How to Bench Press: Expert Guide to Proper Bench Press Form

Most individuals assume bench pressing is straightforward—simply lie down, seize the bar, and begin pushing, proper?

Incorrect.

Correct bench press kind is extra intricate than it seems to be, and even minor errors in your setup and execution can restrict your progress or, worse, trigger harm.

On this skilled information, you’ll discover ways to bench press with excellent method.

You’ll additionally uncover how you can heat up for the bench press, perceive the intricacies of bench press grip, discover ways to immediately enhance your bench press efficiency, and extra. 

The way to Carry out Correct Bench Press Type

To discover ways to bench press, break up the train into three components: arrange, descend, and press.

1. Set Up

Place a barbell within the hooks of a bench press station, then lie on the bench so your eyes are immediately below the bar. 

Place your ft on the ground about shoulder-width aside and immediately below your knees. 

Arch your again by pushing your chest towards the bar (whereas holding your shoulders and butt on the bench), then pull your shoulder blades collectively and towards your butt (think about you’re “placing your shoulder blades into your again pockets”) like this:

Bench Press Grip

Many individuals overlook the finer particulars of a correct bench press grip, but it’s a vital a part of your setup. Let’s break down crucial facets that will help you grip the bar appropriately:

Bench Press Grip Width: Many weightlifters tinker with their grip width on the bench press, pondering it’ll subtly change which muscle tissues you prepare. In actuality, it makes little distinction. One of the best strategy is a medium grip, round 18-to-24 inches extensive, because it’s sometimes essentially the most comfy and steady for lifting heavy weights safely.
Bench Press Wrist Place: Wrist place for the bench press issues greater than most understand—get it fallacious, and also you’ll “leak” power that needs to be serving to elevate the bar. To keep away from this, bend your wrists again barely, letting the bar relaxation within the base of your palms with out permitting them to fold again at sharp angles.

The way to Grip the Bar: Wrap your fingers and thumbs across the bar and squeeze it as tightly as you’ll be able to. This grip prevents the bar from slipping out of your palms and in addition boosts efficiency.

2. Descend

Decrease the bar till it touches your chest according to your nipples, holding your elbows about 6-to-10 inches out of your ribs. 

3. Press

Push the bar up and return to the beginning place, holding your shoulder blades and elbows tucked.

While you’re on the final rep of a set of the flat barbell bench press, end it totally (arms straight), after which slam the bar again into the upright steel bars, and decrease it onto the hooks. Don’t attempt to press the bar immediately again into the hooks as a result of when you miss, it might probably fall in your face.

Right here’s the way it ought to look whenever you put all of it collectively:

The way to Heat Up for the Bench Press

Working by a correct bench press heat up is significant for acting at your greatest. In accordance to analysis, warming up with heavy weights is the easiest way to prime your physique to your “onerous” bench press units. 

Right here’s the protocol I like to recommend:

Roughly estimate what weight you’re going to make use of for the bench press in your first set (that is your “onerous set” weight).
Do 6 reps with about 50% of your onerous set weight and relaxation for a minute.
Do 4 reps with about 70% of your onerous set weight and relaxation for a minute.

Then, start your onerous units.

The way to Enhance Your Bench Press: 5 Fast Ideas

Use the next 5 tricks to immediately enhance your bench press efficiency:

1. Use the Proper Cues

One of the best cues for enhancing bench press efficiency are:

“Contact your chest to the ceiling”: Attempting to the touch the ceiling together with your chest retains your shoulders again and down and backbone arched and ensures your pecs do many of the work. 
“Screw your ft into the ground”: Imagining screwing your ft into the ground creates stress in your legs which will increase stability, rigidity, and stability.
“Rip the bar aside”: Desirous about ripping the barbell aside ensures your higher again stays engaged, offering a steady base to press off.

2. Use Leg Drive

Utilizing your legs to “drive” your physique up the bench as you press the load advantages your efficiency in two methods:

It will increase lower-body stability
It facilitates a extra environment friendly bar path

Simply bear in mind, the purpose is to not push your hips as much as the ceiling, however to slip your physique towards the highest of the bench. Right here’s a diagram that will help you visualize this:

To study extra about how you can maximize bench press leg drive, take a look at this text:

The way to Use Leg Drive within the Bench Press to Construct Extra Muscle

3. Squeeze the Bar

For a straightforward energy enhance, grip the barbell as onerous as you’ll be able to, clench your jaw muscle tissues, and push your tongue into the roof of your mouth. A number of research present that doing so boosts your energy and energy manufacturing. 

To study extra about this phenomenon, take a look at this text:

The way to Use Distant Voluntary Contraction to Immediately Get Stronger

4. Use a Spotter

Having a spotter on the bench can improve the variety of reps you’ll be able to carry out and make you’re feeling extra assured in your capacity to finish every set efficiently, which ought to help efficiency over the long run.

5. Repair Your Bar Path

Analysis reveals that many rookies wrestle with an inefficient bench press bar path, typically urgent the bar straight up and down.

This forces the entrance delts to work tougher to stabilize the load and limits how a lot weight you elevate. 

To press extra effectively: 

Begin every rep with the bar immediately over your shoulders.
Decrease the bar in a slight arc to your decrease chest.
Press the bar up and towards your throat.
End with the bar immediately over your shoulders. 

Right here’s the way it ought to look:

Advantages of the Bench Press

Higher Physique Hypertrophy

The bench press primarily trains the pecs, shoulders and triceps, however it additionally engages virtually each muscle group above the waist, which makes it extraordinarily efficient for gaining all-around higher physique mass. 

Energy Acquire

The flat barbell bench press is exceptionally steady, so it lets you elevate maximally heavy weights safely. 

It additionally lets you improve the load you elevate in small increments, so you may make regular, manageable progress with out hitting plateaus or risking harm. 

Enhanced Athletic Efficiency

Analysis reveals that the bench press boosts higher physique pushing energy, making it splendid for athletes who must throw, punch, jostle, or rapidly stand up off the bottom of their sport.

Muscle tissue Labored within the Bench Press

The principle muscle tissues labored within the bench press are:

Pectorals
Deltoids
Triceps

Right here’s how these muscle tissues look in your physique:

That mentioned, the bench press engages many different muscle tissues to a lesser diploma. To seek out out which of them, take a look at this text:

What Muscle tissue Does Bench Press Work? An Proof-Primarily based Information

The Finest Bench Press Variations

1. Shut-Grip Barbell Bench Press

While you slim your grip on the bar and maintain your elbows near your ribs, you place extra of the load on the triceps and barely much less in your chest.

The close-grip bench press is only a common bench press carried out together with your palms just a few inches inside shoulder-width aside, or about 2-to-3 inches nearer than your regular grip. Aside from the grip modification, you need to carry out the close-grip bench in precisely the identical manner because the bench press.

2. Dumbbell Bench Press

The dumbbell bench press is much like the barbell bench press, besides you press one dumbbell in every hand as a substitute of a barbell. 

The 2 fundamental advantages of the dumbbell bench press are that it lets you improve the vary of movement past the usual barbell bench press and to make use of no matter wrist place feels extra comfy to you.

3. Incline Barbell Bench Press

The incline bench press works precisely the identical manner because the barbell bench press, besides you lie on an incline bench as a substitute of a flat bench. 

When doing the incline bench press, the angle of incline within the bench needs to be 30-to-45 levels. The fundamental setup and motion of the incline bench press is simply as you realized for the common bench press, with a small exception: the bar ought to go by the chin and contact slightly below the collarbones to permit for a vertical bar path.

4. Reverse-Grip Barbell Bench Press

The reverse-grip bench press is much like the close-grip and incline bench press, in that it emphasizes the higher portion of your chest muscle. 

To do the reverse-grip bench press, flip your grip round on the bar (so your palms face you). Grip the bar in order that it crosses your palm diagonally, from the bottom of your index finger to the alternative fringe of your wrist. 

5. Decline Bench Press

The decline barbell bench press is in style amongst some individuals however I’m not a fan. Due to its decreased vary of movement, it’s simply much less efficient than incline and flat urgent. 

A standard argument made for doing decline presses is working the bottom portion of the pectoralis main, however there isn’t a lot proof that you want to particularly prepare the “decrease” portion of the pecs (that are already skilled throughout the flat barbell bench press).

FAQ #1: Incline bench vs. Flat bench: What’s the distinction?

The principle distinction between the incline and flat barbell bench press is that the incline model emphasizes your “higher chest,” whereas the flat bench trains the mid and decrease pecs extra.

Since these workouts complement one another, it’s a good suggestion to incorporate each in your routine to develop a fuller, extra balanced chest.

FAQ #2: Is the chest press the identical because the bench press?

Not precisely. Each workouts prepare the identical major muscle tissues—the pecs, entrance delts, and triceps—so the chest press is a viable various to the bench press.

That mentioned, analysis additionally reveals that free-weight barbell presses interact extra stabilizer muscle tissues than machine-based presses, which possible implies that the flat barbell bench press is best for gaining all-around muscle than the chest press. 

For instance, a research printed in The Journal of Energy and Conditioning discovered that the free-weight bench press was superior to the Smith machine bench press for coaching the facet delts:

Thus, if you wish to maximize total muscle progress and construct useful energy, the flat barbell bench press is your best choice. And when you’re in search of a secure, simple train for gaining pec, shoulder, and triceps dimension, the chest press is very efficient. 

FAQ #3: Why is my bench not enhancing?

In case your bench press isn’t enhancing, the more than likely wrongdoer is poor kind. A great way to burnish your method is to spend further time throughout your bench press warm-up grooving in correct kind.

In case your kind is stable, the subsequent more than likely cause that your bench has stalled is that you simply aren’t benching sufficient. 

Attempt rising your bench frequency to 2 or 3 instances every week, and ensure it’s the primary train you do on bench days.

And if this doesn’t get you unstuck, take a look at this text for extra recommendation on how you can enhance your bench press:

Enhance Your Bench Press Max With 16 Science-Backed Methods

FAQ #4: How a lot does a bench press bar weigh?

A normal bench press bar is an Olympic barbell, which weighs 45 kilos (20 kilograms).

For extra details about the weights of various barbells, take a look at this text:

How A lot Does a Barbell Weigh? A Complete Information

FAQ #5: Why do my arms harm from bench press?

In case your triceps really feel sore after bench pressing, it’s possible simply delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), which is a standard a part of energy coaching.

Nevertheless, when you really feel sharp ache in your biceps or elbows, there could also be a difficulty together with your kind. 

Benching with an excessively extensive grip can pressure your biceps tendons, so narrowing your grip can ease biceps ache in some eventualities. 

Moreover, flaring your elbows too far out of your physique can improve strain on the lengthy head of the biceps, particularly throughout the reducing section of the elevate. To keep away from this, tuck your elbows nearer to your sides—6-to-10 inches out of your ribs works nicely for many. 

If elbow ache is the difficulty, take a look at this text for steering on how you can repair it:

Have Elbow Ache? This Is Your 4-Step Information to Fixing It

FAQ #6: How do you bench with one arm longer than the opposite?

Many individuals really feel like one among their arms is longer than the opposite throughout the bench press as a result of one arm takes longer to “lock out” (totally straighten).

Nevertheless, it’s often not a difficulty of arm size—it’s extra possible because of a energy imbalance. When one facet of your physique is weaker, it struggles extra to complete every rep.

To appropriate this frequent challenge, ensure you embody unilateral workouts (workouts that prepare either side of your physique independently) just like the dumbbell bench press in your routine. This helps even out energy variations since your sturdy facet can’t make up to your weaker facet.

Additionally, take note of your setup. In case your shoulders or grip is asymmetrical, it might probably create the phantasm of 1 arm being longer whereas benching.