The bench press.... Oh how I hate you

[mtygorilla]

For many people who work out, the bench press is the measure of strength most commonly used. None of us can count the times we have been asked "How much can you bench?".

For many strength athletes, the squat or deadlift is reffered to as the true measure of strength. Often I wonder if this is the case or not. How many times have you seen contest lifts exceed the 600lb mark on the squat and or deadlift and a bench in the 300's? As somebody who often spends hours on the internet looking at contest results, I see this all the time. While attempting to increase my levels of strength, my squat and deadlift are nearly always on the rise.

My bench, is another story. Perhaps people who are not great bench pressers, put more effort into the squat and deadlift because gains come easier? I don't know, just a thought. I am not saying the bench press is a greater measure of strength than these other two exercises, I'm just starting a debate.
I hate and love the bench press. Even if it is not a true measure of total body strength, it can be used to measure the strength of one's upper body.

My bench press sucks. At nearly 240lbs, my best bench in recent times is 415 with a pause. At my weight, I hope to be around the 500 mark someday in the future. For the last month, I have been dealing with a pulled muscle in my right pec. Lots of ice, stretching and light chest work has helped a lot, but I still cannot go heavy yet. With goals of reaching 1/4 of a ton, setbacks upset me.

For me, the squat and deadlift are exercises that I can "will" to perform. Even if my warmups feel heavy, I can get my mind right and make myself have a good workout. The bench press is different. The feeling of a heavy weight being held over my chest can intimidate me, and it's always down hill from there.

I am interested in hearing what your thoughts are about the bench press. Do you struggle with it as I do? What have you done that helped you get past your sticking points on the movement?

I look forward to hearing the responses.

 

[SAGE74]

I have never done barbell flat bench. I see to many injuries from that one exercise. Jmo.

 

[rradam]

Always been a problem with me. I attribute part of the problem to the fact I don't have lats. Second was form, I was always experiencing shoulder pain. I was not tucking my shoulders and I was a little high on my chest at the bottom. One accessory lift that helped me bring my weight up was power cleans.

 

[Google&Pubmed]

I have never done barbell flat bench. I see to many injuries from that one exercise. Jmo.

Same here. I was told by a pro not to even do them and that made the bench press to go full blown to the black list.

But I would say watch dave tate and study what he says. Because he points out in a lot of his videos that when you can't push at a certain point which one of your body part is lacking strength and that you need to hit.

 

[Alden]

Well,I read out all reviews about the bench press and i agree with
your reviews but according to me that bench press is the best
exercise for fitness of the body.Most of the people like the bench
press work for build the chest size and muscles.

 

[Ronald]

If something is done over the top obviously that is gonna cause bad effects on our health.
Moderation in everything is what we need and can really be useful you have highlighted the right thing.

 

[Ronald]

If something is done over the top obviously that is gonna cause bad effects on our health.
Moderation in everything is what we need and can really be useful you have highlighted the right thing.

Any comments?


Emrnews billing

 

[TallMan]

I don't know why people are advising agains benchpressing when someone asks a question to get his bench up! roflol!

If 415 is raw I think it's quite a high number. My weight is 270 and I only benchpress 365 but deadlift 705.
What helps me is keeping patience and trying a lot of different assistence work for a while. Overhead pressing 4 sets of 5 reps building up the weight has helpt me adding 30 lbs to my bench in about 5 weeks, so that's an exsersice I needed at the moment.
Strenght comes with time. Try a lot of thing. Maybe a different angle of pressing helps (OH press, dips) or maybe you should work on explosive reps 50-60% of the 1rm + bands/chains.

 

[sammy555]

Your bench doesn't suck but good on you for wanting to push harder. Now my bench sucks big time. Recently stated decline and making best chest gains ever

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Simpllyhuge]

I don't have a good bench yet but I would keep benching and over head pressing. Floor presses and weighted dips secondary to that

 

[triathloncoach]

You sound very strong to me. With that said maybe you aren't genetically (anatomically) suited to the bench? Maybe you have longer arms? Shorter legs? Etc.

Maybe you hate benching. I do.

Advice - Partials, lock outs, floor press, negatives, rotator cuff work, change your hand placement, form?

 

[asatru1]

love the bench

I guess I must be an anaomaly. I am tall 6ft 6inch with long arms... My best bench is 500 in a tee shirt. I am a super heavy weight at 330 pounds. My dead lift sux.. 550, and mysquat is decent at 650..
I avoid shoulder injuries now( after having a couple of set backs) by board pressing... not going alll the way down to chest while doing work out reps.

 

[BM12]

I used to love the bench press I have done 575 lbs raw in competition before in the 308 lb weight class but shortly after doing that I strained my pec pretty bad prepping for my next meet while doing 525 for a set of 4. The biggest thing with benching is FORM. Every competition I've ever competed in I have always had other competitors and judges compliment my form. I owe this all to my old lifting coach that made me bench with perfect form every rep even when warming up with just the bar (muscle memory at its finest). With the right form you can use your leg drive and lats to explode the bar off your chest, even with a pause, then you just really have to build your triceps up with board presses, lockouts, using chains/bands, etc... and btw I always sucked at squatting and deadlifting well I didn't suck but I always neglected them since my bench was so good I just didn't care about the other 2 (big mistake).

 

[308power]

Bench press is definitely about form. Squat and deadlift, being generally strong can supercompensate for small lapses, but bench press is what will get you. Leg drive, tight upper back, and wicked triceps are where its at.

 

[sMaRtY]

bench press is my fav workout. only things is my wrists hurts if I do heavy weights. often I tilt my wrist as the weight goes up, but the rest stay in a good form.

 

[hawkeyes56]

without knowing your workout it is hard to make many suggestions...
how much assistance work are you doing?
are you using boards, chains, bands?
where are you weak off the chest or at lockout?
There are several things you could share that would make it much easier to give you good advice.

 

[getbig777]

Most people i know love bench and hate doing legs. i know several very strong guys that rarely even work out there legs.

 

[nfernoo]

Your bench doesn't suck but good on you for wanting to push harder. Now my bench sucks big time. Recently stated decline and making best chest gains ever

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

Over all chest?

My prob is upper chest.

Barbbell decline feels odd for me. Hopefully I'm okay doing db decline

 

[BigDM]

I'm also trying to bring up my bench and have been making some decent gains. Focus has been on back and tri's. Close-grip bench, DB skull crushers, bent over rows, lat pulldowns, etc. Back and triceps play a major role when benching, so target those areas and you should start seeing improvement. Stay strong brother :headbang:

 

[Simpllyhuge]

I haves really shitty bench compared to you guys but I feel like weighted dips are an awesome accessory and pretty much the best for chest development.