Question - How do I properly perform a bench press?

This is not a bodybuilding bench press, nor a power lifting bench press. This is a basic bench press.

1) Lie flat on the bench, ensuring that you are evenly balanced from left to right. Falling off of one side of the bench in the middle of a press is embarrassing.

2) Keep your feet on the floor at all times, and don't move them. Don't lift your feet in the air or rest them on the bench. Your knees should be bent at approx. 90 degrees, and your feet should be on either side of the bench, with your legs spread at approximately 30 degrees to either side. Find a comfortable stance and foot width, and maintain it throughout the motion.

3) Your glutes should stay in contact with the bench at all times, and should be contracted during all repetitions to help maintain a stable base.

4) Tuck your shoulder blades underneath your body and pinch them together and down. This will elevate the ribcage and stabilize the shoulder girdle. Maintain this state of tightness in your upper back/traps during all repetitions. This will also create a natural arch in the lower back, and will create a stable platform out of your upper back muscles for you to press from. This is called "shoulder joint retraction" and will make your rotator cuff very happy when benching.

5) Without allowing your shoulders to roll forward/upward and lose tightness, reach up with each hand and grasp it equidistant from the center of the bar. Use the outer "smooth ring" as a reference point. You should use a hand spacing that places your pinkies within an inch or 2 of the smooth ring. Wrap your thumbs around the bar and allow the bar to rest along the heel of the hand, rather than up near the knuckles.

6) Unrack the bar and move it so that the bar is directly over your lower chest area. Do not unrack the bar and immediately lower it to your chest from the rack in a diagonal line.

7) With the bar directly above your lower chest area, take a very deep breath, maintain tightness in the upper back and "pull" the bar to your chest in a controlled fashion. Your elbows should not flare or tuck excessively. Ideally, your upper arm bones will form an angle that is approximately 40-60 degrees from your torso. If your elbows flare out wide to the sides then you hit your pecs incredibly hard at the risk of your rotator cuff's health. If your elbows tuck into your body (20-30 degree angle) then you will place too much emphasis on your triceps and delts, and not enough on your pecs.

8) Touch the bar to your chest. TOUCH, not bounce.

9) Press steadily and evenly to complete lockout without hyperextending your elbows or lifting your shoulders from the bench.

10) On the final repetition of the set, do NOT press directly toward the rack. The last rep should look identical to the first. Once you lockout the final repetition directly above your lower chest, then allow the bar to fall back toward the rack.

Question - Can I do bench presses without having my thumbs wrapped around the bar, i.e. a "false" or "thumbless" grip?

The thumbless grip is used by people who have issues with their wrists. This can be obviated by simply resting the bar along the heel of your hands and wrapping your thumb properly around the bar, rather than holding the bar up near the knuckles, which will cause the wrist to bend backward uncomfortably.

The thumbless grip can also be dangerous!



Question - Should I do inclines instead of flat bench? I don't want to overdevelop my lower pecs or injure my shoulder

The over development of the lower pectoral and the possibly for shoulder injury are not 2 things that a lifter need concern himself with as long as technique is proper.

The incline press is an outstanding exercise, and its use is encouraged as training and conditioning progresses, but the potential pectoral and strength development of the flat barbell bench press is simply higher than the incline press, and as such, use of the flat press should be thoroughly explored before making the decision to refocus your supine pressing efforts elsewhere.

As for the shoulder injury issue, the vast vast vast majority of pectoral tears occur in one of the following scenarios

• The injured party uses steroids, and has developed his strength faster than his connective tissues can safely support.
• The injured party uses weights that are far too heavy for him, and he uses them far too often.
• The injured party uses poor technique, frequently bouncing the weight off his chest
• The injured party has poorly developed upper back musculature, which makes all supine pressing a relatively precarious event.

Question - Should I pause while benching?

Pausing at the chest during a bench press is the primary technique adjustment of the power lifter. In order to get "3 whites", the power lifter must lower the bar to the chest and hold it there briefly until the official signals him to press. For a power lifter, it is a necessity to pause their bench press during a contest.

During training, there are advantages and disadvantages to pausing (or not pausing). For now, those advantages and disadvantages are irrelevant. Lower the bar to your lower pectoral region and touch very lightly without bouncing. Don't worry about pausing.

Question - What are the most common errors in benching, and why do they occur?

1) Hip hop bench press - This occurs because you shorten the ROM by several inches when you pop your hips off the bench, and also allows for hip drive to actually assist. You won't see too many people doing a "hip hop" without doing a bounce off their chest.

This results in the joyously humorous movement known as the "Hip Hop Bounce press". Don't correct people that do this. You simply can't fix "retarded".

2) Bouncing - This occurs because people want to be able to use stretch reflex as well as the flexibility and rebound properties of the sternum and ribcage to help get the bar up. The alternative, "using their pectorals, delts and lats", just obviously isn't their preferred method.

3) Lifting one leg while benching - this usually occurs in the novice who has asymmetrical strength/coordination/flexibility. The stronger side arm presses the bar too fast, and the bar tips toward the weaker side. In an attempt to "rebalance" themselves, they lift the opposite leg, which, of course, doesn't work.

4) Lowering the bar/pressing the bar unevenly - happens for the same reasons as the "lift one leg". One side will be stronger or more flexible, so the bar will typically be lowered farther on this side than the weak/tight side. While pressing, one side will shoot up and the other side (the weak side) gets stuck. This is a shoulder joint wreck waiting to happen. If you have issues with this, and you have been working on your barbell bench press technique for a few months, then IMMEDIATELY get rid of the bar and do 2 exercises: DB presses and dips. If you're crooked on these, you will be forced to correct the asymmetry.

5) Not tucking your shoulder blades properly - this leads to a whole host of problems:

• If one shoulder blade is tucked and the other isn't, then one shoulder joint is stable and the other is loose. Again, this is a shoulder-joint train wreck waiting to happen.
• If your shoulder blades aren't tucked, then your base will NOT be stable, and you will be pressing from a big pile of mush. Imagine standing on a row boat in a calm pond. If you are balanced properly on the rowboat (stable), you can jump straight up into the air without too much issue. Now imagine standing on the rowboat, but you are off balance. One side is lower than the other side. Try and jump...you can't generate any type of pressure or force when you press off of an unstable base. Your shoulder blades are the same way. If they are loose, then they can wobble around, and you cannot press properly or with any power, not to mention the rotator cuff injuries you open yourself up to with this kind of unstable position.

Question - I have a sticking point in my bench press, how do I fix it?

In a normal person who is doing a standard grip bench press, the lifter will get usually stuck a few inches off of their chest. At the very lowest point in the lift, the lats and anterior delts are going to be strong relative to the pecs and triceps, which will be weaker at this point in the motion. As you press the bar from your chest, the pectorals begin to take over the motion, and eventually "hand it off" to the triceps.

People make the mistake of assuming that they can automatically determine the weak point just by knowing where in the motion the sticking point occurs. Professional powerlifters who use bench press shirts know that a poor lockout is caused by triceps that aren't strong enough (relative to the spring in the shirt and the strength in their pecs). However, in a non-assisted athlete, this determination can NOT be made without examing the technique across a full range of motion, as well as examining strength in the various muscle-specific strength benchmarks.

In other words, if someone tells you what your weak muscles are just by reading where in the bench press motion you get stuck, then they are full of crap. There is a lot more than meets the eye. Something can look like a pork chop, but smell and taste like chicken.

Regardless, your sticking point exists not because one muscle is weaker than another, but simply because you are untrained. Spend at least 4-6 months of steady, consistent pressing, both supine (Bench press) and overhead, and then we can worry about where your sticking point is.

This guy does a good job of demonstrating proper form for the bench press. He throws in a one second pause at the bottom however, while I prefer the touch and go. I do like the two seconds up, two seconds down; forces you to focus on form and control rather than just slinging the bar around like an epileptic.

Question - How do I perform a deadlift properly?

The short version: "Grip it and rip it"

The long, detailed version: Keep your shoulders in position, scapulas directly over (shoulders slightly in front of) the bar. This is a critical difference in the clean and the deadlift: the shoulders stay out over the bar longer in a clean to facilitate the second pull, but the deadlift begins the rotation back lower on the thigh. This may be the source of the misperception of the shoulder position. But the ride up from the floor to the lower thigh is the same in both. Even sumo deadlifts look the same off the floor, although it is harder to see the scapula position with the back in a more vertical position.

Another point is that if the deadlift is viewed from the side of the supine hand, the shoulder on that side is not as far forward due to the external rotation of the humerus, and the rest of the arm is further back because the elbow is pointed back instead of out.

Question - Do I need to deweight between reps of a deadlift?

Yes. What you do as a physique athlete in future years is entirely up to you, but in order to properly learn and reinforce proper technique, you MUST begin all deadlifts from a deadlift position, bar on the floor, motionless.

Watch someone perform a set of 8 "touch-n-go" reps. Specifically, look at their body positioning at the beginning of the first rep, relative to the rest of the repetitions in the set. Notice how the first rep looks very dissimilar to the 2nd rep, as well as all subsequent reps? You only perform 1 proper rep this way, and 7 marginal reps. This is bad news because the motor skills learned during that 1 proper rep will get overwhelmed by the improper performance during the other 7 reps.

By deweighting, you also limit the amount of weight you can use, because the stretch reflex and the bouncing of the weights off the floor will not occur. This will save your lower back from potential injury.

Pull from the floor, every single set, every single repetition.

Question - Should I do sumo deadlifts, conventional deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts (RDL) or stiff-legged deadlifts (SLDL)?

The sumo deadlift, RDL and SLDL are fantastic assistance exercises for the hamstrings, glutes, but the conventional deadlift is the preferred variation for general strength building.

Question - I am having problems with my grip during deadlifts, what should I do?

• Get some chalk
• Use a double-overhand grip during ALL ramping sets, then switch to alternate (over/under) on your heavier sets. This will help develop your grip
• Get some chalk

Straps can be useful, but the grip builds so fast there's no reason for not developing it.

Question - Should I use an alternating mixed grip or a double overhand or underhand grip during deadlifts?

To promote a stronger grip, perform as many of your sets as possible with a double overhand grip using chalk. Once you get to the heavier sets, you will probably need to use a mixed grip because you will not be able to pull effectively from the floor with a conventional grip. Never use a double underhand grip during deadlifts. This is asking for trouble, as well as a torn biceps tendon.

Question - My traps are growing unevenly from using a mixed grip. What can I do to fix my trap development?

Before I address this, I'm going to state that I think this is, for the most part, a non-issue. However, I'll entertain the several individuals who honestly think this is a problem worth addressing.

• Do all warm up and ramping sets with a double overhand grip. This will help stress both traps equally, as well as help develop your grip
• Switch your over/under hands every rep when you reset your grip. i.e. left over/right under for rep 1, left under/right over for rep 2.
• Another option for someone who is a bit more advanced is to do shrugs with the exact opposite grip you are using now for deadlifts, right after you're done with your deadlifts. Take total workload into account, i.e. weight lifted on deadlift total = weight lifting on shrugs with opposite grip. Include your warm ups in total weight.

Question - Should I use the 35s or 25s for deadlifts, so I can get a greater range of motion (ROM)? No. Use the 45s. Doing what amounts to "platform deadlifts" is not necessary nor desirable. Do the exercise with the standard size plate on either side of the bar. You can incorporate platform deadlifts, or deadlifts with smaller plates, later on once you have some additional time under the bar, supposing you are trying to be a powerlifter and need the additional training benefits.

Question - Can I do trap bar deadlifts instead?

Trap bar deadlifts are an outstanding exercise to use as an assistance motion for the basic deadlift and the squat. They can sometimes be used by someone who can't normally squat or deadlift due to some knee, shoulder or back problems. They are also great for farmer's walks and shrugs.

However, the trap bar is not a lift used as a core strength and size building exercise. It is a great exercise for both strength and mass, but it's an exercise best used by advanced lifters.

Question - My hands hurt and I'm getting really bad callouses. Can I use gloves?

Those who are purely bodybuilders will probably end up gravitating toward this, but before you go this route, consider a few things

• The gloves make the bar larger in your hands, which makes it tougher to hold
• Gloves stop some callouses, but won't stop all of them
• Your grip strength will be very problematic, as you will almost always be forced to use straps when gloves are used.

The reason you are getting callouses, aside from potential lack of chalk, is that you are holding the bar too high, up near the palm of your hand. The bar is going to pull downward until it gets into the "crotch" of your hand next to the knuckles. Chalk up and grip the bar down near the knuckle to start with, and you will save yourself a lot of pain and agony in the hands. With diligent chalk use, proper grip, and a little moisturizer in your hands when you wash, you can avoid the big nasty callouses and you won't have to worry about creating a run in your pantyhose.

Question - How close should the bar be to my shins while I perform the deadlift?

The bar should damn near scrape your shins all the way up and all the way down. In doing this, you will help ensure a few things

• Your scapula stay above the bar during the initial pull to the knees
• Your glutes, hams and lower back are in a better position of support
• You are more easily able to maintain a lower back arch

The initial pull involves a lot of leg drive, as well as what could be referred to as "shoulder drive", where you use your hips to pull your shoulders back by performing hip extension. Wondering why your lats and traps get sore during deadlifts? It's during this phase, where your traps and lats have to pull the bar back into your body, when the bar wants to try to pull you forward.

Your hips keep your torso from leaning forward (which is bad), and your traps and lats keep your shoulder girdle pulled back and in place, which, in turn, keeps the bar close to your body which, in turn, helps make life easier on your hips and lower back.

If the bar drifts out away from your shins during the deadlift, you increase the distance between the "puller" (your hips) and the "pull-ee" (the bar). As a result, you are leaned over more (torso at < 45 degrees above parallel), and this is a far less powerful position to be in than the one where you are sitting back slightly (torso > 45 degrees above parallel).

Keep the bar close, and you will use more weight and you'll do so in a safer manner. Keep the bar farther away from your body, and you will use LESS weight, but it'll be MORE dangerous.

The choice seems simple enough to me. Lift more weight safely, or lift less weight and possibly end your lifting career.

Here's a good deadlift video. I can't see him from the side, but it looks as though his shoulders are slightly ahead of the bar, which is the optimal starting position. He keeps it close to his legs too, for max leverage and minimum back strain.

Bill Starr's Intermediate 5x5 Workout

This weight training routine is easy to understand and illustrates the importance of making systematic progression to drive size and strength gains. I suggest you read How to Get Big and Strong for a better understanding of how weight training works to make you bigger and stronger.

This is only one version of Bill Starr's 5x5 workouts and is designed for the intermediate lifter. It's important to keep in mind that training needs change with time. If you follow any routine blindly without paying attention to your body, you'll end up stalling out.

A good way to apply this program is to do it progressively for 6 weeks, backup 2 weeks for a deload, progress for 6 weeks, backup 2, etc. like so:

Program Basics

This program is based on weekly linear progress. Poundages are figured off your current 5 rep maxes (5RM). You work up to them systematically by increasing the weight in steady increments. You then extend your 5RM before doing a 'deload' where you reset back 2 weeks and start the cycle all over again.

If you miss reps, keep the weight constant the next week and don't move up until you get all 5x5. This workout is meant to get you big and strong and training correctly.

Take 2-5 minutes between sets. I do about a 1-1.5 minutes between everything except for squats or deads, where I rest 2-3 minutes.

Before beginning it's useful to know your real 5 rep max in each lift. If you don't know, it might be useful to test your lifts first or start light. The whole key is not getting under the bar once with heavy weight, but getting under it frequently and systematically increasing the weight, starting within your limits and slowly expanding.

The Workout Schedule

Don't worry if it seems confusing here; there's a spreadsheet you can download at the end:

Monday

• Squat: 5 sets of 5
• Bench Press: 5 sets of 5
• Barbell Row: 5 sets of 5
• Assistance (optional): 2 sets of weighted hypers and 4 sets of weighted sit-ups

Wednesday

• Squat: 4 sets of 5; First 3 sets are the same as Monday, the 4th set is repeating the 3rd set again
• Incline Bench or Military Press
• Deadlifts: 4 sets of 5
• Assistance (optional): 3 sets of sit-ups

Friday

• Squat: 4 sets of 5, 1 set of 3, 1 set of 8; First 4 sets are the same as Monday's, the triple is 2.5% above your Monday top set of 5, use the weight from the 3rd set for a final set of 8
• Bench Press: 4 sets of 5, 1 set of 3, 1 set of 8; First 4 sets are the same as Monday's, the triple is 2.5% above your Monday top set of 5, use the weight from the 3rd set for a final set of 8
• Barbell Row: 4 sets of 5, 1 set of 3, 1 set of 8; First 4 sets are the same as Monday's, the triple is 2.5% above your Monday top set of 5, use the weight from the 3rd set for a final set of 8
• Assistance (optional): 3 sets of weighted dips (5-8 reps), 3 sets of barbell curls, and 3 sets of triceps extensions (8 reps)

This workout is preprogrammed for weekly increases of 2.5% of your top set of 5 on Monday. So you do 100lbs for 5 on your top set on Monday, on Friday you'll do three reps with 2.5% more, or 102.5. The next Monday you come back and do 102.5 for your heavy set of 5, that Friday the three reps are at 105 and so on. For the non-squat Wednesday lifts you just increase by the percentage week to week.

You continue this program until it stops working. If you're adding 2.5% a week to your big lifts and eating enough to gain weight, there's nothing else you can do from a program perspective to encourage more muscular weight gain. When you finally find yourself stalling, changing some variables (i.e. use 3x10) and/or some assistance lifts (front squat on Wed, lockouts instead of overhead) etc. might get you back to making gains.

Impact of Weight Gain/Loss and Experience Level:

You'll have an easier time getting stronger and making a progression if you're eating enough to increase you weight during the program. If you aren't gaining weight, you aren't eating enough calories. Eat more!

Experience level matters too. Someone closer to their potential (someone who has already been lifting several years) is going to have less progression than someone with 6 (or less) months of training.

If you're trying to lose weight and using this program you might want to start significantly lighter or make smaller jumps week to week. The 200 pound 5 rep max squat at a body weight of 200 is a stronger lift at a lighter body weight. So if you're losing weight, you probably want think about starting lighter because your 5RM estimates won't be accurate as your weight changes.

Ramping Weights

This is no more than increasing your weight set to set. If your top set of 5 is 315, you might go 135, 185, 225, 275, and then 315, all for 5 reps. There are several reasons for this: warming up; getting a lot of practice; and contributing to workload without raising it so high that fatigue becomes a factor.

Typical jumps between sets can be somewhere between 10-15% based on your top set (or 12.5% and round up or down).

Other Factors

If you get stuck early it's because you started too heavy. While there's no negative to starting a bit more conservatively, starting too aggressively can kill the whole thing.

In regards to the squatting, if you haven't squatted at all, or don't squat full range, it can be an issue. It's not that people can't squat 3x per week - anyone can. It's a matter of conditioning someone to be able to do it at the volume and intensities that this program calls for and acclimating to it. If you start to get a chronic aching and soreness in the joints/tendons/muscles etc... you need to back off. That doesn't mean you get a little sore in week 1 and quit. Just lighten the poundages until your body gets acclimated.

The Lifts

Squats - these should be full range squats - that means as low as you can go, which for almost everyone is past parallel. If you think this is bad for your knees, you and whoever told you that are relying on an old wives' tale. Anyone who knows human kinetics will tell you that below parallel is MUCH safer on the knees. Parallel and above put all the stress right on the joint and don't allow proper transfer of the load to the rest of your body. So go down until your ass scraps the floor!

Bench Press - Lie flat, tuck your glutes, arch your back, and pinch your shoulder blades together. Lower the weight slowly, touch the chest, and then press upward. Press steadily and evenly to complete lockout without hyper-extending your elbows or lifting your shoulders from the bench.

Deadlifts - each rep is rested fully on the floor. No touch and go. This is called the 'dead' lift because the weight is 'dead' on the ground. You can touch and go warm ups but that's it.

Military Press - standing overhead presses, not seated. Supporting weight overhead is a fundamental exercise and stimulates the whole body. Even better, do a Clean to Press, which I added in the second version of the spreadsheet.

Barbell Rows - Bend to 90 degrees and accelerate the weight into your body. If these hurt your back, you can do seated rows on a machine.

Common Sense

You should know how to do the lifts before starting the program. Start light and learn. Don't include brand new compound lifts that have you training near your limit. Compound lifts load the entire body and are very effective. If you have a weak link, you'll find it, and it might result in you getting hurt.

Time Between Sets

Don't be lazy, but don't rush. Maybe on the lightest sets you take a minute, but most sets will be 2-5 minute range with 2 being between fairly easy sets and 5 being after a heavy set in preparation for another very serious effort.

Diet

This depends on whether you're trying to gain muscle or lose fat. If you want to gain muscle, you need to eat! Most people go wrong here. If caloric excess is present and your training stinks, you gain fat. If caloric excess is present and training is good, you gain muscles.

There's nothing any program can do to make you bigger if you don't eat. For the purposes of getting big and strong, it's better to eat McDonald's and KFC all day long than not eat enough Zen clean ultra pure all natural food. Eating like a slob will work better than not eating enough. If you choose to eat squeaky clean, kudos to you, but it's not critical to putting on muscle.

This is a mass GAINING program, not a slimming down one! As you become more experienced with it, you can adapt it for shaping and weight loss later.

Substituting Exercises

Don't mess with the exercises. Every weight lifter I know seems to have an overwhelming desire to customize everything and an egotistical belief that they know better. Don't listen to the naysayers who show up to the gym 5 days a week and look the same as they did 2 years ago.

The guy who is responsible for this program (Bill Starr) is of the best on the planet at bulking lifters and making people stronger. If you want to chin on Wednesday or do a few sets of pulldowns/ups that's fine. Core work is always fine. Cardio is fine. In a nutshell, put your trust in some of the better coaches on the planet and enjoy the results.

New or Beginner Lifters

This is not a beginner program. You'll make faster progress with less workload on a true beginner program. I recommend Rippetoe's Starting Strength for beginners. It's critical to learn the lifts correctly and get started on a good program. Rippetoe is the man at coaching beginners and putting muscle on them, with 30-40 pounds in 4-6 months being quite normal. The book will teach you all the lifts. The book covers everything to get you set up on a program that is time proven as one of the best beginner programs available.

Advanced Lifters

For someone who's been lifting a longer time, linear progress doesn't work as well. You want to do this for as long as you can. That means resetting and running at your records, changing some exercises, rep ranges, whatever, just keep trying to get some linear progress as you want to milk this kind of progression for all it's worth. After a while it will become pretty obvious this doesn't work for you any more. Welcome to periodization. But that's another topic....

You'll need Microsoft Excel or a compatible spreadsheet program to view these files. If you don't have Excel, you can download Excel Viewer for free.

Sample Template

Here's a downloadable Microsoft Excel file that calculates your poundages and plots out what this program might look like.

NutriBody Addendum:
Here's another version of the spreadsheet where I added in Clean to Press for shoulder work. This spreadsheet only lists exercise poundages; I didn't include tonnage as in the original above.

Good luck and get bigger!

This article is compiled from Madcow's original post on Geocities, which is now gone. Props to Madcow!