The Basics, Part III: The Bench Press

If you're a guy, you probably love the bench press; and now you love it even more because it's included in one of the Basic Exercises, meaning there must be something important about it. The deadlift, front squat, and bench press aren't special just for the heck of it. These 'powerlifts' make the list because these are the movements you can lift the most weight on*. Lifting more weight stresses not only the muscular system, but the central nervous system as well. If strength is your goal, stressing the CNS is crucial to making gains since nerves must be in tip top shape to recruit the maximal number of muscle fibres. But let's assume that you couldn't care less about strength and just want to get jacked. Lifting a (moderately) heavier load can do that too since muscle gain begins with the mechanical overload of a muscle fibre. Tear it down and build it up - only bigger.

One note on the concept of 'heavy.' If you're a beginner and 100lbs constitutes heavy, then so be it. What's heavy for one person may not be so for the next - so don't go trying to prove yourself - it won't end well. 

In terms of fat loss, using these exercises or one of their variations as part of your workout is highly effective in boosting the intensity. A shorter duration, higher intensity workout is far superior to long monotonous bouts on the elliptical. If you doubt the verity of this claim, take a look at the bodies of athletes that compete in short duration, high intensity events. 100m sprint anyone?

Benefits of the Bench Press

• develops horizontal pushing ability
• develops triceps and anterior deltoids in addition to pectoral muscle group

Performing the Bench Press

• Place yourself so that eyes are underneath the bar
• Spread your feet wide and bring them as far back as you can keeping the heels on the floor; this gives you a stable base from which to work; arching the back is fine, but don't let the bum come off the bench
• Hold the bar slightly wider than shoulder width apart (be careful not to go too wide as it puts too much strain on your shoulder capsule at the bottom of the movement)
• Retract your shoulder blades (think about pinching a penny between your shoulder blades)
• Never let your shoulder blades relax from this position
• Lift the bar off the pins and begin by pulling, not lowering the bar to your chest (imagining a pulling motion activates the back muscles to a greater extent, which stabilizes your shoulder joint)
• When the bar reaches your chest, without bouncing it, push yourself away from the bar to raise back to the starting position

* You can lift less weight on the front squat than you can on the back squat; that's always why the former is a better choice - it forces you to check the ego.

I don't have a proper bench press picture to show you, so I'll leave you with this link.

Use it as a rough guide, making changes as needed based on above info.