) and we will leave it there for now. Let us do a basic press for developing chest and arm mass as well as their strength.

Working muscles. Pushing the bar up, you are flexing your shoulder, protracting shoulder girdle and extending your elbows, which is working out your pectoralis major, pectoralis minor, serratus anterior, anterior deltoid, triceps brachii, coracobrachialis and anchoneus. Apart from that, especially with heavy presses, core and back muscles, and even legs play an important role.

Positioning yourself. So, lie down on a horizontal bench, face up. The bar should be behind the line of your eyes. How far behind? First, it should be far enough so during the whole movement the bar does not touch the rack. Hitting the rack with the bar, especially when you bench heavy, can be really nasty, because it takes you off balance and you waste a lot of energy to position it back. On another side, when you take the bar off the rack from too far behind your head, it can be damaging for your shoulders, plus once again it is harder to put the bar back. One more important thing – you should be able to place the bar onto safety pins (most benches have them) in the lower position with minimal effort and movement, which is impossible if you lie too far ahead from them. I would suggest you to experiment with an unloaded bar and find a comfortable position before putting on any barbells.

The grip. Being honest, you can press with overhand (normal) grip as well with reverse one, or even have one overhand grip and reverse on the another one. I have nothing against reverse grip and it can be a good variety in training from time to time, even if it is more difficult taking off and putting the bar back.   However we concentrate here on traditional overhand grip. For your own safety, grip the bar in a lock, when the thumb and fingers oppose each other. I do understand why some people don’t do it – with open grip it is easier to position the bar right on the palm’s heel so you don’t use as much energy for your wrist muscles. But for this I would advise to train your wrists and forearms, and if your arms are still getting shaky – use wrist wraps; for the advantage you can get from an open grip is not worth the possibility of dropping the bar on yourself.

Legs position. Place your feet flat on the floor, wide enough to provide a good balanced support for your whole body. If you feel that it makes your back arch more than natural, or taking your heels off the floor, that means you need to put a couple of flat wooden blocks or couple of barbells under your feet. Even at a power lifting competitions athletes are allowed to use blocks up to 30cm high.

Grip width. That is a cornerstone of the press, for the whole movement will depend on how wide your arms are. In most bodybuilding guide books they recommend to take a grip wider than shoulder width and position your elbows looking straight aside from your body, cross-like, in order “to work out pectorals muscles better”. DO NOT DO IT. Such a position puts an excessive stress on your shoulder joints and sooner or later will lead to injury. However, you can see competing athletes using wide grip. The reason for that is: the wider grip, the less distance the bar travels, the more weight you can lift. But lifters bridge their bodies, literally bringing their chest towards the bar, and the actual travel distance can be nearly half less than if you press lying down flat, plus it changes the angle between arms and body, which results in using the lower part of the pectorals more and taking some stress off the shoulders.

   So lie down on the bench, position yourself under the bar. Bring your elbows close to your body, but without squeezing them into it. Now without moving your elbows, move your wrists apart until the angle between your forearms and your body will be about 45 degrees. Extend your shoulders, bringing your arms towards the bar so you can grab it. That will be your press width. 

Elbows position. There are 2 majorconditions you must comply. First, your elbows should be pointing to the floor at all times you are holding the bar. Second, you must keep that 45 degrees angle between forearms and your body all the time. Most common mistake – pushing the bar up, elbows go aside from the body into shoulder joint wrecking position. Practice keeping your elbows where they should be (with just an unloaded bar) until your body gets used to it.

Movement trajectory. Keepingyour elbows as described above you should lower the bar to about nipple line or bottom line of pectoral muscles, followed by a momentary stop. The beginning of press starts from contraction of latissimus dorsi (lats), followed immediately by protraction movement of all pectoral girdle and the beginning of contraction of  pectoralis major, anterior deltoid and triceps. Apart from up and down directions during the bench press the bar makes horizontal movements as well. The exact trajectory varies with different people: sometimes the lowering and the raising movements never cross each other, sometimes they do. However the general rule in both cases is the same – try to minimize any horizontal movements apart from natural ones, otherwise it will lead to an unnecessary struggle with weight.

Breathing.  Usually inhaling during lowering down and exhaling at pushing up, this changes when you go heavy. In that case you inhale lowering down, than hold your breathing when taking the bar off the chest and first third part of pushing up, and then start exhaling going through the hardest part of the movement.  

Safety. All possible attention must be paid to your safety, because an uncontrolled bar would not miss you on its way down. First, you should plan your bench press before actually going under the weight. Common sense and reality check must be applied for choosing the bar weight. If you train on your own, safety bars must be used, otherwise a spotter is needed.

Let’s write a check list:

Bar is loaded and weights are secured with locks

Safety bars are in place and locked or

Spotter is ready and knows what and when to do

Your position on the bench is right, legs placed flat on the floor or blocks and provide you good balance support

Grip placed evenly and locked at the right width on the bar

You are fully focused

Press:

Bar is taken off the rack and stabilized on straight arms with locked elbows

Lowering the bar down to the chest is fully controlled and without speeding up

Pressing the bar up goes evenly

In the upper position the bar is stabilized and stopped before the next repetition or returning it onto the rack

Bar returned to the rack fully controlled

You take your grip off the bar only after you make sure it is securely resting on the rack

Some tips:

Chalk powder is useful for secure grip

During the press do not turn your head around

If you feel uncomfortable under the weight, return it to the rack, do not try to adjust yourself holding the bar

Do not lower the bar on the upper part of pectorals or neck, otherwise shoulder joints will be wrecked faster then you can imagine

If despite of all warnings you decide to press with elbows pointed aside, cross-like, don’t use maximum weights or sets until failure

Do not re-bounce the bar off the chest

Remember there are other exercises apart from the bench press

The right technique is not the one which lets you press the heaviest weight, but the one which lets you press as heavy safely.

©Vitaly, fitnz.com 2010