How to Bench Press: An Introductory Guide

The barbell bench press is one of the oldest movements in lifting culture, and arguably the most popular lift today. It is used by virtually all athletes and competitors to improve strength in the upper body and stability in the shoulder joint. Football players use it to push their opponent harder, bodybuilders use it to build a thicker chest, and powerlifters use it as their primary measure of performance.

The bench press is unique from other compound barbell movements because it is done lying down. As a general rule, we prioritize compound barbell movements in which the lifter is standing on their own two feet. By standing up while lifting, as in a squat, deadlift, overhead press, bent row, etc, the lifter coordinates their entire body to move under a load, bringing in their legs, hips, and abdominals to support and stabilize, as in any real world application. This is of less concern for someone driven purely by aesthetics, but for most of the people reading this, application of strength is going to be just as important as acquiring the strength to begin with.

However, because lying down in the bench press provides substantially more support to the lifter, the pectorals, deltoids, triceps, and supportive muscles of the upper back and arms are overloaded. Since the bench provides rigid support, not flexing or bending the way your spine will when it fatigues, the lifter is able to produce more force into the bar. This overload can contribute to substantial increases in upper body strength along with a 'thickness' and 'density' that physique competitors seek. And let's be honest; the majority of bro culture would rather perform a lift lying down than standing up. For these reasons, the bench press is at the top of a short list of the best upper body exercises, and is the only lift with it's own Internationally recognized day of the week (Monday).       
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Bench Press Standards

Bench Press Standards are fairly straightforward, but can reach some grey area depending on your specific training goals. In short, the lifter lies down on a bench with their feet firmly on the ground and their butt and shoulders glued to the bench. The barbell is taken out and held at arms length, where the lift is initiated by lowering the barbell down to touch the midchest before being pressed back to arms length.

Everyone has come across gym nazis who routinely call out lifts for 'not counting' because some imaginary standard wasn't met. Remember, the only bench press standards that matter are the ones that get you to your goal. A powerlifting style bench press is going to be subjected to the most rigorous standards because it is a contested lift. A referee will 'no lift' the bench press if the feet move during the lift, if the butt comes off the bench, if the bar doesnt pause on the chest, if the bar doesn't lock out evenly, and for a dozen other reasons. These could all grant one lifter an advantage over another, so it is important to the spirit of competition that the bench press standards are kept the same for everyone.
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Now, if your goal is simply to develop and strengthen your upper body outside of the context of the techincal powerlifting bench form, the same standards won't necessarily apply. Plently of the strongest men in the world have had success benching with their feet up, stopping short of touching their chest, flaring the elbows a bit, and even getting some forced reps from a friend. Whatever your goal is, setup so you are safe first, and so that the exercise is most effective second. And always know WHY you are doing what you are doing.
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Muscles Worked in the Bench Press

The muscles worked in the bench press include the primary movers (pectorals, deltoids, triceps) along with a half dozen other stabilizer muscles which contribute to stability and efficiency without actually moving the bar up. Think of these muscles as the foundation of a house; the stronger they are, the more weight they can support.

The pecs perform an action on your upper arm called 'adduction', which is the anotomical term for bringing together. The purest form of this is a chest fly, in which the only joint moving is the shoulder and the arm is brought in to the midline of the body. If you simulate a chest fly (go ahead, I'll wait) and then turn your wrist in and simulate a bench press, you will see that the upper arm goes through a similar motion. The chest is hugely important for starting strength off the chest, and lifters who get stapled within an inch of their chest usually have pectoral weaknesses.

The front deltoids are also heavily used in barbell bench pressing and contribute to bringing the bar back over your face from wherever the barbell touches on your chest (think of a front raise done lying down). The side and rear delts provid stabilization of the shoulder joint, improving efficiency. This stability can aid greatly in creating pop off the chest and buildling enough speed to blast through higher sticking points. This is why prioritizing shoulder work is of huge importance when it comes to increasing your bench press.

The triceps simply extend (straighten out) your elbow joint as your pectorals adduct (bring together) your upper arms. A crude way of thinking about a bench press would be the addition of a tricep extension to a chest fly. Tricep strength is paramount for locking out big weights, which is why it gets so much attention from geared lifters who's bench press shirts take care of the pop off the chest. If your sticking point is above the half-way mark in a bench press, chances are your triceps aren't pulling their weight.

Upper Back muscles and biceps contribute just as much to the bench press as the main movers. Though they don't physically raise the weight off of your chest, the rear delts, rhomboids, and lats create stability and tension, allowing for greater efforts. Imagine you're driving a state of the art racecar with the world's fastes engine. Now imagine that the frame was replaced with nerf foam. This is what trying to bench press a lot of weight is like if you have a strong chest and no upper back development. For all the power in the engine, it won't matter because the spongy foam frame isn't rigid enough to sustain the power being produced.
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How to Execute a Proper Bench Press

​I will go over the broad bench press standards that contribute to a proper bench press setup for mostly everyone. These are all good ideas to follow regardless of your end goal, and the bench press technique that follows can be tweaked easily as you train more specifically for your chosen field. All of these bench press cues will prioritize Safety, Stability, and Effectiveness, in that order. 
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Foot Position

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A proper bench press setup will have your feet placed firmly on the ground. By virtue of putting yourself between a barbell and a hard place, the bench press is already an overload movement, so destabilizing it by squirming or keeping your feet in the air can be counter-productive. Your go-to bench press technique should include a comfortable foot position that creates compression, but doesn't cause cramping mid rep. The most tension is created with the feet waaaay back and on your toes. This is a powerlifting style bench press technique that is very specific to the sport and usually goes along with a very high arch. On top of that, some powerlifting federations don't allow you to bench press on your toes. For this reason, I reccommend flat feet, with your feet as far back as you can get without your heel coming off the ground.
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Shoulder Position

​Many benchers lay down on the bench with out any regard for the stability of their shoulder capsule and start hammering away with a loaded barbell. This is probably why bench pressing is responsible for so many rotator cuff injuries from amateur lifters and high school athletes. When you bench press with relaxed shoulders, your pectorals pull your shoulder girdle forward as you press the bar to lockout. So not only are your arms moving, but the joint they are connected to is moving off the bench too! This goes back to the rant about stability: more points that are soft and spongy equals less weight moved and a higher probability of injury. Again, powerlifters tend to exaggerate scapular retraction (keeping your shoulder blades together), but even physique and recreational bench pressers should still strive for some level of stability in their shoulder joint. Every time you do a row or bent raise, you are preparing your upper back to get your shoulders tight and keep them that way throughout a heavy bench press. Lay down on the bench, set your feet and butt, get your hands on the bar, and wiggle your shoulder blades together like you're trying to grab a pencil on the bench. Every rep of every warm up set is practice in maintaining that scapular retraction as you move the bar through the bench press range of motion.
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Arch

This is where powerlifting has jumped the shark. Extreme arches from contortionist benchers looking for a leverage advantage have made a mockery of the sport. Unless doing so puts you in arms reach of a world record or a cash prize, I don't recommend an exaggerated arch to anyone. When range of motion gets diminished too much, it actually substantially limits the bench presses role as a mass and strength builder. A proper bench press arch is going to increase tension throughout the torso (again, increasing stability) giving a rock solid platform off which to press with maximal effort. Thinner lifters can also benefit from taking up a slight arch by overcoming the disadvantage that comes with a sunken chest. As you lay down on the bench, grab the bar and slide way back so the bar is mid chest level in the hooks. Plant your feet and use the bar to push yourself down into your feet as you wiggle your shoulder blades back into position. There should be tension. It will be uncomfortable. You might even cramp. But you will get used to it and learn how to maintain a proper bench press arch and channel that compression into a bigger bench press.
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Bar Grip

 Bench press grip width is a topic that largely turns into splitting hairs. There's very few concrete recommendations about any technical point that won't hinge on issues specific to the lifter (like flexibility or limb ratios). The quick answer is that you adapt to how you train, and even if your bench press grip width appears to be 'non-optimal' you will likely adapt to where it works for you or reach the point where it doesn't and you will have to try something new. For most of the population, I look for the grip to be right outside of the shoulders so that the forearms remain perpendicular to the ground while the barbell is touching the chest. Some lifters have had success competing with a wider grip and flared elbows (utilizing a powerful chest to get the bar moving) while others put up massive weights with a more narrow bench setup (relying on tricep strength and elbow compression). It is a chicken or the egg discussion: do these lifters prefer these setups because that's where they were strong? Or did they get strong because this is how they benched? I'm sure for many, it's a bit of column A, a bit of column B. I have seen some ridiculous descriptions of new ways to hold the barbell during a bench press; stronglifts reccommends holding it diagonally in your palms with the fingertips on top of the bar, leroy walker has his people going suicide grip with their thumbs straight out. I can tell you right now that the number of successful benchers who use these gimmicks make up a fraction of a percent of the competitive population. People have sustained serious injury bench pressing with a false grip, so it is not worth the risk for whatever miniscule changes it makes to your bench press setup. Hold the bar in the butt of your palm, allow for your wrists to break back slightly, and wrap your thumb. Squeeze as hard as you can. Think 'white knuckles', right before the barbell leaves your chest.

Breathing

Breathing during a heavy bench press is crucial to optimizing performance with either maximal weight or at the end of a long set when fatigue sets in. You are most stable when you valsalva, which is the fancy term for holding your breath while exerting effort. When you get all of the previous cues down and take the bar out of the rack, the first priority is to stuff as much air into your lungs as is physically possible. Take a deep breath, then top it off one more time. If your torso doesn't feel like an overstuffed suitcase, your bench press arch is weak or you didn't get enough air. Now, lower the bar to your chest and don't let the air out until the barbell is past the sticking point. This should be employed for every rep on a set of 5 or fewer and for the last couple reps on a high rep grinder. I don't suggest doing this for every rep of a set of 12. You might blackout.
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Bar Path

This is another minute technical consideration that typically defaults to personal preference. As a matter of pure physics, you will be stronger at lockout with the bar over your face than you will with the bar over your chest. This fact has led many lifters develop a bench press technique of ramping the bar diagonally back over their face as they lockout the bar. This also allows something we in the biz call 'grinding'. As you move through a hard rep, you fatigue as time goes on. As starting speed drops on really maximal attempts, the only way you can overcome is by progressively moving into a stronger and stronger range of motion. If you are pressing the bar into a mechanically weaker position, as fatigue sets in through the rep, you will undoubtedly fail.

The trade off here, however,  is that ramping the barbell over your face requires a bit of coordination and finesse, which in itself can take effort. Some lifters (especially those with wider grips and shorter bench strokes) find that they can be more aggressive and generate more speed off their chest with a more vertical bar path. There is a myth floating around that says the most efficient bench path is a straight line. This is just silly. It completely ignores the leverages at play by keeping the bar further away from your shoulder joint. More on that later.

​As the barbell is held at lockout before the press, a useful cue is to 'break the bar'. Imagine it is a tree branch you are trying to snap. By twisting your  hands into the bar, your elbows come in slightly, your lats become tensed, and tension is created at the shoulder joint. Instant stability.
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Following Cues

 
It will take a while to run through all of these before they synch together without thought and effort. Proper bench press setup requires a lot of moving parts to function optimally in without injury. I suggest creating a checklist and running through 3-4 cues as you go through each warmup setup, and another 2-3 for actually pressing the bar.

                                Heels Down - Slide Down - Pinch Shoulders - Squeeze Bar                             
                                Then as the bar is unracked:
                                Big Air - Break the Bar - Back over the face

               

Moving More Weight vs Growing More Muscle

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​Those who are bench pressing to move maximal weight in a powerlifting meet are going to train as specifically to that goal as they can. Powerlifting bench press form involves treating the barbell bench press like a skill and refining the subtle cues that create tension and stability over and over again. On the other hand, those who are using a bodybuilding bench press to build a thicker chest are going to emphasize training stimulus first (increased range of motion, more time under tension, less advantaged setup) which often times means LESS stability. The difference between a typical powerlifting style bench press and a bodybuilding bench press is the difference between optimizing weight moved on the platform and optimizing growth and development in the training hall.

It is not a black and white relationship; world class powerlifters who are experts of bench press technique have still built impressive upper bodies, and flat backed, partial repping bodybuilders have still benched 600lbs. It is a question of priority and how specific you need to train your goals. I will cover this more in the programming section, but my blanket suggestion is to practice powerlifting bench form as a tool to be used in a meet.

​Typically, off season training for even the most skilled weight lifters consists of varied movements and less specific work. But as time gets closer to the meet, your best chance for putting up the most weight possible is going to come in a polished, stable powerlifting bench press setup. For lifters who strictly wish to bench press for chest development, this is a smaller consideration.  Bodybuilders will routinely keep their back flat to improve range of motion, flare their elbows to stretch the pectorals, and keep their feet up to lower stability. There still needs to be enough stability to prevent injury, but direct muscular fatigue is more important than synchronizing the movement pattern.
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Fixing Weaknesses vs Getting Stronger

As you become more proficent with your bench press technique and more advanced as a lifter, you will undoubtedly hit plateaus. Assuming there aren't any major holes in your bench press setup, missed reps can usually be attributed to a weak link. Now, there are two schools of thought when it comes to fixing weaknesses. One says that, by virtue of following a comprehensive bench press progression, you will get stronger everywhere which will result in a bench press increase. The other suggests that the muscles in a bench press should have some proportionate strength to each other, and that when one lags behind, fixing it is the quickest way to improve performance. Which is correct is tricky to pinpoint, since any comprehensive program is going to have both a logical weight and volume progression to improve the bench press as a whole AND a series of isolation and accessory exercises to keep the upper body well rounded and prevent such weaknesses.

Let's look at examples of simple bench press programs. A linear progression 5x5 workout routine such as stronglifts 5x5 or starting strength is where a set weight is bench pressed for 5x5 and 5-10lbs is added each session. These usually have little assistance exercises programmed in, so it is the continued linear increase of weight and volume that causes the upper body to grow as a whole. When a plateau is hit, the program is simply reset and ran again. This is an example of using a bench press program to simply get stronger.

A more complicated approach would be Louie Simmon's recommendations of using special exercises to fix weaknesses. Since Westside Barbell doesn't use a set progression, just the most weight you can bench press that day, the volume will be the same unless you get stronger and your max goes up. So a bench press workout may start with a 1 rep max bench press, but then be followed by a specific exercise designed to bring up a lagging muscle group. Let's say your last bench press attempt failed off the chest. This would constitute a pectoral weakness, so they would be emphasized in the next exercise, by means of wide grip benching, paused bench presses, or deficit bench presses.

Over a long enough period of time, any lifter is going to have to be aware of how their individual body parts are contributing to the lift (or aren't). I don't believe most people can run a simple linear progression indefinitely without facing these issues. For instance, a bench press requires rear delt strength for stability but does nothing to build the rear delts on it's own. For this reason, I suggest regular use of programs that include a wide volume of isolation and assistance exercises. When this is the default method of training, going out of the way to isolate individual weaknesses becomes less important, since each contributing bench press muscle is routinely being stimulated for growth.
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Weak Patterns vs Weak Muscles

Weaknesses can show themselves in one of 2 ways, a movement pattern that isn't efficient or a muscle that isn't strong. Case in point, a friend of mine has bodybuilded for years and built up an impressive set up arms. We actually referred to his triceps as 'the triceps of peace'. But he was new to push pressing and, in prep for his first strongman event, kept missing log presses about 3 inches from lockout. His bench press was over 400lbs and his triceps were large, but the movement pattern of locking weights out overhead was foreign to him, so he kept failing at a 240lb log press. As a quick fix, I recommended standing pin presses right above his forehead. 2 months of religiously pressing from the pins led to a 300lb log press in a strongman meet. He was strong enough, the movement pattern just had to get dialed in. This is an example of lift being held back by a weak pattern.

Now take my personal situation. I've lifted for years with silly exaggerated powerlifting bench press form and virtually no assistance work for triceps or chest. As time went on, I developed broad shoulders, but my tiny arms and shallow chest made it look like I didn't even lift. As a result, I had aweful starting speed off my chest unless I was in a deep arch and I couldn't lock anything out that didn't have speed on it already. In fact, my lockout was weak on every pressing variation, overhead included. After years of being stubborn, I finally prioritized tricep work in the form of frequent high rep band pressdowns: 5 sets of 50, 3 times per week. My triceps responded quickly and my pressing went through the roof across the board. Years of specializing in these movements meant that my movement patterns were as efficient as they could be, but my triceps were too small for it to matter. This is an example of a lift being held back by a weak muscle.

                                weak patterns - work in that range of motion
                                weak muscles - improve workload with specialty exercises
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Different Bench Press Variations

               
Lockout Work - These different bench press variations aid in fixing weaknesses at lockout in the bench press. The overload movement such as the board press happens in mechanically the strongest range of motion, allowing the lifter to condition their nervous system to heavier loads. Movements like close grip presses disadvantage the muscles that are vital in the lockout with more range of motion, forcing development.
 
                                Close Grip
                                Floor Press
                                Board, Pin, Slingshot
                                Band, Chain work
 
Off-the-Chest Work - These bench variations address weakness of the chest. If you can smoke 300lbs, but 305lbs is glued to your chest, you have overcome your pectoral muscle's ability to generate force, which is what contributes to the initial push off the chest. Just like the close grip bench press, wide grip bench presses and deficit bench presses disadvantage your chest by taking them through a greater range of motion.
 
                                Wide Grip
                                Pause Bench
                                Deficit Bench
 
Supplemental Work - These supplemental Bench Press variations are essential to a physique oriented lifter because they will keep aesthetics by maintaining proportion. Different Bench Press variations are also important to powerlifters and strength athletes in the off-season: they won't necessarily target a bench press weakness, but will provide a varied training stimulus, keeping the chest, shoulders, and triceps well rounded and preventing stagnation.
 
                                Incline Barbell
                                Decline Barbell
                                Dumbbell Variations
                                Machine Work
 
Other Contributors to the Bench Press
               
                We have already discussed the role of the upper back and biceps in creating a stable bench press foundation. Along with regular bench press technique work and a handful of supplemental exercises that work the pecs, front deltoids, and triceps, plenty of attention should be given to the rear delts, rhomboids, lats, and biceps. Bent raises, face pulls, reverse pec deck flys, bent rows, lat pulldowns, cable rows, and hammer curls are all regular staples in the training routine of a world class bench presser. For a more detailed list of upper back isolation exercises, see the segment on isolation movements.


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