Below is a quick summary video you can watch on your cell phone or mobile device before you do a set of barbell bench press:

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Intro – How To Do A Barbell Bench Press

The most popular chest exercise on the market has to be the Barbell Bench Press!

No other exercise earns more outrageous respect than the bench press.

Outside the U.S., the bench press is known as the “Chest Press”.  Since I’m a trainer from the U.S., I will refer to this massive chest building exercise as the “Bench Press”.

1. Target Muscles For The Barbell Bench Press

The barbell bench press is designed to target the following muscles (listed in order of importance):

1st Target muscle of barbell bench press = Chest
2nd Target muscle of barbell bench press = Triceps
3rd  Target muscle of barbell bench press = Shoulders

2. Training Tips For The Barbell Bench Press

Barbell Bench Press Training Tip #1:
Many people try to isolate the chest muscle which is a complete mistake!

Barbell Bench Press Training Tip #2:
The muscles in the human body are not designed to work individually but together as a whole so be careful not to do too much isolation exercises when you are trying to build mass and strength in your chest.  Focus on compound pressing movements such as the bench press or any variation of it.

Barbell Bench Press Training Tip #3:
Make sure you grip the bar tightly so that your arms, shoulders and chest are properly flexed.

Barbell Bench Press Training Tip #4:
Maintain tension throughout the whole lift.  In my experience, most people will relax their muscles when the bar begins to touch their chest.  Do NOT let go of the muscle tension at this point.

Barbell Bench Press Training Tip #5:
You do not have to go to failure to get maximum gains.  Just do what you can and stop after you can’t do any more.

3. Safety Tips For The Barbell Bench Press

Barbell Bench Press Safety Training Tip #1:
Do not try to max out on the bench press every week.

Barbell Bench Press Training Tip #2:
Do not train chest more than twice a week because you will overtrain your shoulder joint and damage your rotator cuffs.

4. Bullshit Barbell Bench Press Myths

I’m amazed at the sheer number of bullshit myths that spread around the gym regarding the bench press.  Let’s bust some of these bullshit bench press myths once and for all:

Bullshit Bench Press Myth #1:
Doing a “wide grip bench press” will widen your chest muscle.

This myth is complete utter bullshit!

A wide grip bench does absolutely nothing for the width of your chest other than expose your shoulder joint to extremely high risk.  Most of the shoulder injuries in the gym that come from benching comes from holding a wide grip.

A wide grip is when you grip the bar with your hands outside the rings on the bar.

If you are under 6 feet (1.8288 m) tall, at least one of your fingers should touch the ring.

If you are over 6 feet (1.8288 m) tall, you will grip the bar with your hands outside the rings.

Each person’s chest is genetically shaped in a certain way.  Proper training can “enhance” or create the “illusion” that your chest is wider but the actual width of your chest is genetic.

This does not mean you should give up on trying to get a wide chest.  A full, thick chest always has the “illusion” of looking wider than a flat chest so don’t give up.

Bullshit Bench Press Myth #2:
Benching slowly will increase size and strength.

If you want size and strength, you must be fast and explosive with your bench.  Lower the bar slowly with control so you won’t mess up your shoulder, then explode the weight up with control, and contract your muscles fully.

Please review my video series on “The Truth About How To Build & Gain Muscle” so that you clearly understand how and why muscles grow bigger and stronger.

Bullshit Bench Press Myth #3:
Doing Negative Bench Presses will increase size and strength in your chest.

No it doesn’t.  A Negative Bench Presses is where you lower the weight slowly and train the negative portion (lowering phase) of the bench.

Negative benches are one of those things that sound good in theory but are actually useless in the real world.  My research and experiments have shown that Negative Benches produce very little results and a tremendous amount of injuries to the shoulder joint.

Bullshit Bench Press Myth #4:
Doing Partial Bench  Presses will increase size and strength in your chest.

When you are doing Partial Bench Presses, you are doing nothing more than an incomplete rep.  Stop the nonsense and do a full rep.  Muscles grow in size and strength from having your muscles contract through a full range of motion while under tension.

If you do decide to use Partial Rep Bench Presses, make sure you do them the way that powerlifters would on a power rack and use between 100-150% of your 1 RM and do NOT do more than 1-3 per set.

Bullshit Bench Press Myth #5:
Benching with your feet in the air will isolate and work your chest more.

This has to be one of the dumbest training tactics I have seen in the gym.  You will notice that only the guys with  small bench do stupid shit like this because they have never bench big before.  Otherwise, they would know that you can not bench heavy with your feet off the ground.

The only time I recommend people bench with their feet in the air is when they have lower back issues, paraplegic, or have some kind of lower body injury.

5. Personal Trainer Tai’s Review Of
The Barbell Bench Press

In my field research and testing, the barbell bench press is hands down the most powerful and effective exercise to build a strong and muscular chest.

6.  Additional Chest Exercises

Best Chest Exercises
— Barbell Decline Bench Press (Video)
— Dumbbell Flat Bench (Chest) Presses (Video)
— Dumbbell Decline Bench (Chest) Presses (Video)

Worst Chest Exercises
— Cable Crossovers (Video)
— Dumbbell Flyes (Video)
— Seated Pec Deck Machine (Video)
— Barbell Incline Bench Presses (Video)
— Incline Dumbbell Flyes (Video)

 

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