How To Bench Press With Proper Form (No One Tells You)

The bench press is the most popular and the best workout for the development of the chest. So, you should definitely know how to bench press

The bench press is an effective exercise for strength building. It is a compound movement. That means several muscle groups work together to perform this exercise.

Your shoulder, triceps, scapula will be involved to perform the bench press. So, if you don’t know the proper form of bench press you will be badly injured.

Once you’ve mastered this exercise you’ll see a rapid progression of your chest and your strength. Your upper body will look bigger as well as the chest.

But if you are new to the gym and don’t know the proper form of bench press. Here is the proper guide:

How to Perform BENCH PRESS

Set up and Posture

During any exercise set up and posture is very important to prevent injury and to get the maximum benefits of the movement. Set up and posture is very important to perform bench press as well.

Set Your Feet:

Your feet are the start of your strong base. Most of the strength comes from the ground through your legs. so, foot placement is important.

Your legs drive the power from the ground to your upper body. so, keep your feet flat on the ground. Your toes will be pointed outwards. Not so much, place it in which you are comfortable with.

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Lie Down Under the Bar:

Position yourself under the bar, your bar should be just over your face. Squeeze your shoulder blades to stay tight.

Imagine that you are trying to crush something between your shoulder blades.

Always keep a slight arch in your lower back and your chest will be up.

Set Your Grip:

Griping length is depending on your goals. The conventional method of the bench press is gripping length will be twice of your shoulder length.

There is no thumb rule of griping. Just make sure that hold the bar in a length in which your arms will create a 90º angle in your elbows when you lower the bar. Your wrist will be straight on top of your elbows.

Some people set a wide grip for the maximum stretch on their chest. But this is not for beginners. Because it will load on your shoulder joints. And if you are a beginner you may end up with the shoulder injury.

Many people use a false grip, but I don’t recommend this. It is too dangerous, especially for beginners. When you load a heavyweight, the bar may slip off on you. Always wrap your thumb to the bar.

Executing The BENCH PRESS

Unrack the Bar:

Take in a deep breath, unrack the bar, hold it just over your chest. Breath out this is going to be your starting position.

Lower the Bar:

Take a deep breath and hold. Tighten your core and slowly lower the bar until it touches your nipple area. Elbows will be a little bit tucked in.

During this movement imagine crushing the bar with your hands without losing grip. This will allow you to engage your chest more.

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Push the Bar:

Once the bar touches your lower chest, tighten your glute and push the bar forcefully at the top. When you press the bar, think about throwing the bar up.

During the movement your upper body like core, back chest every muscle group should be tightened. It is a strength-building movement, so you need an explosive power to perform this.

Tempo 

The tempo is very essential to get a better result. your tempo should be3-1-1.

When you lower the bar, it should take 3 seconds to reach the chest. Count from 1-3 and touch the lower chest, then push the bar up and hold for 1 second. Then repeat the process.

You will not bounce the bar on your chest. Control your eccentric part of the rep. because eccentric contraction causes most of the micro-tears in the muscle. And eventually, build muscle.

Muscles Worked

To perform any exercise, it is good to know which muscle you are targeting. It will be easy to build a strong mind and muscle connection.

During a flat bench press, you are basically hitting the middle area of the chest.

The supportive muscles that are triceps, front deltoids, trap also get stimulated during a bench press.

Variations Of Bench Press

There are so many variations of bench press which stimulate the different muscle fibers of the chest.

• Inclined barbell bench press: In this exercise, you mostly target the upper chest, which is the clavicular head of pectoralis major.
• Flat bench press: I already mentioned it. It targets the sternocostal head of pectoralis major. Which is the middle cheat
• Decline bench press: In this movement, you will hit the lower area of the sternocostal head, which called the lower chest.

Safety Guide

Lots of people do mistakes during the bench press. So, you need to keep in mind some safety guide

Wrist Wraps:

Most important equipment to perform bench press is wrist wrap. To move heavyweight, you need the maximum amount of force through your wrist.

So, your wrist tends to bent back and it’s a little joint which compromises that much of load.

To prevent injury, you need to keep your wrists vertical and strong. Wrist wrap can help you to keep your wrist in a straight line and keep it tight.

Your wrist wraps should completely cover the wrist joints.so it should be long enough to wrap a little bit above and below the wrist. Wrap as tight as can without causing any pain.

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Spotter:

It is a heavy compound movement. So, there is a major risk of injury. So, I always recommend people to have a spotter during the bench press.

The last set of bench press when you are pushing yourself through your limits, you need a spotter to help you a little bit to move the weight.

Elbow Placement:

Your elbow placement is very crucial to perform the bench press. Many people flare their elbows.

Flaring elbows can badly injure your shoulder joints. So, I prefer to tuck in the elbows in.

Warm-Up:

Always do a proper warm-up before bench press. It is a compound movement so there is quite a possibility to get injured.

Do proper warm-up of neck-shoulder joint, scapula, chest, wrist joint. Do some push-ups before performing “bench press”.

Conclusion

It is one of the most important exercises to do whether your goal is fat loss, muscle building or strength development.

The number of sets, rep range and form vary depending on the goals individual to individual.

Performing the bench press can benefit you from various perspective. But you must follow the safety guide.

Because it is a compound movement and more than one muscle group get involved to perform this exercise. So, there is a higher chance to get injured.

There are many benefits of performing this exercise like developing strength, build up a good upper body structure, increase the core strength, etc.