Benching: the ultimate bro exercise. Chances are if someone
asks you how much you lift they are either asking about your bench or how much
you can bicep curl. Regardless of your answer, it’s important to know how to
properly set up and perform the bench press to keep those shoulders healthy and
put up some nice numbers when lifting. You don’t want to be that guy telling
people about how you used to be able to bench 600+ pounds (even though you were
never close) but can’t bench anymore because you tore your rotator cuffs apart
and abused your body with shitty technique for years.
First let’s define benching for general wellness and how
that differs from benching in powerlifting, where you are trying to lift
maximal amounts of weight. The biggest difference will be the arch of your
back. In powerlifting, you are trying to shorten the range of motion in order
to lift the largest amount of weight possible (figure 1). For general health,
this is not necessary, and technically you do not really HAVE to bench at all.
For the sake of this article, however, we’ll say that your life would be
incomplete without benching in it.
Figure 1:
Slightly arched and very arched back. If lifting for general health and
wellness (left), and if lifting to lift maximal amounts of weight (right).
Starting from the bottom up, both of your feet should be in
contact with the floor. Foot position will vary from person to person depending
on where they are most comfortable. Some like to tuck their feet under them,
some like their foot placement more out in front, and others like to have their
knees at 90 degrees (figure 2). In powerlifting, having your feet out in front
of you or tucked underneath is generally a better option because this allows
you to create leg drive. Isn’t that
cheating?! No, it’s the sport. When benching for general purposes, though,
leg drive is not required so you can put your feet wherever your heart desires.
This is where your feet will stay for the entire set. Your feet will NOT move
from this position and you will NOT attempt to be the Karate Kid throwing kicks
and flailing your legs around, when pressing. This is also not a bad reason to
use a little leg drive, or at least apply a little bit of pressure through your
feet, to keep them in place and provide a sturdier base of support.
Figure 2:
Varying foot positions, depending on comfort.
Your glutes and upper back are next. These should both be in
contact with the bench. The glutes should be squeezed, generating increased
stability throughout your body. The upper back and posterior (back) shoulder
musculature should also help stabilize. The lats should depress (pull down)
your shoulders and lock your shoulder blades in place. Additionally, your
middle back musculature should try and squeeze your shoulder blades together.
These two motions combined-the lats depressing the shoulder, and the mid back
pulling the shoulder blades together (figure 3)-will feel a lot like “trying to
pull your shoulder blades into your back pockets.”
Figure 3:
Line of pull from the muscle action during the set up. The resultant force
acting like you are “trying to pull your shoulder blades into your back
pockets.”
At this point in time, during the set-up, you may be
thinking “Holly crap, this feels very uncomfortable. Should it feel like
this!?” The answer is YES. If you feel very tight, stable, and uncomfortable
you are doing it right. No one ever said that lifting was comfortable. If it is
comfortable, you’re probably not lifting enough for your body to get an
adequate stimulus to adapt and improve.
There is one more piece to what ‘s going on at the shoulder:
trying to get your shoulder external rotators to turn on. This is a small but
very important aspect because your shoulder external rotators help protect your
rotator cuff. They can be turned on by simply trying to bend and pull the bar
apart (figure 4).
Figure 4:
Hands trying to spread and bend the bar. This allows you to turn on your
shoulder external rotators.
For general purposes having your hand placement on the bar
just outside shoulder width is a good place to start. People tend to find their
own comfort zone, where they are strongest, but you can play around with hand
placement when performing different bench variations if you chose to do so.
Lastly, what should your head be doing? There are people who
feel comfortable lifting their head up when pressing, and watching the bar
touch their chest, and others who keep their head firmly planted on the bench.
Realistically, this doesn’t really matter as long as you are not letting your
chest collapse down and not losing all the stability and tension you’ve created
during your set up.
Ryan Goodell, CSCS
P.S. - Pictures not drawn to scale.
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