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Ten Minute Tip #5: Exactly How to Bench Press to Reduce Injury Without Stealing Your Gains (and how to coach it too!)
While the bench press is one of the easiest barbell exercises to learn, performing it optimally takes knowledge and precision. In this episode of the PRS podcast we discuss all the important components of the bench press and how to optimize them.
We cover:
How to position yourself on the bench relative to the bar and where your feet should go.
Where to set your grip and how to figure that out based on your own body anthropometry.
How to safely unrack the bar to reduce unwanted energy expenditure and safely bench alone
Setting your shoulders, back, and arch in the bench press
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:00:10] This episode of Ten-Minute Tip Tuesday, we're going to be talking about the bench press, specifically how to do it. And you can use this model to also coach it. So the first thing that you're going to do. Oh, wait, I have to set my timer, don't I? Here we go. Alright, so the first thing you're going to do is lie down on the bench, close your eyes and take a nap. Right. That's what we all want to do once we get to the bench press because we usually do it after the squat, we're tired by then, and it's very comfortable. So no, but in all seriousness, you're going to generally guess, especially if this is the first time you're bench pressing, you're going to guess where to set the bar.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:01:28] If you're on a fixed rack, there's usually only one or two places. So go with whichever one, probably the higher one to start. So you're going to lie down on the bench, and you're going to set your eye gaze first. So this is going to kind of be where your eye is relative to the bar. This is going to be where you set your body on the bench. So we want your eyes to be on the down side of the bar, just slightly on the down side. We don't want to be on the bar's high side or back side because that will put us too far in the rack. So when we bring the bar out of the rack, we have to bench with the bar in front of the shoulders or clip the rack. So eyes on the down side of the bar relative to where that bar is when it's in the rack.
Dr. Alyssa Haveson, PT, PRSCC, CSCS: [00:02:09] And just to clarify, the down side of the bar is the side of the bar close to where your body is. So your eyes will be on the same side of the bar as the rest of your body.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:02:19] Yeah, I usually describe it as the side closer to your feet. So when you're lying down, you want to just put your feet on the ground where your heels will be in line with your knees, just slightly forward or behind whatever's comfortable. And they're going to be firmly flat on the floor. Then we're going to want to set our grip with the bar in the rack. You'll take the tip of your thumb and find where the smooth and the knurling meet on both sides. Take the tip of your thumb, line it up there, flatten it lengthwise on the bar, take a wide grip, gently or slightly tip your thumbs down towards the ground, and then grip your fingers over the bar. This will lower the bar in your hand than if you didn't tip your thumbs down. The bar would be closer to your fingers. We want the bar to be slightly further down towards the wrist in the hand so that when we grip it and take it out of the rack, our risks don't fall into extension. We can hold them in neutral. So I think that is pretty much how you set your grip. This is going to be a general starting point for grip. This is not a competitive grip. This isn't a close grip. We'll find the right grip for you. But this is our starting point. The first time we're teaching someone how to grip the bar and take it out of the rack. Speaking of taking it out of the rack, how do you unrack the bar properly, appropriately, or safely Alyssa?
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Web: https://www.progressiverehabandstrength.com
Email: podcast@progressiverehabandstrength.com
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