Stop Using a Vertical Bar Path. The Correct Bench Press Technique
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Want to change your life? Two suggestions.
First, get a bidet. Once you bidet, you never stray. (Check out the Luxe Bidet Neo 120 if you’re in the market - basic, but oh-so-glorious.)
Second, quit performing the bench press with a vertical bar path.
We aim for as vertical of a path as possible on the other major barbell lifts - but not the bench press, and there are two types of error that lifters commit when it comes to benching with a vertical bar path.
To see these errors in action as well as how to solve them, check out the video below.
Error #1: Vertical Descent
The barbell starts at lockout directly above your shoulders, but don’t take the bar in a straight, vertical path down toward your shoulders. Instead, the correct touch point is on your sternum a couple of inches lower than the level of your shoulders.
figure 1: 90° of abduction - this is no good.
Looking at Figure 1 above, you don’t want 90° of abduction (i.e., you don’t want a 90° degree angle from your torso to your arms) when the bar reaches its touch point. Instead, you’re aiming for something closer to 70° of abduction (Figure 2), and as a result, the touch point is lower on the sternum.
figure 2: roughly 70° of abduction - this is much better.
The bench press sometimes gets a reputation for being rough on the shoulders, and it gets that reputation because lifters perform it incorrectly. However, we don’t get to drive a car purposely into a concrete wall and then claim that driving is therefore dangerous, and likewise, we don’t get to bench press incorrectly and claim that benching is dangerous.
Let’s be sensible, and with this in mind, aim for a point on your sternum a couple of inches lower than the level of your shoulders, and this will greatly reduce the likelihood of any shoulder impingement when benching (setting your arch and pinching your shoulder blades back helps as well, but those are topics for another day).
Error #2: Vertical Ascent
Lifters will sometimes perform the descent correctly but then proceed to drive the bar straight and vertically upward.
This is no good.
We want to finish the bench press with the bar in the same place that it started, and this means you need to drive the barbell up and slightly backward so that it finishes above your shoulders.
Don’t watch the barbell (since it’s a moving object); instead, before your start the rep, choose a focal point on the ceiling. You can see the barbell (at lockout) in your peripheral vision, and you remind yourself that the bar will finish in the same place in your peripheral vision each time.
To help with this, remember to drive the bar slightly backward as you drive it upward. The bar path will still feel mostly vertical if performed correctly, but it needs to be slightly backward as well.
As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.
-Phil
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