Strength and Deconditioning 2: Bench pressing in theory and in practice

In addition to being one of the competitive lifts in power lifting, the bench press is one of the most effective exercises for developing the entire upper body. The whole apparatus gets into the act while bench pressing... the pectoralis major and anterior deltoid drive the bar off the sternum, the traps dig into the bench and provide a base for pressing big weight, the lats allow the bar to be lowered to the sternum in a controlled fashion and the triceps allow for a big, powerful lock out. In addition to being so darned healthy for the whole upper body, the bench press is also a really important 'ego' lift. Although the dead lift, squat and power clean are probably better indicators of overall total body strength, when someone wants to know how strong you are, he or she asks, 'What do you bench press?' When I was in high school I used to have to lower my lashes and mumble, "Eh, 275 or 285." This was awful! A bench below 300 pounds can make you feel like less of a man, especially if you weigh over two hundred, or at least it always did me This maybe isn't a fair or good thing, but one can't help one's body image or obsessive compulsive issues with gender construction, right? Now, however, since I've learned how to bench press correctly, I've shot up to a reasonably respectable 435 pounds and the sky is the limit!

The first thing to do, when preparing the proper bench press is to find good position on the bench. One should scrunch up into a tight arch with the upper trapezius and buttocks digging deeply into the bench. The legs are clasped tightly to the bench, coiled under the body like a spring, and the lumbar region forms a tight arch, tight enough to be uncomfortable. This may seem counter-intuitive--who wants to be uncomfortable while working out, right?--but this set up provides a strong base for pressing up big weights. Like so many of us learned in our world humanities (or art history or world history) courses, the arch is the strongest, most stable structure in the world. The arch must be tight, too, because when one looks at Roman and Greek arches, notice that they're made out of stone, not gelatin. Heavy weights can only be supported on a tight, hard arch, and the human body is no exception! Don't worry about the discomfort... you're only going to be doing this for a couple of seconds per rep, right?

After the perfect arch has been achieved, grip the bar about one hand's width outside of the smooth area at the center. This will provide a good area of support and will spread the weight evenly out over all your pressing areas, the pectorals, triceps and deltoids. Grip the bar tightly, like you're trying to strangle it, trying to murder it, and get your game face on. This is the time to take a few deep breaths, pull your abdominal wall tight, and maybe count to five or six, to really fire yourself up. When the desired state of mental agitation is achieved, lift the bar out of the rack and bring it over your lower chest, arms straight, body so tight that you feel like your back's about to break.

This is where bench pressing starts to get slightly complicated and very cool. When the bar is right over your sternum, right at the end of your bone before it becomes the soft flesh of the belly, begin to pull it downward using your lats and triceps, tucking the elbows into the side as you go. Do not allow gravity to lower the weight for you or the battle will be lost. If the weight is is the control of the situation, you're going to get crushed; hunt the tiger, don't let the tiger hunt you. When the weight is resting on the end of your sternum let it pause for a second. Don't allow it to descend any further into you, or you won't be able to drive it back up, but let the barbell come to a dead stop to prevent any bouncing off the body. This is where most people get messed up bench pressing. The bar will bounce off the chest violently, leaving bruises and robbing the muscles of the 'set' they need to recover and push the weight, or they'll lower the bar too high on the chest, even near the throat, once again not allowing the body to derive the correct leverages for driving the weight.

Now that the weight is set on the chest, we can finally push it back up and complete the lift! Start by flexing the quadriceps and caves, thrusting into the floor from the balls of the feet to the heels of the shoes. This will transfer energy up through the hips and create a jolt that makes the bar explode off the chest. Do this in tandem with pressing through the shoulders and chest as hard as possible, almost as if you were trying to drive yourself through the bottom of the bench and into the floor instead of pushing the weight off your chest, and expanding the abdomen violently. This provide momentum and helps to force the weight up. Gravity is your enemy, here, and you need as many allies against it as you can have, right? According to Mary Gallagher's book, The Purposeful Primitive, the great bench press champion Ken Fantano performed this feat so violently that he blew all the rivets off a specially made, four inch weight lifting belt. Fantano did this while pressing 645, without a shirt no less, so you probably won't destroy any weight lifting belts while you're making it happen, but this is pretty impressive nonetheless!

Now that the leg drive and chest are engaged and the weight is moving up, the triceps get into the act and finish the job. Flare the elbows as you press up and let your triceps lock, giving the weight no choice but to jump upwards instead of flattening you. Push in a straight line, not in the exaggerated 'J' curve that some weight lifting coaches--who apparently have never lifted a weight that wasn't somehow attached to a Nautilus machine--recommend. The straight push engages all the muscles and provides much less opportunity for disaster than the J curve, which seems like it could only lead to tragedy after dropping the weight on your throat and cutting your head off. A lot of people have weak triceps, making the lock-out hard, but exercises like the pin press, board press, close grip bench press and floor press (all to be covered in a future essay) can develop them into the big, powerful weapons you need to finish the bench. After locking the barbell out, take a deep breath and either rack the weight or begin the next rep. You are now a bench pressing machine!