Men's Health April 1, 2026 0 Comments

Unlock the Secret to Crushing Your Barbell Bench Press and Skyrocket Your Chest Gains Starting Today

Ever wondered why the barbell bench press is hailed as the kingpin of upper-body strength moves? Well, it’s not just about slinging heavy weight — although you’ll definitely be doing that — it’s about unleashing a full-body symphony of muscles from your chest and triceps all the way down to your glutes. Yet, here’s the kicker: almost everyone who tries it for the first time looks like they’re wrestling with the bar rather than mastering it. I get it, it’s deceptively tricky. That chaotic form you see isn’t just holding back your gains; it’s a one-way ticket to injury town—especially when the weights start stacking up. Lucky for you, I’m here to break down the nuts and bolts of the bench press so you can crush every rep with power and finesse. Ready to transform that messy first attempt into a strength-building masterpiece? Let’s dive in and get you pressing like a pro. LEARN MORE

6 min read

THE BARBELL BENCH press is a cornerstone of strength training. It’s a move almost everyone includes in their program, since few lifts can match its sheer muscle-building capacity. You’ll move more weight with the bench than just about any other upper body movement. You hit not only your chest (pectorals), but also your triceps, shoulders, and an armada of supporting muscles from your core to your glutes.

“The bench press is definitely a gold standard upper-body lift,” acknowledges MH fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S. “But almost without fail, when people try it for the first time, their form is a complete mess.”

That’s a problem on two levels. First, messy form typically equals minimal gains. Second, it increases your chance of injury—especially once you add lots of weight to the equation. “The bench press is a deceptively complex exercise with a lot of nuance, making it tough to do correctly,” says Samuel. “But we are going to walk you through it so that you can get the most out of every rep and become super strong.”

How to Do the Barbell Bench Press

The Setup

A successful bench press begins long before you unrack the bar. “You’re not lying on the bench to get comfortable. You’re not there to take a nap,” says Samuel, explaining that positioning yourself on the bench casually and without forethought is a mistake. “You want to be in an active position, because this is a total body lift if you do it right.”

Follow these cues to position yourself actively, putting you in the right spot for heavy pressing.

Plant Your Feet on the Floor

“There are two ways to do this, and one is to drive your toes into the floor,” says Samuel, adding that preparing for the bench requires a “ground up” approach. “But what you really want to do is drive your heels into the ground to create a nice sturdy base.”

Squeeze Your Glutes

As you lie back on the bench, “make sure your body rests firmly on its surface, and then squeeze the heck out of your glutes,” says Samuel. “That will set you up in a very strong core position, which allows you to capture your lower body power.”

Drive Your Shoulders Into the Bench

“A lot of people, especially powerlifters, assume a massive arch when they’re lying on the bench,” says Samuel, adding that most people should focus less on the arch and more on the reason for it. “What they’re trying to do is drive their shoulders into the bench.” That help creates stability, and stability provides the foundation for power and strength.

Find Your Hand Position

People often grasp the bar with a very wide grip. “But what that does is create a smaller range of motion that won’t stimulate your chest as much,” says Samuel, explaining that such a grip also increases your risk of shoulder injury. Similarly, neither should you use a narrow hold on the bar unless your goal is to target your triceps, as those will be emphasized with a “close grip.”

To find your optimal, natural grip, position yourself beneath an unloaded bar and lower it all the way to your sternum. “Once there, play with your grip a bit until you find a hand position that allows your forearms to be completely perpendicular to the ground,” says Samuel. “That will give you optimal force angle to drive back up and maximally hit your chest, triceps, and shoulders.”

Use the Right Grip

In the world of bench pressing, two grips vie for supremacy. The first is an overhand (i.e., pronated) grip, in which you grasp the bar with your thumbs curling around the bar and over your fingers. That’s the most common grip and likely the one you’re already using. The other, more advanced option is known as the “death grip,” and it involves not wrapping your thumb around the bar.

The death (or suicide) grip does have some advantages—taking your thumb out of the equation allows the bar to sit right above your forearms, making it easier to keep them perpendicular to the floor—but the consequences of getting it wrong can be catastrophic. “The bar can fall on you,” says Samuel, who recommends sticking to the classic grip unless you are an elite lifter or have an incredibly experienced spotter.

Unrack the Bar

Before you remove it from the rack, go through the previous six points again, driving your heels into the ground, squeezing your glutes, pressing your shoulders into the bench, and tightening your grip. With that checklist confirmed, lift the bar over your chest. “When you have the bar in that starting position, rotate your elbows inward towards your hips and knees,” says Samuel, explaining that doing so will turn on your lats and increase your pressing power. “Finally, un-shrug your shoulders, lowering them until they’re flush with your back and pulling them as far down towards your glutes as possible.”

The Lift

The first thing you need to think about when performing reps is the path of the bar. “The biggest mistake people make is that they think the bar should come down to the middle of their chest with their arms at 90-degree angles to their body,” says Samuel. “Instead, I want your arms to form 45-degree angles to your body with your elbows traveling forward slightly as you lower the bar with control to your sternum or lower chest.”

Complete the rep by pressing up along the same path, ending with the bar above your chest with your arms straight (but not locked). “That’s how you should do the bench press every single time,” says Samuel. “Now here are the things you don’t want to do.”

Common Barbell Bench Mistakes

Your Butt Leaves the Bench

This typically happens when someone is fatigued, and they try to complete the rep by throwing their whole body into it. “People do it because it changes the angle of the torso and creates a smaller range of motion,” says Samuel. “But that is not going to give you the biggest bang for your buck, and it’s not going to allow you to capture any lower body power.”

Counteract this tendency by squeezing your glutes even harder as you press the bar up. That will help keep them glued to the bench and give you the kind of quality reps you want, says Samuel.

You Get ‘Happy Feet’

“This is when people keep changing the position of their feet, moving them all over the place as they perform reps,” says Samuel, adding that every time you do that, you change your base and waste energy. “Instead, focus on keeping your feet planted in the same place for the entire set.”

You Don’t Ground Your Feet

Lifting your feet off the floor or placing them on the bench is even worse than having happy feet. “This is the dumbest mistake I see people make,” says Samuel. There is a lift called the Larsen press, in which you hold your feet off the ground with straight legs as you perform the bench press, but that kind of foot and leg position should never happen in the classic exercise.

If you don’t keep your feet planted firmly on the ground, you won’t learn how to utilize your lower body to generate power and stability, says Samuel. That knowledge becomes increasingly essential as you lift progressively heavier loads.

You Don’t Hit Your Chest

Every guy wants to put up big numbers on the bench, but don’t load the bar to the point where you can’t perform your reps through a full range of motion. “If the bar isn’t hitting your chest, you’re not really doing the rep,” says Samuel, emphasizing that only being able to complete a partial range of motion means you need to go lighter. “Those bottom two to three inches are key for developing your chest and shoulders.”

You Flare Your Elbows

We’ve already explained the importance of keeping your elbows at a 45-degree angle on the way down, but a lot of guys abandon that cue on the way up, letting their elbows flare wide as they struggle to complete the rep.

“When you get to those tough reps, lock in your technique even more,” says Samuel, adding that you should try to “break the bar,” a form cue that involves exerting force on the bar like you’re trying to bend it in a U-shape towards your knees. “That will keep your elbows positioned correctly and allow you to generate maximum pushing force with the muscles that are supposed to drive the exercise—your chest, triceps, and shoulders.”

Trevor Thieme is a Los Angeles-based writer and strength coach, and a former fitness editor at Men’s Health. When not helping others get in shape, he splits his time between surfing, skiing, hiking, mountain biking, and trying to keep up with his 10-year-old daughter.