Foundation Fitness and Rehabilitation

If you are looking to get the most out of your gym membership and your time at the gym, you will want to program workouts and choose exercises that will challenge more of your body in a shorter amount of time. The bench press is one of the best movements to perfect for this reason. When done properly, the bench press is a full-body exercise that will help everyone looking to increase strength, stability, and power.

Knowing how to complete the bench press correctly is key to reaping these benefits, whether working with a personal trainer or training on your own. This article discusses the basics of the muscles recruited and how to execute a proper bench press considering all of the kinetic chain checkpoints

A proper warm-up of the entire body, as well as the target muscle groups, is always advised before beginning a workout. Whether 10 minutes on the cardio equipment to get the heart rate up and blood flowing or a specific resistance band series to get the blood moving in the chest and shoulders—make sure it gets done! 

A good bodyweight or resistance band series for the bench press will get blood flowing in the muscle fibers and promote full range of motion through the shoulders and back as well as the chest.

Try movements like a simple push-up, a dumbbell or resistance band overhead press or lateral raise, resistance band pull-aparts, and resistance band external and internal rotations. These movements will increase blood flow and get your client ready for this big movement.

The bench press recruits the pectoralis muscles (major and minor), the deltoids, and the triceps as the prime movers. The muscles of the core and the latisimus dorsi are synergist muscles in the movement as well. When done on a weight bench, regardless of the angle, the entire body, from feet to head, plays a role in a stabilized and strong muscle contraction and eccentric loading.

The bench press essentials you should master include:

• Positioning the feet
• Hip extension
• Wrist position
• Elbow and shoulder position

Let’s dive right into setting up and completing the movement. Always set up from the bottom up.

Select a bench, load the desired weight plates, and lay on the bench face-up. Ensure your hips and head are both on the bench. The bar should be racked overhead where it can be reached. Feet should be firmly planted on the floor at the bottom of the bench about hip-width apart or slightly wider. 

DO NOT extend the leg or plant feet on the toes. Leg extension overextends the hips and placing the feet underneath or on the toes arches the back off the bench. These common errors will disrupt the movement pattern and prevent full force production. 

To properly breathe and engage the core, also known as bracing, during the bench press, the hips play an important role. Squeeze your glutes to support and steady the hips and lumbar spine and assist in engaging the core for bracing. This will prevent another set of common errors: arching the back or lifting the hips off the bench during the press. Similar to the feet, these errors will prevent full force production and even limit the recruitment of the pectoralis major and minor during the lift. 

Wide grip on the bar is ideal to focus on the chest, triceps, and deltoids, with the main focus being the pectoralis muscles. A close grip will focus on the chest and deltoids but place greater focus on the triceps during the press. We will focus on the wide grip here. 

Hands are placed about a thumb’s width outside of the shoulders. Ensure hands are evenly spaced using the architecture that is built into the bar. There is a smooth area and a rough, diamond-cut grip on the bar. The wrist should not be hyper-extended. The bar will sit neatly on the heel of the hand with the thumb wrapped underneath and the fingers over top. 

A firm but not cinched grip is best. The knuckles shouldn’t turn white. Poor wrist position or over-gripping the bar can lead to forearm fatigue or pain. If your client complains of these, check their wrist placement and grip first. 

Externally rotate the elbows, which means they’re about 45 degrees from the side of the body. The external rotation will naturally relax the shoulders in the socket and away from the ears. This is important to prevent the over-recruitment of the trapezius or neck muscles. This will also flatten the scapula on the bench and stabilize the upper body before lifting the bar. 

Lift the bar from the rack and center it over the middle of the chest. Ensure you keep the scapula flat on the bench and the chest high. Lowering the weight down is not as passive as it may seem. The latisimus dorsi contracts to control the movement of the bar and stabilize the shoulder as the weight is lowered in a controlled manner, with an inhale, to the chest. Avoid letting the bar drop to or bounce off of the chest. Wrists and elbows stay in place and shoulders stay down and packed in the socket, chest high. 

Once at the bottom of the movement, the bracing takes effect. They will not exhale to begin the concentric movement but at the end of it. Have your client drive their feet into the ground, glutes and abdominals engaged. Their back should not arch off the bench. As they press the bar upward, flexing the triceps and the chest, the exhale begins about halfway back to the top. The brief pause in breathing stabilizes the core and hips, and aids in the force production of the push. 

People working for strength and hypertrophy will use a slower tempo up AND down. Clients aiming for power will use a slower tempo down and an explosive, quick tempo up.

Repeat the movement of the bar for the desired repetitions. For strength and power, the reps will be 3-8 per set. For muscle growth, the reps will be 8-12 per set aiming for 60%-80% of the one rep max weight.