Bench Press - Powerlifting

Execution

1. Grip the bar wider than shoulder-width with your wrists stacked over your forearms, and unrack the bar without letting your shoulder position collapse.
2. Inhale and lower the bar under control to your lower chest, keeping your wrists and elbows stacked in line with the bar the whole way down.
3. Pause for a beat the moment the bar touches your chest, without letting it bounce.
4. Exhale and drive the bar up as hard as you can, elbows tucked close to your body until your arms lock out.
5. If you stall mid-press, call your spotter to help finish the bar, or lower it onto the rack's safety pins or arms instead of fighting a failed rep.
6. After finishing the set, guide the bar fully back onto the rack hooks before letting go.

Quick cues

• Try to bend the bar apart.
• Drive the floor, pin your back.
• Touch the chest, then drive, no bounce.
• Elbows tucked, not flared wide.
• Always have a spotter or safety pins.

Common faults

• Fault: The hips lifting off the bench during the press

  Fix: Drop the weight to a load where the hips stay on the bench the whole set, and rebuild the leg-drive technique before adding weight back.

• Fault: The bar bouncing off the chest instead of pausing

  Fix: Lower more slowly and actively hold a beat at the chest before pressing, using a lighter bar until the pause is under control.

• Fault: The elbows flaring to 90 degrees on the way down

  Fix: Tuck the elbows in closer, around 45-60 degrees, to take pressure off the shoulder joint.

• Fault: Training alone with a heavy load and no spotter or safety pins

  Fix: Set the rack's safety pins at chest height, or bring a training partner to spot before attempting a new heavy load.