Name: Bench Press Chest Press
Uploaded: 2023-04-26T01:00:51.000Z
Duration: 7 min 31 s

English captions

https://stream.mux.com/RrzGCa02Ec5ziJ32z3uz3h6ZFiFCOYZ8yycNFnvGZNTs.m3u8

Learn how to properly perform the bench press in this comprehensive step-by-step instructional video from the Brookbush Institute. This evidence-based video offers detailed coaching on proper form, breathing techniques, and exercise modifications (including progressions and regressions) to safely build upper body strength. Improve chest (pectoralis major) and shoulder (anterior deltoid) muscle development, pushing strength, and boost overall performance with expert guidance to prevent injury and maximize results. Perfect for athletes and fitness enthusiasts.

Introduction to the Bench Press and Setup

Proper Form and Range of Motion

Stabilization Techniques and Foot Placement

Breathing Techniques During the Exercise

Safety Considerations and Spotting

Bench Press Chest Press

This is Brent, President of B2C Fitness, and today we're doing one of my favorite strength training exercises, the bench press. That's right, we're here in the studio doing chest on a Sunday, knowing full and well that Monday is National Chest Day. Anyway, this is one of our relatively stable chest exercises. Now, I'm not talking for necessarily a novice individual. A novice individual is still going to find the bench press to be fairly unstable, but for most of us this is going to be in that strength or max strength portion of our periodized program, and we're going to use a slightly lower rep range. I'm going to have my friend Laura come out to help me demonstrate some of the cueing and some little pointers to help you improve upon your bench press. Now, first things first, the most awkward part of the bench is actually the lift off. That puts the shoulder in kind of a weird position, where we have a fairly large amount of load over the face, it's not directly over the shoulder, scapula, thoracic region, so it's a little harder to stabilize. It is always a good idea to have a spotter. We want to make sure that when she sets herself up, she doesn't send her chest under the bar because that might lead to us tagging these hooks that are holding this bench up. So usually I tell people to get their eyes level with the bar so that when they pull the bar over their chest they have plenty of clearance room here. So, I'm going to have Laura go ahead and set up, grab the bar where she's comfortable. Comfortable should be a place where when you're at the bottom, throughout the majority of your motion, your forearm is perpendicular, straight up and down to the floor. Alright, so I'm going to help Laura off. I'm going to give her a little count off, so one-two-three. I'll have you push off, good. I'm then going to make sure that I align her so that she is over her chest. This is particularly important for people who haven't done bench before. I don't want her directly over her shoulder, I want more, not to be vulgar, but across the nipple line. So just a little lower than chest height, that will help keep us from any sort of impingement that may occur in the shoulder. She's going to go ahead and lower down to wherever she's comfortable, and then press right back up. I hear a lot of people talk about range of motion with the bench. Your range of motion is the largest range of motion that you can keep optimal form, and that is pain-free. So Laura, let's go ahead and show them that one more time. Good. Now let's talk about stabilization. I want her protracting as far as she can at the top, alright, so she's really pushing off. What protracting does is allows your scapula to tip up this way, and that gives some bony support to the humerus which is applying pressure this way. I know some people have cued retraction in a bench that allows for no bony support from the humerus that is pushing straight down. Alright so once again, go ahead and drop down, push up, protract all of the way in. Now, I have some people talk about stability progression where they put their feet up on the bench, or they put their feet up on the bench to try to protect their back. If you find that you feel more comfortable putting your feet up on the bench it is probably a good idea to stretch your hip flexors and start working on some glute activation. Putting your feet up on the bench is not necessarily a fix-all for somebody with lower back discomfort. Besides, there's another benefit to keeping your feet on the floor. If Laura has her feet on the floor I can make her kinetic chain far more stable which should contribute to better bench performance. I'm going to have her push her feet through the ground. By pushing her feet through the ground, this is going to activate her glute max which is a hip extensor, but also one of the primary stabilizers for the lumbo-pelvic hip complex. If she has her glutes tight and I then asked her to draw-in, her lumbar spine now has something stable, being her pelvis, to rely on. If her spine is stable her scapula will be more stable. So now we have glute lumbo public hip complex to spine to scpular thoracic stability, to hopefully - go ahead show us one more time - a nice strong bench. I know, like I said, some people feel more comfortable with their feet up. Have them stretch their hip flexors and activate their glutes and see if you can't turn that around. I have also seen this as a stability progression. It is more unstable to put your feet up. I have personally backed away from that because I would rather reinforce optimal stabilization mechanics throughout my kinetic chain. Now, the last thing I might hint on is breathing. This is one of those exercises where people hold their breath and that's not totally inappropriate, as long as they don't hold their breath for an entire set. So what I usually have people do is breathe in on the way down, if they need to hold their breath as they're turning force around, so they went from eccentric and now they're going to concentric, that's the hard part, that's okay, but then breathe out either on the way up, or at the top of the movement. So have them breathe in, get nice and stable, hold, push. Good. If that's comfortable, great. What I do see more often than not is people tend to over cue breathing. You don't need to get into all of those breathing mechanics if somebody's breathing naturally. Only cue those mechanics if you see somebody who's turning red, and holding their breath for an entire set. Now, I hope you can also see this nice line that she's got going on here. Go ahead and drop down, and back up, and then when we rack it, once again, you want a nice spotter there to make sure that she doesn't miss the rack and catch her face on the way down. I'm going to just have her put this back, I'm going to help her through it. Now, last but not least, this is a dangerous exercise to do without a spotter if you're going to risk and do heavier weights. Obviously this is a weight that Laura is very comfortable with which allowed me to walk around, which allowed me to cue her through all of this movement, which allowed me to create this educational video. If we were doing, let's say, a heavy day, I would not be standing over here. I would be cueing her between sets, giving her verbal cues from this position, and let's just show them one more time, I would make sure that she is one-two-three, that I have my hands underneath this bar, and that I am following her through a good squat, so that if she gets in trouble I could lift this bar, or at least help her lift this bar off her chest. The problem with bench, unlike a lot of other exercises, you can't drop the weight and get it out of your way. So there you go, stable kinetic chain, make sure you watch your line, protract through the top, safety first, make sure you get a spotter when you need one. I hope you enjoy this chest exercise, even though we did this video on a Sunday, we had a lot of fun making it! Talk with you soon.

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Start by having your client or patient assume a supine position on a bench. It is helpful to cue the patient to start with their eyes level with the bar

Ask the client or patient to assume optimal form/posture:

Feet perpendicular to the floor and 2nd toe aligned with ASIS

Pelvis neutral (absence of anterior or posterior pelvic tilt)

Torso, scapula, and head in neutral alignment

Ask the client or patient to grip the Olympic bar wider than shoulder width, with the intent to find a position that maintains the forearms near perpendicular to the bar (and floor) throughout the majority of the movement.

If a client or patient is new to the bench press, it may take a few attempts to determine the ideal hand placement (width) on the bar.

Have the client un-rack the bar, extend the arms, and position the bar over the middle or lower chest.

Anytime an exercise is performed in which the load could “pin” or “fall on top of” the client or patient, a spotter is recommended.

Cue the client or patient to push their feet into the ground, squeeze (contract) their glutes, and perform the drawing-in maneuver to ensure optimal core stability.

Have the client or patient bend their elbows, control the rate of descent, and control the path of the bar toward the lower chest (below “shoulder height”).

The client or patient should perform the largest range of motion they can without pain or compensation.

Once the client or patient has achieved the largest range of motion that can be performed without pain or compensation: Cue the client or patient to push their feet into the ground, squeeze (contract) the glutes, perform the drawing-in maneuver, and push through the bar to full elbow extension and scapula protraction.

Have the client or patient check their positioning, and stability.

Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

 The bench press can be performed with Bodybars or other lighter-weight alternatives to an Olympic bar. Machine press is also an alternative.

 Unstable loads can be added using “Quake Bars”, or “chains”, or by hanging weights by bands.

We recommend that the path of the bar is “below shoulder height” or over the chest. The bar should not be aligned with the neck or shoulders (transverse plane).

Do not grasp the bar with excessive wrist extension. The bar should be grasped as if making a fist to “punch”.

Do not attempt a range of motion that is larger than can be performed without pain or compensation.

The scapula should not be cued into a fixed position. The concentric phase of a push-up should include protraction, and the eccentric phase should include retraction.

Bench Press Chest Press

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