BENCH PRESS

Performance of the bench press

After having had a handoff to help you get the bar
out of the saddles, pause until the bar is steady at
arm’s length above your chest. Now retract your
shoulder blades, i.e., try to pinch them together,
and then immediately lower the bar, under control.
Take about two seconds for the descent. A perfect
descent is critical for the correct positioning from
which to start the ascent.
Lower the bar to a point below your nipples, at
the bottom line of your pectoral muscles. This will
probably mean lowering the bar position on your
chest relative to your former style. Find the precise
point on your chest that is best for you. As noted
earlier, when the bar is on your chest, your forearms
should be vertical when viewed from the side and
the front (or rear, depending on where the viewer
is). If they are not, your hand spacing is incorrect.
Never bounce the bar off your chest or the pins.
Either touch your chest and then press immediately,
or pause very briefly on your chest (or on the pins if
pressing from the bottom in a rack) before driving
the bar up. In either case, squeeze the bar, tighten up
further, spread your lats and press.
See the drawing for an approximation of the
pathway options for the bench press ascent, consid-
ering that your head is on the right. It also considers
that you have correctly lowered the bar to a point
at or very near to the bottom line of your pectoral
muscles, and that your elbows are directly below
your wrists. Experiment with both pathways, or
even one somewhere in between, to see which one
works best for you.
The first few inches of the ascent should be verti-
cal, or very near to vertical, but never moving away
towards your feet. To be sure that the bar does not
move even slightly towards your feet, move it up and
slightly back towards your face rather than perfectly
vertical.
Two approximations of the pathway of the bar during the
bench press ascent, considering that your head is on the right.
See text for explanation.
Check yourself on a video recording, or have
someone watch you from the side. What you may
think is an initial vertical movement may actually be
slightly towards your feet. Or what you may think is
slightly towards your face may actually be perfectly
vertical. Find out what you are really doing, and
then determine, through trial and error, which pre-
cise pathway for the first few inches is best for you.
There are two options for the rest of the ascent.
First, continue the bar in a straight line directly fol-
lowing the first phase just described. Thus the bar
goes almost vertically up from your lower pec line,
only very slightly slanting towards your head. The
second option, following the common first phase
already described, is to move the bar towards your
clavicles in a steep diagonal line, prior to the final
near-vertical phase either above your upper chest or,
in the most exaggerated case, above your clavicles.
Keep your forearms as vertical as possible during
the ascent. Do this by keeping your elbows directly
beneath your wrists.

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