building a better bench press
Building a Better Bench Press
The bench press might just be the most well-known of all the gym lifts. If you have been training for a while and talked about the gym, chances are someone has asked you how much you bench before they ask about any other lifts. Being such a well-known exercise, it tends to be performed by a wide variety of lifters, from beginners all the way up to the most advanced athletes. Because it can seem less intimidating as compared to squatting and deadlifting (the other two of the “big three” lifts), the bench press is often one of the first exercises people attempt when they first start strength training.
With that being said, the bench press is actually on of the more technical exercises we do in the gym, and it’s not uncommon to see plenty of dodgy looking bench pressing going on when you walk into any commercial gym.
So, in this article we will run through how to perform the bench press correctly, a few common mistakes and how to fix them, plus a few tips and tricks so that we can build a better bench press.
Warming Up:
Like with any prime lift we want to get our body prepped to move some weight, as this is only a general guide we won’t go into detail on any specific activation/rehab movements you may need, as these can vary greatly person to person. You are much better of seeking advice from a specific coach/health professional for that.
I like to begin with just the unloaded bar, the standard bar weight in most gyms is 20kg, but some do vary so it should be shown on the bar somewhere. If you are newer to the lift and uncomfortable with that (so say your max weight is <30kg), I would use a lighter set of dumbbells instead to get started. Incrementally add weight to the bar as you move towards your working weight, I would perform at least 3 warm up sets before starting your first working set. For example, if 60kg for 8 is your working weight, perform a set of the bar (20kg) for 8, 40kg for 8, 50kg for 6, then if needed 60kg for 3-4 reps just to get a feel of your working weight.
Don’t push yourself too hard on your warmups, the point of a warmup is to activate, not annihilate, your working muscles. You don’t want to miss reps on your working sets because you didn’t take it easy on your warmups.
Setting Up:
In order to bench press effectively we want to set up effectively. Like most compound lifts, if you set up correctly, you’ll have a much better chance of performing the lift optimally. While a good set up doesn’t always guarantee a good lift, a poor set up always guarantees a poor lift. There are many unique cues and tricks people use to find their perfect starting position, but here we will discuss a standard set up and will dive deeper into some unique tips later on.
Grip Width: Before we initiate the press, we want to find our best grip position, this will vary slightly for everyone. As a general rule I like to start outside shoulder width in a position where your wrist will be stacked directly over your elbow at the bottom of the press. Over time you may find moving your grip a few cm either side of this initial starting position beneficial, your best bet is to play around with different grip widths and see what works best for you. Gripping too narrow will place unnecessary pressure on your elbows and take away some of the force your chest can generate, while gripping too wide can be bad for your shoulders. Like most lifts there is a sweet spot you want to find that suits you.
Full Body Tension: Before we perform the lift, we want to create a solid base from which to push from. To do this we want to drive our shoulder back into the bench below us and push our chest/ribs up towards the bar. We also want to create tension through our legs, to do this have your feet behind your knees and flat against the ground. While obviously our chest is prime mover of the bench press, don’t forget we can also drive a large amount of force through our legs if we have them engaged into the ground. If you want to see this for yourself, perform a bench press with your feet raised off the ground and you’ll see how much harder the lift is.
The Arch: If you have performed the above instructions correctly you may notice you have created an arch through your torso, this is a good thing. An arch creates an anatomically stronger position and means we have a stronger base to push from. To maintain this position, ensure your feet remain planted and engaged, glutes stay pressed against the bench and your scapula (shoulder blades) remain squeezed and pushed back against the bench. Basically, part of your lower/middle back will be off the bench, while your glutes and upper back remain planted.
Eyes under the bar: A simpler cue, but a trap I always see beginners fall into is sitting too far back in the bench so that the bar crashes back into the rack as they perform the lift. To avoid crashing into the rack during our reps we want to have our eyes directly under the bar, this will give us some leeway as we develop control of our bar path. The last thing you want when getting towards the end of a hard set is to hit the rack.
The Lift
Now that we have established a nice base it’s time to perform the lift. Unrack the weight so that the bar is directly over your shoulders, keep your chest tall and lower the bar under control until it touches your chest. Where exactly it touches your chest will depend on the individual, but around nipple height is a good general starting guideline. Once the bar touches your chest pause for a second and then drive the weight back. The barbell should move up and back towards your head, such that your shoulders, elbows, and wrists are all in vertical alignment when the rep is complete.
Now lets run through some common cues I like to use to fix up clients technique:
Tight Grip: Your hands act as your connection to the bar, so we want to generate as much force as possible through them (including your wrists). By keeping a tight grip we are able to squeeze the bar and drive force from the rest of our body. Having to loose of a grip will hinder this, plus we don’t want to allow our wrists to bend back to far as this will likely lead to soreness and strains down the line.
Tall Chest/Ribs: We don’t want to lose the tension we created during our set up so we want to be keeping our ribs/chest up and shoulders back throughout the entire set. Between each rep you should give yourself a chance to breath and drive your chest nice and tall before bringing the weight back down.
Leg Drive: Keeping our legs engaged and pushing into the ground helps us generate more force. While our legs should have tension throughout the entire lift, it can be helpful to think about driving our feet into the ground hard as the bar comes off our chest. This extra drive will assist us during the bottom portion of the lift which is generally the hardest.
Control off the chest: As mentioned, the bottom of the bench press is generally the most difficult, and while it can be tempting to rush it, this is where it is most important to maintain tension and control. While there is nothing inherently wrong with using a “touch and go” approach you still need to be in control of the bar. Plenty of people use this as an excuse to bounce or heave the bar off of their chest. Powerlifters in competition must pause on the chest to prove they have control, and while you obviously aren’t under strict rules at the gym, pausing is a great way to improve your bar control and actually increase how hard your chest works during the exercise. The only downside is that you have to use less weight, which really isn’t a downside as if you can’t control the weight, you probably shouldn’t be using it anyway.
Common mistakes
Now that we know what to do, let’s look at what not to do. Here are a few of the most common mistakes I see in newer (and some more advanced) lifters.
Not using leg drive/moving legs around during the lift
Benching with a completely flat back
Glutes rising off the bench during the set
Inconsistent touch point on the chest (or not touching the chest at all)
Lowering the bar too quickly/slowly for your technique to handle
Main takeaways
By now you should have some idea about where you want to improve, so next time you bench focus on improving 1-2 aspects of the lifts at a time. Don’t try and change 6 things at once. Also, pick a weight you feel comfortable training with but isn’t too easy or to hard. We want to find that sweet spot where it’s not so light you can throw it around, but not too hard that you can’t focus on technique. Somewhere between 60-75% of your 1RM for 5-8 reps is a good start.
Next time you are benching either record your lift or have a friend watch your set, look out for any of these issues and that way you will be able to fix them. Most of these mistakes can be fixed by simply focusing more on technique as opposed to just getting the weight from A to B in any way possible. Mistakes with the bench press can often go unnoticed since many of them aren’t always easily visible unless you are looking for them. However, as small as they may seem, a little adjustment on the way you land on your chest, set up your upper body or form tension throughout your legs will in many cases be just the thing your bench needs to get to the next level.