How to Safely Bench Press Alone!

not like this . . . not like this.

Don’t be that guy. Or gal. Just . . . don’t. The bench press is the most dangerous lift we perform in the weight room. It’s the only one wherein - should something go wrong - your face and/or neck could be trapped between something heavy (the bar) and something immovable (the bench). Ideally, you have a spotter when you bench press, but even when alone, you can perform the lift in a perfectly safe manner, so if you don’t want to end up with a barbell on your face, read on.

Equipment
You need a power rack like the one in the included video, or you can use a squat stand with adjustable spotter arms. Your power rack should have safeties (also known as “pins” or “crash bars”). If it doesn’t, throw it out.

Setup Requirement #1
Set the safeties low enough that you can perform the bench press without having the barbell run into them when the bar touches your chest. Your legs are driving you up the bench, your arch is set, your shoulders are pinned back, and in this position, the safeties need to be just low enough that you don’t hit them with the bar.

Setup Requirement #2
The safeties also need to be high enough that - should you fail a rep - you can simply lower the bar back down, relax your body, and allow the bar to sit on the safeties. At this point, you roll the bar out of your way and get out safely from the situation.

In other words, the safeties must be low enough that they don’t cause a problem, and they must be high enough that they save you from any problems.

Test It Out
When you have your safeties set where you think they should be, test your setup. Perform a few reps with the empty bar to make sure the bar doesn’t hit the safeties, and then after that, set the bar down on the safeties (i.e., pretend to fail a rep), and make sure that you can get out from under the bar. It’s an especially good idea to roll the empty bar (when it’s sitting on the safeties) back toward your face to make sure the safeties are high enough to protect your face and neck.

Write It Down
Record the height of your safeties in your training log. If you train at home, you can write numbers on your rack (if it doesn’t already have them) with a permanent marker and then record your pin height in your log. If you train at a commercial gym, find a way to make sure that you set the safeties at the correct height and then write it down.

One Last Thing . . .
Don’t use collars when you bench press. The safeties will protect you, but just in case you forget to set them up, you can simply tip the bar to the side, and the plates will fall off (one side and then the other) in a rather loud and semi-disastrous manner, but you’ll be alive, and that’s the important part. This is not nearly as good of a solution as setting the safeties correctly, but it’s better than nothing.

As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.

-Phil

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This Mistake Will RUIN All Your Lifts!

Want to improve every one of your lifts with one fix? Make sure you're doing this.

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Spotting the Bench Press: Don't Make These Mistakes!

Spotting the bench press shouldn’t be complicated, but people mess it up frequently, so let’s briefly discuss how NOT to spot the bench press.

Don’t Yank Your Lifter Out of Position
Take an over-under grip on the barbell (i.e., one hand facing up and one hand facing down - also known as an alternating grip or mixed grip) and simply provide enough assistance to help guide the bar into place. Don’t pull your lifter out of position because you’re so eager to help.

Stay Out of Your Lifter’s Line of Sight
You should give your lifter an unobstructed line of sight to the ceiling; with this in mind, stay relatively close to the bench so you can provide assistance if necessary, but beyond that, stay out of the way. Don’t straddle the bench, don’t straddle your lifter (yes, I’ve seen this), and don’t even lean over your lifter.

Keep your hands, your face, and your body out of the way and out of your lifter’s line of sight - none of those things are in the way of your lifting buddy on his other lifts, and they shouldn’t be in the way on the bench press, either.

Don’t Space Out
Pay attention to your lifter. Get your hands out of your pockets, put down your coffee, and simply pay attention to your lifter so that - in the event that he needs assistance - you’re actually prepared to provide it.

Don’t Touch the Bar
This is the big one, folks - they’ve even got shirts about this one. Lifting is not a team sport. Benching is not a team sport. If you touch the bar, the rep doesn’t count, so stay out of the way. Don’t. Touch. The. Bar.

“I’m all pinkies, bro!” Don’t be like these fools.

Of course, you need to be able to provide assistance in the event that the barbell goes anywhere other than up, but beyond that, stay out of your lifter’s way. The spotter shouldn’t exist (figuratively speaking) unless the lifter needs help.

As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.

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The Bench Press: You're Forgetting to Do This - Part 4

In this article - our last in this series - we cover an aspect that is forgotten very frequently by new lifters (ahem . . . sometimes even experienced lifters) . . .

Retract your shoulders blades.

Which picture is correct? Hint: It’s not the one on the left.

Imagine you’re sitting upright and have a pen oriented vertically between your shoulder blades. Now, pull your shoulder blades back so that you’re pinching the pen in place (see photos below).

This is what you want to do when benching as well - only lying down. Retract the shoulder blades before you unrack the barbell, re-retract them after the unrack as well in case you lose some shoulder positioning during the process of unracking, and then keep them retracted throughout the set. Additionally, if needed, re-retract them between reps if they get out of position.

Retracting the shoulder blades creates more stability and puts us in a stronger, safer, and more efficient position from which to bench. Not having your shoulders retracted is the benching equivalent of squatting while standing on your toes - just plain dumb.

Retracting your shoulders also has the added bonus of shaving off just a bit of distance that the bar has to travel (just like squatting while flat-footed means you don’t squat as far as you would if you stupidly squatted while balanced up on your toes).

As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.

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The Bench Press: You're Forgetting to Do This - Part 3

You’re all set to bench - your grip is pronated, your shoulder blades are pinched back, and you’re driving with your legs, but you’re still forgetting one thing . . .

Jeremiah correctly fixes his gaze at a point on the ceiling.

Find your focal point.

After you’ve unracked the barbell but before starting the first rep, find a point directly above you on the ceiling and stare at that point. You now have created a “sight picture” as you can still see the barbell in your periphery even while staring at the ceiling. You’re going to recreate this picture at the end of each rep, so remind yourself that the bar needs to finish in this exact same position every single time.

Then, simply stare at that focal point during each rep and even between reps - there’s no need to introduce unnecessary variability into your benching by having to re-find the focal point before each rep, so just keep looking at it like you do in the squat (watch the included video).

Having a stationary reference point makes for a more consistent and efficient bar path, and it makes for better balance as well (we don’t watch the bar since it’s a moving reference point).

As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.

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The Bench Press: You're Forgetting to Do This - Part 2

When benching, you know you’re supposed to retract your shoulder blades, push with your legs, and drive that bar up and back to its original starting position, but you’re still forgetting one thing . . .

Get your grip right.

When taking your grip for the bench, you want the barbell to rest on the base or heel of the palm, i.e., directly over the bones of your forearm. This ensures that you have efficient force transfer between you and the bar, which is rather important when trying to move heavy weights. On the other hand, having the bar back toward your fingers causes your wrists to be in full extension (i.e., bent backwards), which is a flimsy and weak position for them to be in when trying to support a heavy load.

To achieve the correct grip, pronate your hands slightly by internally rotating your arms a bit and then squeezing the bar tightly with your fingers (scroll through the photos below for a demonstration).

If this doesn’t quite make sense, you can use the “diamond grip” approach described in this short article.

As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.

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If you found this helpful, you’ll love our weekly email. It’s got useful videos, articles, and training tips just like the one in this article. Sign up below, and of course, if you don’t love it, you can unsubscribe at any time.

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At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Would you like to get quality coaching from a Starting Strength Coach?