The bench press is one of the ‘big 5’ compound exercises and one of the most important upper-body exercises in strength training because it works more muscles in one movement than any other chest exercise. Bench presses primarily work your chest and front deltoids, but your triceps are worked as well.
How to Bench Press
To avoid shoulder or forearm injury, it is important to have correct form when doing bench presses. At Studio X, we recommend beginners to (stay humble and) do a lot of reps with little weight to focus on technique before moving on to strength training.
- Lay down on the bench close enough to reach and unrack the bar, but not as close that you will hit the rack when you lift the bar.
(A person of average height will have their eyes or nose right under the bar when it is racked.) - Plant your feet firmly on the floor to stabilize yourself. In strength training, you should NOT be on your toes. You can read more about this below.
(If you can’t reach the floor to plant your feet firmly, use weight plates or yoga blocks on either side of the bench.) - Grip the bar just a little wider than your shoulders.
(Read more about grip width below) - Lift the bar of the rack and center it over the middle of the chest.
- Lower the bar slowly. Keep your chest high and the wrist, elbow and shoulders should stay in place.
- Pause slightly at the bottom of your bench press.
- Drive your feet into the ground, engage your core by squeezing your butt (called bracing) to stabilize your hips and spine.
Your back should not arch off the bench! - Press the bar slowly upwards.
Why do bench presses?
The main reason to do any strength exercises should always be to improve your daily life. ‘Pushing’ is a functional movement that requires pectoral strength. Whether regularly pushing heavy objects at work, furniture in the house or pushing yourself off the ground, chest presses can improve your ability to perform these tasks.
And of course, the bench press is the best exercise to build chest muscle and help create the coveted “V-taper” appearance. Furthermore, the many bench press variations (wide grip, narrow grip, incline, decline, flat, barbell, dumbbell…) help to target different parts of the chest to sculpt it into shape.
Strong chest muscles are important for good posture. Bench presses help in preventing a hunchback, because they help keep your back straight and stabilize the shoulders.
The chest press can help improve your performance in sports like swimming, boxing, and tennis, where powerful pushing and pulling movements are essential.
A bigger chest and better posture will improve confidence as well, especially in men. Combined with the increase in endorphins to reduce stress and anxiety, it is not a mystery why lots of gym goers run towards the bench press first.
How wide do you grip for a bench press?
The width of the grip for bench presses is often discussed at gyms, and as a beginner, you may get confused about the different answers. The truth is that it depends on the width of your shoulders (and your goals):
- In competitive powerlifting, the index fingers are not allowed to be more than 81 cm apart. This is why you see the rings (knurls) on the bar.
- Bodybuilders often opt for a much wider grip, because this will engage the chest muscles the most.
- For healthy strength training, a more narrow grip is preferable to avoid shoulder injuries and engage the chest muscles and triceps at the same time.
- Athletes who want to improve their tennis, boxing, or golf game will benefit from a more narrow grip as well. It is a compound movement after all.
In the optimal bench press your forearms will be vertical when the bar touches your chest. This way the energy from your pectoral muscles and triceps support the bar the most. From there you will press up and slightly back, until your arms are above your shoulders.
And, yes, a narrow grip will reduce the amount of weight that you are able to lift. But unless you are a competitive power lifter, the number on the weight plates doesn’t really matter. What matters in strength training is that you increase strength and do it in a safe way.
Flat back or arched back
You will surely have seen people in the gym performing a bench press with their backs arched and their feet tucked back on their toes. This powerlifting form allows for a lot of hip drive, essentially transferring the power from the lower body to the upper body. Simply said, you will be able to lift heavier weights this way. It also places more harmful shear force on the lower back and hips.
In strength training, the aim is to get stronger muscles. Not to make compromises in order to lift heavier. To work on the chest muscles, we want to have a full range of movement and not shift toward a tricep-dominant movement. So, we keep our feet fully planted on the floor and do not lift our backs off the bench.
Tips to improve your bench press
Avoid ego lifting. Use less weight and work on your form.
Warm up with 10 minutes of cardio and some push-ups before starting the bench press.
Do pull-ups to develop the triceps. This will help you improve your bench press.
Don’t bend your wrists back, but let the bar sit in the heel of your palm.
Bench presses can put a lot pressure on your shoulders if you are extending your elbows out too much at the bottom of the lift. Find your ideal grip width by practicing push-ups. The grip width for both exercises should be similar.
Squeeze your glutes to engage the core and prevent back arching or lifting of the hips.
Do not extend your legs on the bench, or plant you feet on the toes. If you are too short to plant your feet firmly on the ground on either side of the bench, use some weight plates or an aerobics stepper to place your feet on. This will help you with the production of force and prevent your back from arching off the bench.
Push and pull shoulder exercises (pull-ups or shoulder press) and working on triceps strength will help you improve your bench press.