The chest bench press is perhaps one of the exercises that is most present in the pectoral routines of all those who work our muscles. Precisely the fact of being the star of the breast routines does not make it an exercise that we all know how to perform in the best possible way. So on this occasion we want to stop in some points to take into account to improve its execution and avoid hurting us in the attempt.

At first glance it seems like a simple exercise that consists simply of lying on your back on a bench, grabbing the bar with the corresponding dumbbells, and pushing up and down. Explained in this way seems simple, but there are many variables that we must take into account, such as the placement of the legs, back, arms to protect the shoulders … Also, we must not forget that it is necessary that we can perform the force Necessary to overcome the resistance of the load.

Secure your back to the bank

One thing to keep in mind when making the pectoral press is to have your back well secured in the bank. To achieve this we can have several techniques. One is to slightly raise your legs and keep them folded throughout the exercise. This will prevent us from bending our back and have it fully supported on the bench. But by keeping our legs high we lose an important point of support that can make the shoulders that hold the whole thrust and can come to resent.

To avoid this another alternative to secure the back to the bench is, before grasping the weight, throw the arms back as if we were with the bar. What we do will be a kind of hug to the bench with our arms. To do this we will be lying on our backs and we will push our shoulders back until the bench is wedged between the two shoulder blades. This way we will force the whole back and it is necessary that we maintain this movement and this posture throughout the exercise to avoid hurting us in the back and shoulders.

Support legs on the floor to relieve tension

Supporting the legs on the floor, as we have discussed above, is a good way to relieve tension on the shoulders. Especially when lifting a heavy load this is necessary, as it is important to distribute tension between all parts of the body. For this we will keep our feet on the ground, our back supported as we said before. In this way what we will achieve will be to balance the tension, to better raise the load and to perform the activity with a more direct action of the pectoral and minor of the shoulder.

Control the rise and fall of the weight

Another way to improve the pectoral press is to raise and lower the load in the proper manner. The best way to do this is to drop the weight slowly, causing the back muscles to contract. The chest rises and the resistance is greater. When lifting the load we must do the opposite, that is, we have to contract the muscles of the chest and let those of the back rest completely on the bench. Dropping the bar and bouncing against the chest is a high risk when suffering from a back injury due to poor performance.

Change the grip to cause the shoulder to intervene less

The way to grab the bar is important. It is not advisable that the grip is too open, since we will be limiting the range of movement and thus increasing shoulder overload. It is recommended that the grip be more closed, that is, the hands are closer together, that is, parallel to the chest. In this way the movement will be more natural and will allow all the tension to be suffered by the part of the chest and not the shoulders.