Benched
One of the most common weight training exercises is the bench press.
It is used from beginner to elite level and even has its own place in competition.

Rob Orr takes a closer look

Movements and muscle involved

Action	Muscle
Horizontal shoulder flexion	Pectoralis major/minor, Anterior Deltiod
Elbow extensions	Triceps, Anconeus
Scapula abduction	Serratus anterior
Trunk stabilisation	Abdominals

Execution

1 Start position

• Feet comfortably apart and placed on the ground.
• Body placed centrally on the
• Racked bar in line with the eyes for free weights or above the chest if using dumbbells or on a machine.
• Handgrip equal distance apart.

2 Lowering

• The first action is to move the weight over the chest if you’re using a barbell placed on racks.
• Slowly extend the shoulders (upper arm towards the ground) and bend the elbows simultaneously.
• The upper arm should travel out away from the body.
  
  If looking down from the top, the elbows would be slightly forward (towards the feet) of the shoulders, directly below the hands and facing outwards.
  

• The head should remain neutral, looking straight up (avoid lifting your head off the bench)

3 The lowered position

• Current technique recommendations has the bar only being lowered to a distance of about the diameter of a tennis ball above the chest in order to avoid damaging the structures of the shoulder.
  
  A rough guide is to perform the bench press action described above without weight (or bar) – the depth that you can lower your elbows comfortably without forcing them down into a strech should serve as generic guide until true capability can be determined by a PTI.
  
  
• The hands should be directly above the elbows.
• Elbows out to the side, slightly in front (towards the feet) of the shoulders.
• Back maintaining its natural arch.

4 Raising

Without bouncing the bar off the chest, slowly breathe out and raise to the start position.

• Again, ensure that the head remains neutral, looking straight up (avoid pushing your head into the bench).
• Full range of motion should be performed, paying attention to avoid locking the elbows out vigorously at the top.

Variations

Feet up or down?

The aim is to keep the back in its natural slight arch position. It is preferable to have the feet on ground to increase the base of support, but not at expense of the lower back.

The best practical solution (if you cannot keep your feet flat on the ground without arching your back) is to have your feet slightly elevated and wider apart on a lower bench running at 90 degrees to the pressing bench or on two separate step boxes.

Those experienced in bench pressing may prefer to place their feet on the edge of the bench when lifting sub-maximal loads (as balance is greatly decreased).

Incline and decline

As with the depth of lowering the bar, traditiona cepts about bench inclination have been challe Research conducted at the University of Queensland has shown that the incline bench press does not result in greater activation of the upper (clavicular portion) petorialis major than does the flat bench press has (note that the amount of front – anterior – shoulder work does increase as the inclination increases).

Likewise the decline bench press has no been shown to have any advantage over the flat bench for activation of the lower sternal portion) of pectoralis major.

With this in mind, the flat bench position, at this stage of research seems to be the best method for working the chest. Slight inclinations or declinations do, however, provide a source of variety and assist slightly in decreasing pattern overload.

Bar vs dumbbell

Dumbbells do allow a greater range of motion, as there is no longer a restriction on the bar by the chest. Be aware however, that the same restrictions on depth (as discussed in the lowered position) apply. Another considerat is the increased neuromuscular requirement of dumbbells.

The Dumb bells are independent in nature – unlike a bar where one hand influences the other – as such the skill level is higher.

This may be beneficial for the prepared athlete but detrimetal for the underexperienced.

To conclude

Finally, there are three golden rules to live bench pressing:

• Lift to improve not to impress – use a weight that will give you gains
• Slow down, speed kills – control the weight and protect the joints and muscles
• Avoid the rut – while the bench press is an effective pushing experince, other pushing exercises should be included to avoid pattern ocverload.

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