Most people don't know how to bench press with the proper bench press form. For example, do you ever feel pinching or pain in your shoulder when you bench press? Or maybe it activates your shoulders and triceps more than the chest? Or maybe every time you start going heavy you end up hurting yourself. This isn’t because the bench press is a bad exercise, it’s just that most people do it wrong. There are 5 mistakes almost everyone makes with their bench press technique — be it on the barbell bench press or Smith machine bench press. Fix these bench press form mistakes, and I guarantee your shoulders will thank you, and you’ll start to feel your chest activating like never before. Here’s how to bench press for chest growth.

Timestamps:
0:00 - Fix 1
2:15 - Fix 2
3:43 - Fix 3
5:12 - Fix 4
6:28 - Fix 5

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The first bench press form mistake has to do with your elbow angle. If you use too wide of an elbow angle, you’re going to have a very hard time bringing the bar all the way down to your chest and doing so can create a lot of strain on the shoulders. Whereas a tucked elbow angle will help you get deeper and better activate your chest since it usually aligns with the direction that most people's chest fibers run. To find the perfect elbow angle for you, focus on touching your lower chest or nipples with the bar when performing the barbell bench press, then your elbows should naturally end up in the right place. 

But what if you bench on the Smith Machine? For angled Smith machines: Face the same direction that the Smith machine path is angled so that the bar moves down and slightly forward on the way down. At the bottom position the bar should touch the level of your lower chest right around your sternum. For straight up and down Smith machines have the bar touch bit higher right around the level of your mid chest.

Now in order to properly do the previous bench press technique tip, you need to fix your grip. Next time you’re on the bench, rest the bar on your lower chest. At this bottom position your wrist, forearms, and elbow should ideally be straight up and down stacked directly under the bar. However far away your hands need to be to accomplish that is your ideal grip width.

There’s a common mistake you want to avoid on the way up the barbell bench press: letting your shoulders take over. To prevent that, start by creating a “proud chest” by sticking your chest up towards the ceiling. Then, use your back muscles to pull the bar down to your chest as if you were doing a row, squeezing your shoulder blades together and keeping your chest up and proud. Lightly touch the bar with your chest, and then on the way up, think about squeezing your biceps into the sides of your chest as if you were trying to touch your biceps together. You may have to lighten the weight to do this properly.

How to bench press for chest growth? It’s about the setup. You want to create stability when you bench press. Use a wide stance with your feet planted under your knees. Push your knees out and lightly drive your feet forward to activate your quads and glutes. For the upper body, activate your lats by bringing your armpits down towards your hips. Then, after you unrack it, squeeze the bar hard and think about twisting your hands outwards as if you were trying to bend the bar into a U shape towards your feet. Take a deep breath into your stomach, and brace your core as if you coughed really hard. 

So the last fix may not be what you’re expecting. See, research shows free weights lead to similar growth as machines. So if you apply all the fixes I mentioned in this article yet you’re still having trouble with the bench press, then your body honestly just may not be well suited to bench press. Unless you’re a competitive powerlifter, you shouldn’t feel like you have to bench press. You can still make just as good of gains with chest machines or even dumbbells where your joints can move a lot more freely. Also, consider playing with the range of motion. You’d be surprised with how deep you actually have to go in order to mimic touching your chest during the bench press. So if going all the way down when benching if that’s what aggravates your shoulder or you just don’t have the mobility for that yet, stop an inch or two short.

Regardless of what exercise you choose to do, you always need to make sure you’re using the proper form. Poor technique is the single biggest reason why many people end up hurting themselves in the gym or just don’t see very good results from their workouts.

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