Bench Press Mistakes: 8 Fixes for Bigger Chest

Featured strength equipment: bench press, weight bench, barbell, exercise machines, dumbbells, free weights, and decline bench press

The bench press is without doubt the single most popular progressive resistance exercise. Only the biceps curl, and all its variants, could come close to rivaling the bench press in popularity. Why is the bench press so popular? There are many contributing factors, but likely the biggest single reason for benching popularity is that bench presses are comfortable. You lie down on a padded weight bench and raise and lower the arms. Now compare this to the horrific squat where you have a barbell draped around your neck as you fight for balance, or the equally horrific deadlift where you pull your guts out.

By comparison, bench presses are downright comfortable and as close to fun as there is in progressive resistance exercise. Resistance training is, when you think about it, all about struggle and resistance. It is, by comparison, so much more enjoyable to perform resistance exercises sitting down and the only thing better than exercising sitting down is exercising lying down. Unfortunately for 90% of the bench-pressing populace, the results derived are decidedly inferior. Why? We can think of eight common bench press mistakes right off the top of our head. Identifying the flaws illuminates the proper opposite.

Bench Press Mistake 1: Partial Reps

Walk into any busy commercial gym and observe the bench pressers. The single most common bench press sin is the partial repetition. A proper bench press is lowered all the way down and touches the inflated chest on each and every rep. A proper bench press is locked out fully and completely on every single rep. The seductive lure of partial reps is that when you perform a partial rep the bench presser can handle a lot more poundage. The macho gym lifter intent on impressing the other gym lifters loves partial reps, yet from a muscle-building standpoint partial reps are decidedly inferior. Partial reps stress tendons and ligaments far more than pec and front delt muscles. Without a hard lockout there is very little triceps stimulation. Partial reps yield partial results.

Solution: lower the weightlifting bar until it touches the chest, pause or don’t pause, then push to full and complete lockout on every single rep.

Bench Press Mistake 2: Thinking Exercise Machines Are as Good as Free Weights

It would be nice if all results were equal, regardless of the training tool selected. In the world of bench-pressing, we have a veritable galaxy of bench press machines and devices. The bench press imitation machine is the Mercedes Benz of exercise machines and can easily cost in excess of $3,000. Machine makers would have you believe that bench pressing on a machine is just as productive as dumbbell or barbell bench pressing, and that is a myth.

The very thing that makes exercise machines fun to use, their ball-bearing smoothness and frozen motor pathway, plus that plush padded seat, dilutes results: for muscle building purposes you do not want to make progressive resistance training easier. With a bench press machine or device, all you do is push or pull. With free weights you have to control and contain side-to-side movement; free weights stimulate muscle stabilizers in a way that machines cannot.

Solution: free-weight bench pressing is the meat and potatoes; machine benching is dessert. Always eat the entrée first and, if you still have room, eat dessert.

Bench Press Mistake 3: Ignoring the Negative

Really good bench pressers stress the negative portion of the bench rep; really bad bench pressers ignore the negative portion of the bench press rep. If you were to observe a world-record level bench presser working out, you would notice how controlled, deliberate, careful and precise they treat the negative. Really good benchers lower slowly and explode the push phase; really bad benchers lower quickly and struggle and contort on the push phase.

The pros know that by lowering with tremendous muscle tension, tremendous muscular benefit is accumulated: lats and triceps are heavily activated; these are the “braking muscles.” Great bench pressers have great lats and triceps because these muscles resist the negative. Pull the bar down, exert resisting tension; don’t just relax your muscles and allow gravity to do the work. Don’t throw away the muscle-building attributes associated with a proper bench press negative.

Solution: as the barbell, dumbbells or machine handles are being lowered, exert tension. Pull the weight down. The closer to the chest, the slower the bar speed.

Bench Press Mistake 4: Obvious Technical Flaws

Do not flare the elbows, raise the butt off the bench or bounce reps off the chest. The purposeful flaring of the elbows while barbell bench pressing dates back to the 1960s. Theoretically, flared elbows isolate the pecs to a greater degree. The problem is that this technique compromises poundage to an unacceptable degree. Drastically reduced poundage diminishes the muscle-building benefits.

Benchers will lift their butt off the bench in order to turn a flat bench into the easier decline bench press. The butt has to stay on the bench at all times; no exceptions. Many bench pressers have become experts at bouncing the barbell off their chest on each rep. The bounce creates momentum and makes the bench press way easier. Way easier is bad for building chest and arm muscles. One favorite trick is to combine partial reps with a bounce and a butt raise. This is bench press malpractice.

Solution: don’t flare the elbows, don’t lift your butt off the bench, and don’t bounce reps off your chest.

Bench Press Mistake 5: Touch-and-Go All the Time

Most bench pressers use the touch-and-go bench press technique exclusively. The touch-and-go bench is yet another technique designed to make bench pressing easier. The polar opposite of touch-and-go is pausing on the chest. Most bench pressers avoid pausing because of how dramatically it affects poundage-handling ability. Pausing bench reps makes the push off the chest maximally difficult, which is precisely what we want for maximum chest building. Do not use ridiculously long pauses: pause just for an instant. Lower with precision and control, pause for the briefest instant on the maximally expanded chest before exploding the bar upward.

Solution: learn how to pause bench. No need for long pauses; long pauses destroy poundage-handling ability. Lower with control, briefly pause, then explode.

Bench Press Mistake 6: Avoidance of Dumbbell Benching

A strong case could be made that proper dumbbell bench pressing is the most effective and result-producing of all bench press types. Dumbbell-benching forces each arm to carry its fair share. Dumbbells allow the bench presser to lower further, increasing the pre-stretch. A deep stretch increases the muscle-building effectiveness. Dumbbells free the arms and wrists to rotate as they push and lower; the barbell locks the hands and wrists into a fixed position.

All the techniques outlined for barbell benching apply to dumbbell bench pressing. For someone that has been using barbells or machines exclusively, a dose of dumbbell bench pressing will most certainly break you through to the next level of chest development.

Solution: lower bells all the way to the chest, feel the stretch, pause, push to full lockout. Six weeks of dumbbell benching will blow up pecs, delts, and triceps.

Bench Press Mistake 7: Sticking with the Same Bench Routine Too Long

Don’t turn a favored bench press routine into a religion. Bodybuilders are creatures of habit and when they find a particular routine, one that generates results, they tend to stick with it long after the results have dried up. This is not to say that at some point in the future this same routine will, once again, be effective. However, the human body, given time, will neutralize the positive effects of the most sophisticated training routines. Nowhere is this more true than in bench pressing. Bodybuilders will use a favored bench routine for years. Why? Because they like it. It is comfortable, fun, familiar and they are pretty good at it. The body needs to be shocked out of its complacency, challenged, thrown off balance and stressed. On average, a bench press training routine should be changed every 6-8 weeks.

Solution: develop a collection of bench press routines that can be periodically rotated. Make sure the new routine differs significantly from the current stale one.

Bench Press Mistake 8: No Bench Press Preplanning

One sure-fire way for a serious bodybuilder to bring up his pecs, front delts and triceps to a significant degree is to get a significantly bigger bench press. Breakthroughs in strength and power always result in breakthroughs in muscle size. Want bigger muscles? Get way stronger. It really is that simple.

Competitive bench pressers increase their bench press by having a periodized game plan. The competitive powerlifter sets a realistic bench goal into a timeframe and generates a week-by-week plan of attack. Most bodybuilders don’t have any preplanned ideas about their bench press workout; they just show up at the gym and bench the way they like, doing what seems appropriate for that day. Small weekly poundage increases yield huge results over a protracted period of time; a typical bench press periodization game plan is 8-12 weeks in length.

Solution: think like a lifter. Set a realistic goal into a timeframe. Establish weekly mini-goals. A way bigger bench equates to way bigger muscles.

Equipment Pairings for Better Bench Press Training

Better bench press results start with better execution, not more equipment. Still, the right setup makes strict technique easier to repeat. A serious bench area should include a stable bench press station, a dependable bar, enough weight plates, and enough room to set up, spot and load safely.

For barbell bench pressing, lifters can compare the Body-Solid black oxide Olympic weightlifting bar for general strength training and the Iron Cowboy Powerlifting Bar for heavy powerlifting-style bench press work. Plate loading can be built around IRON COMPANY premium rubber bumper plates or colored rubber bumper plates, depending on the facility, training style and plate preference.

For dedicated pressing work, the Defiant Strength Olympic bench press with plate storage gives lifters a purpose-built station for barbell benching. Machine and plate-loaded pressing can still have a place after the hard free-weight work is done; for that role, a plate-loaded option such as the Arsenal Reloaded ISO Flat Press can support supplemental chest, shoulder and triceps work without pretending to replace proper barbell or dumbbell bench pressing.

Training Note

This article is strength training commentary, not medical advice. Heavy bench pressing, deep dumbbell bench pressing, paused reps, slow negatives, and progressive loading require technical control, appropriate warm-ups, honest poundage selection, and competent spotting when needed. The goal is not to make bench pressing reckless; the goal is to make bench pressing productive.

Bench Press FAQ

What are the most common bench press mistakes?

The most common bench press mistakes include partial reps, relying on machines as the main lift, ignoring the negative, flaring the elbows, lifting the butt, bouncing the bar off the chest, using touch-and-go all the time, avoiding dumbbells, keeping the same routine too long, and failing to preplan progress.

Should the bench press touch the chest?

In Marty Gallagher’s view, yes. A proper bench press is lowered all the way until the bar touches the inflated chest, then pressed to full lockout. Full range-of-motion makes the lift harder and more productive.

Are bench press machines as effective as free weights?

Marty’s position is that machine benching is supplemental. Free-weight bench pressing with a barbell or dumbbells requires the lifter to control side-to-side movement and stabilize the load in a way that fixed-path machines cannot duplicate.

Why is the bench press negative important?

The negative, or lowering phase, builds tension and control. Pulling the bar down with muscular tension activates the lats and triceps as braking muscles and keeps the bench press from becoming a loose, gravity-driven drop.

Why use dumbbells for bench pressing?

Dumbbells force each arm to carry its own payload, allow a deeper pre-stretch and let the wrists and arms move more freely than a fixed barbell grip. For lifters stuck on barbell or machine pressing, dumbbell bench pressing can create a powerful new stimulus.

How often should a bench press routine change?

Marty recommends changing a bench press routine every 6-8 weeks on average. The goal is not random exercise hopping; the goal is to rotate meaningfully different bench press routines before the body neutralizes the benefit of the current one.

What equipment supports better bench press training?

A practical bench press setup includes a stable bench or bench press station, a dependable Olympic bar or power bar, weight plates and room for safe loading and spotting. Machine pressing can be used after the primary free-weight bench work when it supports the training goal.

About the Author

As an athlete Marty Gallagher is a national and world champion in Olympic lifting and powerlifting. He was a world champion team coach in 1991 and coached Black's Gym to five national team titles. He's also coached some of the strongest men on the planet including Kirk Karwoski when he completed his world record 1,003 lb. squat. Today he teaches the US Secret Service and Tier 1 Spec Ops on how to maximize their strength in minimal time. As a writer since 1978 he’s written for Powerlifting USA, Milo, Flex Magazine, Muscle & Fitness, Prime Fitness, Washington Post, Dragon Door and now IRON COMPANY. He’s also the author of numerous books including Purposeful Primitive, Strong Medicine, Ed Coan’s book “Coan, The Man, the Myth, the Method" and numerous others. Read the Marty Gallagher biography here.