The bench press is one of the most popular exercises in the gym. It's an effective way to build strength, muscle, and power. Unfortunately, while it's a great lift, there are many ways to get hurt or make your bench press less effective with poor technique. If you're looking for ways to improve your bench press and avoid injury, here are seven tips that will help you optimize your performance on this exercise:
Technique
The bench press is a great strength exercise for the chest and triceps. It also works your shoulders, back, and abs. You can safely add pounds to your lifts without injury with good technique.
- Keep your back flat against the bench throughout the lift. Don't arch or slouch!
- Keep your elbows close to your sides during each rep--don't let them flare out like wingspan when pressing up weight (this will put unnecessary strain on shoulder joints). If you have trouble keeping them tucked in during heavy sets, try wearing wrist wraps around them and lifting gloves on top of those for extra stability.
- Don't let hips sag toward the ground when raising the bar off the floor; keep the torso straight throughout the entire movement by engaging core muscles so that the body remains rigidly straight with no flexion or extension at the waistline during any part of the exercise motion.* Do not lift your butt off the bench while performing reps; if necessary, use padding under the lower back area if discomfort occurs while lying flat without it
Form
- Keep your lower back tight and stable.
- Focus on your chest, not your shoulders.
- Use a spotter if needed.
- Perform the full range of motion (from full extension to complete flexion).
- Don't let your elbows flare out to the sides at any point during the lift; keep them in line with your wrists throughout the movement.
Use an optimal grip width.
To get your bench press up to the next level, it's important to have an optimal grip width. The optimal grip width is about shoulder width. With too narrow of a grip, you'll lose upper back tightness and stability in the shoulders and elbows. On the other hand, if your hands are too wide apart on the barbell (or dumbbells), then this will cause you to lose control of where exactly each arm needs to be during exercise execution.
In addition to using proper form when it comes to gripping the weight, some things can be done beforehand for this exercise routine not only become more effective but also safer as well:
Maintain core tension
You can do a few things to help maintain core tension, including keeping your body tight and stable. This means not allowing your hips to drop or your back to arch, which can happen if you're trying too hard to lift weight and not focusing on form. It's also important not to let your shoulders roll forward, as this will cause unnecessary strain on the shoulder joint.
For this technique to work properly, it requires that all of these muscles remain contracted throughout the set: glutes (butt), abs/obliques (side abdominal muscles), lower back muscles (erector spinae)
Keep your upper back tight and stable.
- Keep your upper back tight and stable. This can be accomplished by keeping your shoulders back, pushing your chest out, and not letting them roll forward as you lower the bar to your wardrobe.
- Don't shrug or arch your back as you press up from the bottom position of each rep, shifting all of the stress onto just one part of a muscle group instead of distributing it throughout the entire muscle group (thus making it easier for injury).
- Don't let your head drop down; keep looking straight ahead during bench presses to avoid straining neck muscles unnecessarily while maintaining proper form throughout each repetition.
Focus on leg drive.
Leg drive is the most important part of the bench press. It can make or break your lift, so it's crucial that you focus on getting stronger in this area.
When driving your legs, think about pushing through them as hard as possible while keeping your back flat on the bench and lowering yourself slowly until you reach full extension (when your arms are locked). You'll notice that if you try to push through with just your arms alone, they will fatigue quickly--but when you incorporate leg drive into the mix, they will only tire out slowly!
To practice this technique:
Practice with less weight and more volume.
In the bench press, it's common to see lifters use submaximal loads (80-85% of their 1RM) with lower reps (5-8). This can lead to failure in both strength and hypertrophy gains because they need to take advantage of all three mechanisms of muscle growth: mechanical tension, metabolic stress, and muscle damage. To get around this problem, try using lighter weights for higher reps (10+) or even sets per exercise session instead of just one set at a time--it'll give you more time under tension for each rep range!
Improve your bench press by focusing on technique, form, grip width, core tension, and leg drive.
- Focus on technique. Getting caught up in training for strength and power is easy, but that can lead to bad habits that don't translate into a better bench press. Ensure you focus on the proper form by keeping your upper back tight and stable, engaging the core throughout the movement, and keeping leg drive constant throughout each rep (try not to let it drop).
- Use an optimal grip width. If we want to maximize our chest development while minimizing injury risk, then it makes sense that we'd wish to have our hands as close together as possible during this exercise so that we can activate more muscle fibers within our pecs at any given time--and thus increase overall strength gains over time!
Conclusion
The bench press is one of the most important exercises that you can do. It's not only used in powerlifting competitions, but it's also a great way to build upper body strength and muscle mass. The key to improving your bench press is focusing on technique, form, grip width, core tension, and leg drive. Doing this lets you lift more weight over time while staying safe!
