1. Barbell bench press
The king of all chest exercises. The flat barbell bench press has long been the standard for strength prowess. If you could only choose 3 exercise to create a full body workout, the flat barbell bench press would have to be on the list. This is also the same exercise used in any big 3 powerlifting competition.
You will find people use a large number of variations of the flat barbell bench press. A close grip flat barbell bench press is used to focus more on triceps, while a wide grip flat barbell bench press is a standard pec builder. A middle grip is used most successfully to combine the strength of the triceps, pecs, and shoulders for a maximal effort bench press.
2.To set up:
find a flat standard Olympic bench with a standard 45 lb barbell. Laying down flat on the bench, you want the soles of your feet to touch the floor. This is because we want a solid base on which to use our legs to help drive the weight up. You want your butt, your upper back, and your head to be touching the bench at all times.
You should also set up so that when you unrack the bar it will drop almost directly down to your chest; in other words you don’t want to be doing a barbell pull-over once you unrack the bar from the bench, as this will create unnecessary fatigue and increase the possibility for shoulder injury.
All that being said, put a couple plates on that bar and lets start benching!
3.To bench:
with a medium grip flat bench press, you don’t want your elbows tucked in nor flared out. They should naturally fall at a 45 degree position away from your body, locked in against your lats for stabilization at the bottom of the rep.
From the unracked position, you will lower the weight slowly so that the bar just lightly touches your nipple area; do not bounce. Using explosive chest strength you should drive the bar through the mid-way point of the rep, which is usually a sticking point. Once you are past the mid-way point you will increase your triceps activation to press and lock out the weight. When I say lock out, I do not mean to lock the elbows out 100%, instead they should be locked out about 95% so that the elbow is completely straight.
The best way I have found to maximize triceps activation is to focus on breaking the bar in half away from you. Think about holding a stick out straight in front of your body with palms down, then break that stick away from you by snapping both forearms and wrists away from the midline of the body. Clearly the bar is not actually going to break, but you can use this concept for maximum triceps activation.
4.Variations:
wide grip, medium grip, narrow grip; board press, floor press, pin press.
The incline bench press is often used to target the upper pecs, while the decline bench press is used to target the lower pecks. I have a bone to pick with this notion. For one thing, the incline press is great. I always work a flat incline dumbbell press into my workout. If you have studied the anatomy of the pectoralis, you will notice that there is indeed an upper pec. Your pecs will appear super powerful once you have concentrated on flat and incline benching, and developed the cut between the two muscles. That, my friend, is good stuff.
Controversial point #1:
The decline bench on the other hand is quite bogus. There is no ‘lower pec’ muscle. People are most often stronger on the decline bench because the range of motion is shorter, which eliminates weakness at the bottom of the press, because you are better able to recruit your triceps and lats throughout the entire exercise, and because you use less of your weaker upper pec and more of the bigger, stronger pectoralis major. I haven’t done a decline bench press in 8 years or more, and I don’t intend to start doing them now. A close grip decline bench focusing on the triceps is a whole different story. You can read about the #5 best triceps exercises# for more information.
My only problem with the following video is that he lifts his butt off the bench during each rep. I only show you this because it demonstrates the concept of driving with your feet and legs. It is possible to drive with your feet and legs while simultaneously keeping your ass on the bench.
