Bench Press

Teaching points

• Lay on your back on a bench with your feet on the floor
  
  
• Grip the bar approximately 2 feet apart (or at a comfortable point, wider than shoulder width) with the arms straight above your chest
  
  
• Slowly and under control, lower the bar down to the level of your chest
  
  
• Push the bar back up, until the elbows are straight
  
  
• Keep the lower back in contact with the bench at all times

Variations & progressions

• Perform on an incline bench to place more emphasis on the upper chest
  
  
• Perform on a decline bench to place more emphasis on the lower chest
  
  
• Perform with a close grip - hands positioned just inside the shoulders, to increase the emphasis on the triceps

Muscles worked

• Pectoralis major
  
  
• Pectoralis minor
  
  
• Anterior deltoid
  
  
• Triceps

Alternative exercises

• Bench press machine
  
  
• Chest press with dumbbells
  
  
• Push-up
  
  
• Chest press using a resistance band

Related injuries

• Pectoral strain