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Also known as: Chest press.

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Technique

  1. Lie on the bench with your eyes under the bar.
  2. Squeeze your shoulder blades.
  3. Feet flat on the floor.
  4. Grab the bar with straight wrists slightly farther than shoulder-width apart.
  5. Lower the bar to your mid-chest in a diagonal.
  6. Push the bar from your mid-chest in a diagonal to straight above your shoulders.

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Form tips

  • Don’t rest the bar or bounce it on your chest.
  • Keep elbows around 45°, do not flare them out to avoid shoulder pain.
  • Keep active tension in your chest and in your grip for stability.
  • Forearms are vertical to the floor during the press.
Logging: Total weight used.
Risks
  • When using a Barbell, there is a risk of it falling on your chest, neck or face; to avoid that, make sure to have a spotter ready to help you if needed.

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Muscles

Strength

Primary

  • Shoulders
  • Chest

Secondary

  • Biceps
  • Serratus anterior
  • Triceps
  • Forearms
  • Anterior deltoid
  • Pectoralis major (clavicular head)
  • Pectoralis major (sternal head)
  • Serratus anterior
  • Triceps brachii (long head)
  • Triceps brachii (medial head)
  • Triceps brachii (lateral head)

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Equipment

Bench
Bench
Barbell
Barbell

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Appears in

Other disciplines
Joint movements
Shoulderhorizontal adductionflexion forward
trains stretches

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Regressions

e1bu

Machine chest press

Beginner

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Variations

e13f

Dumbbell bench press

Beginner
e15c

Close grip bench press

Beginner
e15f

Floor barbell press

Beginner
e141

Kettlebell bench press

Beginner
e15e

Floor dumbbell press

Beginner
e15b

Incline barbell bench press

Beginner
e157

Incline dumbbell bench press

Beginner
e1bt

Neutral-grip machine chest press

Beginner
e10i

Dumbbell pullover

Beginner
e159

Dumbbell seated overhead press

Beginner
Want to log this exercise? Open it in Calistree. Text and images are used under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0; the video plays from the original source.