Bench Press

explanation

The bench press is an upper-body weight training exercise in which the trainee presses a weight upwards while lying on a weight training bench. The exercise uses the pectoralis major, the anterior deltoids, and the triceps, among other stabilizing muscles. A barbell is generally used to hold the weight, but a pair of dumbbells can also be used. The barbell bench press is one of three lifts in the sport of powerlifting alongside the deadlift and squat, and is the only lift in the sport of Paralympic powerlifting. It is also used extensively in weight training, bodybuilding, and other types of training to develop the chest muscles.

Movement

The person performing the exercise lies on their back on a bench with a barbell grasped in both hands. They lower the barbell to chest level, then press the barbell upwards, extending the arms until the elbows are locked out. This is one repetition (rep). Powerlifting: Take position on a flat bench with body weight resting on buttocks and upper traps whilst driving feet into the floor. Movement requires the weight to be taken at full arms' length, lowered to upper torso, paused, and then lifted to starting position.

Muscles

A conventional bench press uses the pectoralis major, anterior deltoids, and coracobrachialis muscles to horizontally adduct the shoulder. It also uses predominantly triceps and anconeous to extend the elbows. Wider hand spacing places a greater emphasis on shoulder flexion and narrower hand spacing utilizes more elbow extension. Because of this, wider hand spacing is associated with training the pectorals and narrower hand spacing is associated with training the triceps. In addition to the major phasic (dynamic) muscles the bench press also uses tonic (stabilizing) muscles: scapular stabilizers (serratus anterior, middle and inferior trapezius), humeral head stabilizers (rotator cuff muscles), and core (transverse abdominis, obliques, multifidus, erector spinae, quadratus lumborum)