Bench Press Technique

The Bench Press seems to be quite different than the other 2 main lifts - the Deadlift and the Squat - which are like each other. Instead, the Bench Press is an outlier, and I will discuss factors which could prevent you from pressing higher weights.

The first thing to nail down on a Bench Press is the desired hand grip width. Choices range from narrow to standard to wide. A closer grip will work the Triceps more, but too close of a grip for your body's proportions will cause shoulder pain and a shoulder (or both shoulders) injury over time. Too wide of a grip is also associated with shoulder pain.

You will commonly see powerlifters bench pressing with a wide grip. This is in order to have a smaller ROM (range of motion), which allows for heavier weights to be lifted (and more records to be broken). Before you jump to conclusions that a wider bench is easier, consider bench pressing 4 or 5 plates on each side. I'm sure it's quite difficult despite grip despite huge ROM changes.

One think that I've learned through lifting over the years is that you should be able to complete high volume comfortably on any given exercise, and that by itself will mean your technique is good or decent enough. The human shoulder is incredibly fragile. If you sat at a computer and didn't use the chair (sat much lower). Your arms would be stretching up, and you might be OK for a few minutes, but then shoulder fatigue would creep in, and if you continued, you'd pop a roto cuff, and it would take a few days to a week minimum to heal. In the same sense you should know when you are damaging yourself in an unhealthy manner.

The grip I've been using on Bench Press until now was too narrow a grip for myself. I've had some chest pain in the past, and assumed a more narrow grip would take more tension off the chest, allow me to strengthen my triceps, and give me a good press. What ended up happening is that I still had chest pain, and I wasn't gaining strength very quickly.

Unfortunately when you think your form is good in a lift, you cease trying to improve it, and you can dig yourself quite a deep hole, and establish a list of bad habits you may never have had to begin with. So recently I saw an elite lifting Bench Pressing, and having seen many of them, their technique does vary but also looks similar to each other. Limb length alone makes lifts look quite different.

The thing I noticed is that although we want a back arch to hit the chest better, lift more weight via slightly reduced ROM, and to have more protected shoulders, is that these lifters don't kill themselves getting the back arch. Even though the Bench Press position prior to benching is said to be uncomfortable, and should be, that you do in fact need to be comfortable in any given lift to execute it correctly.

So a way to get the correct back arch, leg drive, hand grip, and to have your shoulders pinned there's an easy method to use. A strong setup like this will also allow you to lift weights even once you're very fatigued because of the lack of effort necessary to get into a strong position. The first step is to sit on the bench. Then grab the bar exactly where you want to and fix your grip. Now using your feet, slide your torso up the bench (towards the bar and in fact past the bar). Now your head is on the whole other side of the bar, and you can even extend your arms and feel a nice Triceps squeeze to trigger your Triceps ready to fire. Then while keeping your grip fixed, whip your body and push your torso down into the bench (basically without moving your hands, you move your body into the correct place). And as this puts you into correct leverage, lift off should be very easy as you're directly under the bar.

I usually do about 25-35 reps on Bench Press, but using this new method I can comfortably do 104 reps without injury or soreness. Grip width will vary person to person, but I'm using my middle fingers on the rings, and that fills out my chest well, and protects my shoulders and elbows.