🔥 Everything on Benchpress

✅ Bench press is arguably in the top 3 exercises next to squat and deadlifts. Very commonly done but also very often done wrong. I’ll cover today most of the things you need to know about benchpress and other chest training exercises.One of the big cues during bench-press is keeping your elbows to your side around 30-40 degrees. This puts the shoulder joint in a favorable position to move freely in the subacromial space without being limited by bony, muscular or tendentious structures.

✅ Next important cue is to retract the shoulder blades back once the weight is in the starting position. Stabilizing the shoulder blades creates a stable surface the humeurs to pivot on and prevents the pec from pulling the shoulders forward. It’s common to see someone protracting there bench press to get a little more range of motion, this actually decreases the affect of the bench-press. Having constant full tension with stable shoulder blades will get you better activation and tension on the pec muscles.

✅ Next thing is arching the back; I’ve covered this before with quiet an uproar from the power lifting community. Even so, I’m still against the arching of the back. If your goal is strength and hypertrophy not competing in power lifting stay away from it. Disregard any claims made by power lifters about it being safer for the shoulders or arching is at the thoracic spine when it’s simply not and is at the thoracolumbar junction. It’s okay to have some space between your low back and the bench but don’t turn your flat bench into a decline.

✅ Another thing, don’t feel the need to get the craziest range of motion, Arms to 90 is enough. You’re not going to get a crazy stretch with a high load bench press that’s for other exercises to do. Anyone whose told you your bar has to come down to your chest most likely had short arms which allowed them to do that. If you’re not competing in power lifting stick to 90. Try this to see why you only need the rom of 90 horizontal adduction, retract your shoulder blade, put your shoulder at 30 degrees and adduct the arm without the shoulder blade protracting forward.