Barbell Bench Press

The Barbell Bench Press is a compound exercise. This movement is one of the best exercises for developing strength, strength endurance and mass in the chest muscles, due to the fact that when we are performing the exercise, the bar is precisely over our chest.

This, however, does not make it the best exercise for developing the chest muscles as many people might
claim. In this article we'll go over what we should do, what we shouldn't do and what is the bench press used for.

Muscles

Target

• Pectoralis Major, Sternal

Synergists

• Pectoralis Major, Clavicular
• Deltoid, Anterior
• Triceps Brachii

Dynamic Stabilizers

• Biceps Brachii, Short Head

Variations:

• Power Focus - typical for power lifters, but inexplicably often practiced by people with bodybuilding goals.
• Classic - this variation will be described in this article and it has universal applications.It's most commonly used for "power bodybuilding" and also as a part of routines of professional athletes.It is also used as a balance strengthening technique for the shoulder girdle.
• Isolation (guillotine), most often used in bodybuilding.Usually used by amateurs trying to increase the size/strength of their pecs.Professionals use it far more successfully by combining it with the classic bench press variation and flyes, pec-deck, etc. .
• Unbalanced - versions of the variations above are implemented with unilateral or bilateral imbalance between agonists, antagonists and stabilizers.

To sum it up, the difference between the classic and power performance is that the power technique uses a bigger arch and a greater involvement of the abductors in the shoulder girdle (serratus and minor pectoral muscles) and shoulder flexors(anterior shoulder head).

Grip:

• Classic grip - the bar lays on the middle of the palm with the thumb on top;
• Inverted (tilted wrist) grip - the bar lays at the base of the palm and thumb, the thumb is over the bar but the wrist is tilted back so there is less pressure on the forearm flexors, however there is much more pressure on the wrist itself;
• Inverted thumb less grip(suicide grip) - the bar lays on the middle or on the base of the palm, the thumb is under the bar.

All variations of the inverted grip are steering away from the classic barbell bench press and going towards the guillotine.The classic variation suffers greatly if performed with an inverted grip.

Trainees that perform the exercise with heavy weight, tilted wrists and a suicide(thumbless) grip, inevitably lower the bar like the classic bench press variation and are forced to push it back up guillotine "style" or drop the bar.In other words do not go heavy with a thumbless grip, you can get a very serious injury or even die.
According to the ROM

• full range of motion
• partial upper or partial lower (1/2, 1/3 or 2/3 of the movement) range of motion

According to the pace (lower, pause, press back up)

• classic 3-1-1, 2-1-1, 3-1-2, 2-1-2 ;
• bodybuilding 4-1-2, 4-1-3
• explosiveness 1-0-3, 1-0-2
• strength 2-1-1, 1-1-1

Method of execution

preparation

1. Lie supine on bench.
2. Arch your back.
3. Pull your shoulders in and back.
4. Plant your feet.
5. Dismount barbell from rack over upper chest.
6. Take a moderately wide classical grip.

performance

1. Lower weight to mid-chest.
2. Try to keep your elbows from flaring out.
3. Press bar upward until arms are extended.
4. Repeat.

Recommendations

• Do not let the weight free fall, focus on the negative.
• Do not push the bar off your chest.
• Keep your shoulders pulled back and down.
• Don't let your shoulders go towards towards your ears, if you do that you'll be doing a bad version of the Guillotine Press.
• In the lower parts of the movement keep your elbows close to your body.If you are having trouble with this and your elbows are flaring out, try to separate the bar, pull the bar apart, that's not possible of course, but by doing that you will tuck your elbows in.

Relevancy

The Barbell Bench Press can be found in almost any routine aiming to increase and maintain muscle mass.

It is important to understand that this is not just a chest exercise, it is a complex and a compound movement that recruits many muscle groups. Attempting to isolate the chest with the classic variation of the Barbell Bench Press such is almost meaningless, as there are many alternatives that will do just that in a much more effective fashion.Like these:
Guillotine Press, Chest Flies, Hammer Strength Chest Press, Cable Crossovers etc.

The Barbell Bench Press is a great exercise for the overall pressing strength of the upper body, it used in most power lifting competitions around the world, and is considered a margin of strength alongside the Squat and Deadlift.