Barbell Bench Press

How to perform the Barbell Bench Press

1. Lie flat on the bench with your eyes directly under the bar; plant your feet on the floor and create a slight arch in your upper back by pinching your shoulder blades down and back.
2. Grip the bar slightly wider than shoulder width with a full grip (thumbs wrapped around the bar) and wrists stacked directly over your elbows.
3. Unrack the bar by pressing it up and forward to lockout, then bring it over your sternum with elbows tucked at roughly a 45-degree angle from your torso.
4. Lower the bar to the bottom of your sternum (around the nipple line) under control, keeping your forearms vertical and your shoulder blades retracted against the bench.
5. Touch the chest lightly without bouncing, then drive the bar up and slightly back toward the rack by pressing your feet into the floor and pushing your upper back into the bench.
6. Finish each rep with the elbows extended but not hyperextended; reset your air and brace before the next rep rather than chaining reps with sloppy positioning.

Suggested working range: 6–8 reps. Default progression: double progression.

Common mistakes

• •Flaring the elbows out to 90 degrees from the torso, which loads the front of the shoulder instead of the chest and triceps.
• •Letting the bar drift toward the neck instead of touching down at the sternum.
• •Lifting the glutes off the bench to extend the lower back into the press — turns a chest press into an awkward decline press and risks the lower back.
• •Bouncing the bar off the chest to artificially shorten the range of motion instead of touching and pressing.
• •Letting the wrists bend backward under load so the bar sits on the fingers rather than over the forearm.

Variations & alternatives

Swap in a related movement if equipment, recovery, or progression demands it.