Bench Press
- Barbell
- Compound exercise
- Chest
For the bench press, you lie on a flat bench, lower the barbell under control to your lower chest and press it up until your arms are straight. It mainly trains the chest, with the triceps and front delts helping [1].
ChestTriceps, Shoulders
Drag to pause
- Main muscle
- Chest
- Supporting muscles
- Triceps, Shoulders
- Equipment
- Barbell and flat bench
- Reps
- 6–10 for muscle building
- Sets
- 3
- Rest
- 2:30
- Weight step
- 2.5 kg (5 lb)
How to do it
- 1
Pull your shoulder blades back and down, feet planted.
- 2
Lower the bar under control to your lower chest, no bounce.
- 3
Keep your elbows angled in, not flared to shoulder height.
Tempo of one rep
The figure shows a calm rep of 4.7 s. Tempo matters less than you’d think for growth; reps lasting 0.5 to 8 s build similar muscle [2].
Common mistakes
- Elbows flared to shoulder height.
The bar then lands too high, toward your neck, and your shoulders take more of the load. Keep your upper arms 45 to 75 degrees from your torso; the bar then touches at nipple height with your forearms vertical beneath it [3].
- Bouncing the bar off your chest.
The bounce takes work away from your chest at the bottom. Lower the bar until it touches, then press up from a dead stop [3].
- Hips lifting off the bench.
That turns the bench press into an arched press. Head, shoulders and hips stay on the bench, both feet flat on the floor [6]. A slight arch in your lower back is fine.
Sets and reps
How Tarvo plans the bench press as a compound lift, by goal and experience. Rest is the time between two sets.
| Goal | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Muscle building | 6–10 | 2:30 |
| Strength | 3–6 | 3:00 |
| Both | 5–8 | 2:30 |
| Experience | Sets |
|---|---|
| New to it | 2 |
| Some experience | 3 |
| Experienced | 4 |
How Tarvo progresses your bench press
The bench press goes up in steps of 2.5 kg (5 lb), one small plate per side. Until you reach the top of your rep range, you add one rep.
Once your first set hits the top of the range and the others are no more than two reps below it, the weight goes up by 2.5 kg (5 lb). Tarvo then works out from your strength how many reps you can do with the new weight.
Your next bench press
Enter what you did last time. Tarvo works out your target for the next session with the same rule as in the app.
All on target, with two left. So the same weight, one more rep.
Variations
Incline Dumbbell PressInclined bench, more upper chestQuestions
How many sets of bench press for muscle growth?
Three sets of 6 to 10 reps if you already have some experience. Together with your other chest exercises, Tarvo plans about 12 hard sets for the chest per week, a number in the range that works well [7].
How low should the bar go?
Until it touches your chest, around nipple height and below your shoulder joints. No bounce.
How wide should my grip be?
About 1.5 shoulder widths, not wider [4]. At the bottom, your forearms then sit roughly vertical under the bar.
What muscles does the bench press work?
Mainly the chest, on a flat bench especially its middle and lower part. The triceps and front delts help [1].
What weight should I start with?
One you can lift 6 to 10 times with clean form, with one or two reps left in the tank. From your second session on, Tarvo sets the target.
Sources
- [1]Rodríguez-Ridao et al. (2020). Effect of Five Bench Inclinations on the Electromyographic Activity of the Pectoralis Major, Anterior Deltoid, and Triceps Brachii during the Bench Press Exercise. Int J Environ Res Public Health. doi 10.3390/ijerph17197339Muscle activity at five bench angles. Flat works the middle and lower chest hardest, 30 degrees the upper chest.
- [2]Schoenfeld, Ogborn, Krieger (2015). Effect of repetition duration during resistance training on muscle hypertrophy. Sports Med. doi 10.1007/s40279-015-0304-0Meta-analysis. Reps lasting 0.5 to 8 seconds built similar muscle; much slower reps built less.
- [3]OpenExamPrep. NSCA-CPT Study Guide, Press and Pull Technique. open-exam-prep.com. open-exam-prep.comStudy guide for the NSCA trainer exam, second-hand. Upper arm 45 to 75 degrees from the torso, bar touches the chest without bouncing.
- [4]Green, Comfort (2007). The affect of grip width on bench press performance and risk of injury. Strength Cond J 29(5). lida.sport-iat.deReview. Beyond 1.5 shoulder widths, shoulder risk rises; narrower costs at most 5 percent of max strength.
- [5]Noteboom et al. (2024). Effects of bench press technique variations on musculoskeletal shoulder loads and potential injury risk. Front Physiol. doi 10.3389/fphys.2024.1393235Shoulder load model of the bench press. A grip narrower than 1.5 shoulder widths and retracted shoulder blades lower the pressure on the AC joint.
- [6]James Madison University, KIN 425. Exercise Technique and Spotting (Kursseite nach NSCA Essentials). educ.jmu.edu. educ.jmu.eduUniversity course page based on the NSCA textbook. Head, shoulders and hips stay on the bench, both feet on the floor.
- [7]Pelland, Remmert, Robinson, Hinson, Zourdos (2024). The Resistance Training Dose-Response: Meta-Regressions Exploring the Effects of Weekly Volume and Frequency on Muscle Hypertrophy and Strength Gain. SportRxiv (Vorabfassung). sportrxiv.orgMeta-regression of 67 studies. More sets bring more growth with diminishing returns; secondary muscles fit best counted as half.
Keep going
Tarvo sets your next bench press target.
From your last session, set by set. You just check them off.
One email when Tarvo launches. Nothing else. Privacy
Reviewed on · Sources