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Technique

  1. Lie on your back on the floor with a barbell held above your chest.
  2. Lower the bar until your upper arms touch the ground.
  3. Press the bar back up until your arms are fully extended.

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Form tips

  • Do not let the barbell drop onto your chest.
Logging: Total weight used.
Risks
  • Risk of the bar falling on your chest or neck; use a spotter for heavy weights.

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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

Ground (hands or body)
Ground (hands or body)
Barbell
Barbell

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Appears in

Other disciplines
Joint movements
Shoulderhorizontal adductionflexion forward
trains stretches

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Variations

e01x

Barbell bench press

Beginner - Elite
e13f

Dumbbell bench press

Beginner
e15c

Close grip bench press

Beginner
e141

Kettlebell bench press

Beginner
e15e

Floor dumbbell press

Beginner
e1bu

Machine chest press

Beginner
e15b

Incline barbell bench press

Beginner
e157

Incline dumbbell bench press

Beginner
e1bt

Neutral-grip machine chest press

Beginner
e064

Knee pushup

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.