Today we’re going to talk through some of the variables at play during the flat bench press. This is an important one to really think about what your client’s goal actually is, because if your client’s goal is to come into the gym for general health, maybe build a bit of muscle, a bit of strength, but nothing too serious, you might not be as concerned with some of the variables as you might be for someone like a powerlifter. So, if you think about the goal for client number one, ‘I want to look a bit better, I want to feel healthier, and that’s about it,’ then we don’t necessarily need to think, ‘Okay, we need to put all the variables in place so the performance is maximised.’ However, in the case of a powerlifter, we have to think about what’s going to allow for performance, and that’s kind of it really, because all we’re thinking about is how can you move the maximum amount of weight from point A to point B.
So, you always have to try to remember that the flat bench press is an exercise that is basically extracted from the sport of powerlifting, and hence most people are going to think they need to perform it like a powerlifter. And while that’s a totally valid approach, the two don’t necessarily translate perfectly together. So what I’m going to do here in this article is basically take you through the general way that you might perform a bench press, and some of the amendments that you can make to really try to maximise performance. So if you’re trying to move the most amount of weight, and that’s your sole goal, some of the things that you can do for that, and then some of the adjustments you can make for individuals who, you know, maybe they’re injured or they want to really focus on chest hypertrophy and they’re not feeling the bench press working their chest muscles effectively.
Setting Up The Bench Press Correctly
Foot Position
To start off with, we have to discuss the actual bench itself. With most benches, they will have a fixed height. This does actually have a huge implication on how someone is going to be able to perform the movement, as the bench height is more favourable for someone who is actually quite short and if you have longer limbs, legs especially, you are likely going to be at somewhat of a disadvantage on the bench press, unless you can really tuck your legs behind you and likely come up on your toes (which a lot of powerlifting federations don’t actually allow). The reason leg length is important is because for a tall individual, if you have your feet flat on the ground, you’re now in a position where the knees are actually above hip height, and so as you begin to use any sort of leg drive, there’s going to be a significant tendency for the bum to come up off the bench. So to stop that, you are going to have to actually pull the feet back, and allow the knee height to be below hip height.
The only point that will be worth noting here is that some powerlifting federations, if you are coaching powerlifters, don’t allow the heels to be off the floor, so you might have to keep them out in front. But in general, your goal with the lower body setup is to find a way that you can basically feel really stable on the bench. And if you’re trying to really maximize strength output, your goal is then to be able to transfer force from the lower body to the upper body. Because as you push with the legs, you’re actually reinforcing the stability in the upper back because the core and the arched position are basically one big force transmitter, from the feet all the way to the upper back. So as you try to extend the knees or push the feet into the ground, the lower body is pushing into the upper back, and then that’s basically allowing for more stability up there.
Tight Glutes and Strong Arch
But in general, for most clients, you want the lower body to be stable anyway, so that’s what you’re looking for. As well as that, I want the glutes to be tight. That’s one of the cues I very often give to a lot of clients. They are very often not aware of how important it is to keep the glutes tight, as they view the bench press as an upper body exercise. What I will often get them to imagine is that you’re doing a hip thrust and you’re in that top position. In general, for most clients, we also want that lower back to be nice and arched. This is what’s going to allow us to maximise the actual weight that’s being moved.
If you were to flatten out on the bench press, rather than arching (as many people recommend), that changes the actual mechanics of the exercise, rather significantly. So one really important thing to understand, especially from a powerlifting perspective is that if you’re trying to maximize strength, the more flattened the body, the more actual range of motion you have to go through. If you are someone that is able to get a really big arch, by flattening it, you may be adding two or three inches on to the bottom position of the exercise. That’s something that’s worth thinking about, as it is actually quite a significant change. You hear a lot of talk about a full range of motion, but what full range of motion actually means totally varies between different individuals. This is why you see all the best powerlifters maximising their arches, and even if they have every other advantage and are basically built to bench press, they still try to maximise their arch. However, this is also important from a generalist perspective, even in someone who has no powerlifting ambitions. Because if you are to flatten out, rather than arch on the bench press, you do actually put a lot more strain on the shoulder to actually touch the sternum/chest with the bar.
What you’ll find is that particularly with highly trained individuals who maybe were genetically gifted for the bench press, they’ll actually have intrinsic characteristics in terms of genetic characteristics and trained characteristics that make it more advantageous for them to come down and touch their chest. What you’ll see here is that there’s an element of the rib cage being involved here. If someone has a really large rib cage and if they also have a very kind of inclined sternal angle, that’s basically creating a situation where we’ve got this big, large rib cage, large sternal angle, and that’s creating a basic body structure that is more favourable, independent of any arching of the back. So if you take someone who’s got a big, large rib cage, shaped like a barrel and they also arch their back a lot, you’re going to have a very big difference between that person’s range of motion that they’re working through and the range of motion of a brand-new trainee who’s quite skinny and doesn’t have a large barrel chest or some individuals have really narrow rib cages and some people can even have genetic variation that leaves them with holes in the rib cage.
That’s something that’s worth considering here, as you could have a client that comes in on day one and they’re totally flat on the bench, they’re struggling to pinch their shoulder blades back, and if you do a rep of the bench press like that and you come down to the bottom, you have to work through a much larger range of motion. You can clearly see this if you just follow the elbows. When the back is flat on the bench press, you will likely see a much larger distance between the elbow and the shoulder. Compare that to when you arch up, and the distance is much smaller, and they basically look like two completely different exercises.
Now, it’s important to understand that we are not looking at either of these variations as good or bad here. We’re just talking about that changes the range of motion that you’re working with and it changes the potential for you to move actual weight. That’s something that you want to be aware of, so you can more accurately load the movement and help your clients optimise the movement for their specific goals.
Shoulders Pinched Back and Down
So in general, as a sound rule of thumb, we want an arch in the back, and we want to be able to pinch those shoulder blades back nice and tight. The more oriented you are towards performance in terms of having the most weight on the bar, the more you want to try and increase that arch as much as possible. And if you just generally want to build the chest muscles with the bench press, you do still want to arch the back, but you may not be as focused on arching as much as possible. You do still want to arch because one of the other effects that actually manifests when you start to arch your back, especially if you have a larger rib cage, is that it also is a more favourable pressing position, from the perspective of your pec mechanics.
When you really arch your back, the way the pec is now oriented, it is in a more favourable position to pull the arm across the body. When the back is arched and the sternum has more of an incline, the pec muscles have a really good line of pull. They’ve got a more advantageous position to produce force than they would if you were really flat, as the pecs are not in as much of an advantageous position to produce force when you are flattened out. If you’re able to get up into that nice arched position, it’s much easier to actually start to feel those pecs working. This is one of the things that’s really worth noting, because if you have a highly trained individual and they have a large rib cage, and they’ve already got lots of pec muscle, they might actually find it much easier for their pecs to work immediately compared to someone who maybe comes into the gym and their shoulders are rounded forward and they find it difficult to pull their chest back or to pull their shoulder blades back, they find it difficult to arch, and they’ve got a small rib cage. It might be difficult for that individual to actually start involving the pecs immediately. That is just something to be aware of in terms of variations between clients.
Another thing to be aware of is, when you are performing the bench press or coaching it, you do generally want to ensure that the scapula are being pinched back and down. This is important as it creates a much more stable base from which to perform the exercise and actually allows the chest muscles to work effectively. What you don’t want is for the shoulders to be shrugged up, as that’s a far less stable position. Whereas if we can pull the scapula back and down, now you’re in a much more stable position. Now you’re able to get force transfer from the lower body to the upper body, via that strong arch.
Bring The Bar To The Right Place
In terms of where you should bring the bar down to on the body, what we generally cue our clients is to try and bring that bar down to roughly the nipple line, and potentially the lower part of the sternum in some cases, but that’s going to vary between individuals. Some people might find it easier to touch a little bit higher and some people a little bit lower, and that’s also going to vary depending on how much of an arch someone actually has as well.
Keep The Wrists Strong On The Bench Press
With the basic bench press, we also generally recommend keeping the knuckles towards the ceiling. This allows for better force transfer from where the weight is resting on the base of your palm down through the arm. Whereas, if you allow the hand to fall back, and the knuckles are no longer facing the ceiling, what you’ll see now is that the line of force from the bar is actually not in line with this arm at all. What that means is that we’re getting leakage of force, essentially, because as you try to push the bar, it’s going to be less stable and you’re also going to be challenging the wrist flexors a lot more. If you were to really start to apply a lot of force against your wrist flexors like that, you are likely going to find you get more pain. If you have a client that’s reporting elbow pain, sometimes that can actually be the cause. And that’s not something you might immediately think of, but if you’ve got someone who’s being pushed into wrist extension like that, that is actually putting a lot of tension on all the wrist flexors.
If you’ve got clients who are reporting elbow pain during bench pressing, that’s one of the things that I would be screening for. I would be assessing what the wrist position is like when they’re actually bench pressing, and sometimes that cueing of actually facing the knuckles towards the ceiling can solve that kind of positioning error and pain immediately. If that’s not the case, and simple cueing doesn’t help as much as you would like, what you can start to do is potentially bring in some wrist wraps. Wrist wraps serve to reinforce that ability to keep those knuckles towards the ceiling and keep the wrists in more of a neutral position.
Elbows Tucked
From there, something that everyone is going to wonder about is, how much should I be tucking, you know? Is it bad to keep my elbows out? Should I keep my elbows all the way in? And really, there’s going to be some variation here. In general, what I’m looking for is somewhere between a 45 to 60-degree angle between the side of the body. This is generally a more efficient position to press from, that allows you to actually work the chest muscles effectively.
Getting The Most Out Of The Bench Press
So, they are some of the things I would be looking out for when programming and coaching the bench press. Hopefully, this has been helpful for you, and you now have a better understanding of how to get the most out of the bench press. If you do need more specific help with your own training, we do have online coaching spaces available. We have lots of content on the website that may be of interest to you, and we also have lots of content on our YouTube channel too. If you are a coach and you are looking to upskill your nutrition coaching knowledge, we do also have a really comprehensive nutrition coaching certification program that may be of interest to you.
Gary McGowan
Hey, I am Dr Gary McGowan, co-founder of Triage, qualified Doctor, Physiotherapist, and Coach.
Having graduated with first class honours in Physiotherapy (BSc) and Medicine (MB BCh BAO), I aim to blend medical science with a decade of coaching experience to help you maximise your performance, transform your body, and optimise your health.
I enjoy grappling, hiking, lifting, and other modes of physical training. When I’m not training, I like to read broadly, particularly philosophy, religion, and history. I love the natural world, particularly the mountains & lakes of my hometown Killarney, County Kerry.
