I‘ll admit it, I’ve never given a lot of thought to increasing bench press numbers. See, to me, it was so ridiculous that everyone in the gym ONLY did bench presses (at least the guys) that I TOTALLY neglected this lift!
I thought of it for many years as being just like bicep curls–makes you feel cool but about as useless as a velvet painting of a whale and a dolphin getting it on.
Then I started working out with some powerlifters and I’ve got this crazy hair up my @$$ to compete and break a couple records later in the year… unfortunately for me… the bench press is definitely something I need to work on.
See, I’m one of those guys that if I’m going to do something I either gotta be the best at it or at least REALLY good — like able to hang with the best — otherwise I just won’t stick one toe in the water like “hmm… let me just dabble in this a little”.
I hate dabbling.
So now, I’m working on my bench press… and… I got a tip or two to share with you. Onward!
Bench Press Basics
So the key to a heavy bench press is not having just a strong chest… although any bodybuilding magazine will tell you it’s a strict chest exercise. This is not so.
In fact, it’s more of a technique of getting your whole body involved to leverage a bar up and down in the shortest distance possible.
Bodybuilding Setup…
Check out the picture to the right of a typical bodybuilder bench press setup and notice:
- the bar is traveling in a path where it will end up touching his chest…
- his elbows are flared out to the sides
- the goofy weightlifting belt he’s wearing (ok, this one isn’t that important but it’s fun to note!)
This type of position puts almost all the benching emphasis on your shoulders (rotator cuffs, ouch!) and on your chest muscles. This doesn’t allow for lifting a lot of heavy weights and doing this all the time is going to lead to some over-use injuries.
Powerlifting Setup…
Now check out the picture to the left of the powerlifter mid-bench without the requisite screaming “I’m-trying-really-hard-face” 
- the bar is traveling in a path to where it will hit the top of his abdomen or solar plexus…
- his elbows are NOT flared out, they’re “tucked” in, saving his shoulders…
- his low-back is extremely arched which presses his upper back, shoulders and traps into the bench providing a super-stable base to press from…
- his belt doesn’t look as gay as the former one (once again, not necessary to note, but fun anyways)
The key with moving big weights (I think there’s like a 1,000 pounds on that bar) is in getting your whole body into a position where it becomes a stable base to press from… and… when the weight starts slowing down, being able to contract all the muscles in your body to help power your pressing movement.
Why It’s Important To Plant Your Feet
In the photo above you can see the extreme back arch, which is only beneficial if your feet are planted firmly into the ground.
I’m not a science dude, but what this does is create sort of a “closed kinetic chain” of power from the ground all the way into your hands that are pressing the bar. Sort of like how in martial arts your punches all start from driving your foot into the ground, pushing and rotating your hips, which powers your whole torso, which powers your arm, into driving your fist into your opponent.
What happens when the weight gets heavy most of the time is you’ll wanna squirm your body and move your feet around to help “struggle” the weight up–this is NOT helping you. Instead, as the bar slows (when you’re hitting your sticking point) you want to push harder into the floor with your feet, tightening up your body even more and sending more power into your pressing motion.
Timing Is Crucial
One thing you wanna watch out for though is your timing. Even though you want your feet firmly pressed into the floor through your whole bench press, enough that your butt cheeks are squeezed firmly together… you don’t want to press pre-maturely into the floor.
What happens is as the bar touches your chest if you drive too much into the floor too soon it pushes the bar position way too high — up towards your head — your elbows flare out like the body building example above, your weaker upper chest muscles are forced to bear the brunt of the load and your bench press is missed.
This has happened to me but it’s kind of hard to explain in print. Think of it like, if you press your feet too hard too soon at the beginning of the pressing part of the movement — it’s like someone standing at your feet and shoving the bar towards your face as you’re pressing it up — throwing your motion off and shifting all the weight up towards where the bar is almost over your face.
Anyways, that’s just a quick primer on why it’s so important to plant your feet for increasing your bench press numbers — hope it helps!
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Caleb – this is interesting. I’m guessing these are pure strength-training techniques, as opposed to hypertrophy techniques? In other words, a lot of this is about leverage (to put it simply) which doesn’t always lead to larger muscles. But technique is critical if you want to lift heavy stuff, for sure. I do worry about beginners arching their back…
@ Darren: hmmm… well, if you can lift 150 pounds x 10 then can lift 180 pounds x 10 — all else being equal — you’ll get a greater hypertrophy effect — so these techniques have their place in building muscle as well (greatly simplified example of course)
As long as the butt stays on the bench, I’m not TOOOOO worried about arching the back — although I must say I didn’t start out doing it
Always glad for your feedback bro!
Darrin, it’s all relative to what you wanna accomplish. Being a powerlifter and not a gay bodybuilder, I do it the correct way with a high arch, planted feet, tight scapula retraction and all the good stuff that makes what people like to consider me as a “bench queen”.
Now, if you do go the bodybuilder route and are shoooting for hypertrophy, high rep schemes are important. But the light weight will eventually stop working for you which means that the weight will have to increase. If that is done with bad form, you’ll hurt yourself and never achieve your gay dream of posing in a speedo on stage with a bunch of oiled up dudes. All in all, do it the powerlifter way. More weight and less chance of injury.
I like this post, its touches on a basic but extremely important point for anyone wanting to get their bench numbers up.
Also try to pause your benches properly at the bottom is hard but will help u push out of the bottom powerfully, and learning/training to press with force/speed even thou it obviously going to be mega slow when the weight is heavy but still press with max force/speed from the bottom
and yes its true u can build heaps of solid , dense muscle from powerlifting, it definately yields plenty of hypertrophy esp if u get plentiful calories in