Body Position on the Bench Press

Last week's exercise technique post covered the bench press technique. However, one aspect that I failed to cover was the body position on the bench, which is pretty important. The picture shows the proper set-up.




•There are four points of contact: two feet, hips, and shoulder blades.
• Keep feet on the ground and strongly drive feet into the ground.
• Keep hips on the bench, but stabilize them by keeping the thighs and glutes tight.
• Strongly depress and retract the shoulder blades down into the bench. This will cause the lower back to arch.

Maintaining stability of the body is very important in order for the muscles that move the arms to have a solid foundation to pull against.