Aaaahhh, The Good Ol' Bench Press

If I had a penny for all the times that I have had to spot guys, get spit on by guys, and nearly puke from their horrible breath.....I'd be rich. Then the two questions that have given me a few extra grey hairs, "Whadya bench?" and "How do I get my bench up?".

Lock-out position with standard 7-foot bar. Always make sure the weight is clamped on the bar. And always make sure you have either a spotter or are in a power cage with safety catches.

Bottom position: bring bar down to mid-chest (just above the nipple). Slowly descend for about three seconds so you don't crush yourself, and then pause a quarter-second, then in a smooth movement without acceleration, push the weight up for a two second count. Lifting tempos can vary, I've just found there's nothing safer than a 3 second down/2 second up tempo.

I would always kid my gym members, especially the football players, that one day they were going to find a pile of steel filings where their beloved apparatus used to be. Yes, the hack saw was coming out. Don't get me wrong, this standard exercise does work and I use it .... maybe three times a year. Once, of course, to check my 1RM to see my progress. I assure you that by using some inventive alternatives and having an open mind, you will get stronger and save your shoulders at the same time.

This is a different variation, using the bosu and dumbbells. Dumbbells require more muscle recruitment to steady and allign the dumbbells. You'll also be using more core strength to keep yourself in line and not sagging. If you've never tried this variation, you'll be amazed at how many core and lower body muscles are involved. Bury your ego, you won't be able to use a lot of weight if this is done properly. Try the same tempo as mentioned above.


 If enough of you ask I will tell you a great short story about my 48-year-old gym member (drug free; never used) who went from a pb of 360 lbs. to 408 lbs. in 10 weeks....and never did a bench press once. (Here's a hint: look at the background photo on my blog).

As for any bench press, you can see the start and finish positions in these photos. I kept my butt down on purpose in the 2nd photo, can you see the difference between the 1st and 2nd photo? Keep your body in a straight line from knees to chest. Don't let your butt sag, because it's going to want to cave in with the difficulty of this exercise.