The bench press is weightlifting exercise that involves pressing a weighted bar away from the chest. The main muscle group used in the bench press are the pectoral muscles, which perform sixty percent of the work required to perform the exercise. The triceps and anterior deltoid also assist with the bench press movement, as the triceps assist with lockout and the anterior deltoids provides stabilization during the exercise.
If individuals attempt to increase the weight they can bench press too quick, they may experience shoulder pain due to muscle imbalance. To properly perform a bench press, an individual must first set themself up in the proper manner. An individual should plant they feet firmly on the ground during the exercise, making sure that there heels are in contact with the ground.
How to Do the Bench Press Safely
There are five point of contact that should be made during a bench press: the head, upper back, glutes, feet, and the bar. The bar should be lower to the lower chest in two to three seconds and follow a slight J-curve during this phase of the exercise. When pressing the bar upward, an individual should drive there heels into the ground, but should avoid to flare there elbows, as this can strain the shoulder muscle.
An individual can perform a bench press with a narrow, standard or even a wide grip. A narrow bench press grip will allow for the triceps to do most of the work of pressing the bar upward. A standard grip for a bench press is one-and-a-half times the width of an individual’s shoulders.
For individuals with longer pectoral muscles, an individual can use a wide grip to stretch the muscles more. However, a wide grip can also lead to strain in the shoulder if an individual dont have much shoulder mobility. An individual should ensure that there wrist is in line with the bar and there elbows are between forty-five and seventy-five degree from there torso.
The equipment that will be needed for performing bench press exercises include a forty-five-pound Olympic bar, weight plates, collars, and a weight rack with safety bars. Beginners performing bench press exercises can use a linear progression model. With the linear progression model, individuals add a small amount of weight to the bench press exercises that they perform during each session.
For example, the beginner may perform three sets of five repetitions of the exercise three days a week. If an individual cannot complete the required number of repetitions for two consecutive weeks, then the individual should perform a deload for the bench press exercises, which means reduce the weight of the bar by ninety percent of the previous weight that was used. Many individuals will encounter a plateau in the ability of the bench press exercises to increase in weight.
When an individual reaches the plateau for their bench press exercises, they can switch to a double progression model for the exercise. With the double progression model, an individual performs three sets of six to eight repetition of the exercise. Once the individual can perform eight repetitions for each of the three sets for the bench press exercises, they can increase the weight of the bar by five pounds.
If an individual stalls in there bench press exercises, they can perform a deload week for there exercises, during which they lift the bar only fifty to sixty percent of they usual weight. Additionally, there are also variations of the bench press exercise, such as incline bench presses and dumbbell bench presses that target different muscle of the upper body. Safety is one of the requirements for performing bench press exercises.
When an individual is performing bench press exercises with heavy weight, they should use a spotter. Additionally, an individual should use a full grip on the bar when performing the exercises, which means their thumbs should be wrap around the bar. Before an individual begins performing bench press exercises with there sets of weights, they should first perform a warm-up using an empty bar.
Additionally, an individual should perform warm-up exercises for there shoulders since strong shoulder exercises will keep the rotator cuffs of there shoulders healthy. Finally, if an individual does not adhere to the safety protocols for bench press exercises, they may experience an injury during there bench press exercises.
