Tip on Good Form for the Bench Press

[LukeDothSucketh]

When people begin to struggle on the bench press they tend to compensate for their upper body whihc is doing the work by arching their back to help push up the bar. This is improper form, and a good way to get rid of this habbit is to instead of planting your feet on the floor below the bench, bend your knees and have your feet planted on the end of the bench. This keeps you from arching your back while you bench press, and will help improve your form.

[LukeDothSucketh]

Whoa, another tip, don't start headbanging to your wokrout music before a heavy lift.

[Napol]

ya that does help. when doing any type of workout, the 3 most important things to do is stretch, breath correctly, and have propper form.

when u put ur feet flat on the bench with u, it does help u improve ur form. if u put ur knees up and cross ur feet in the air, u can isolate urself alittle better too. **** i havent worked out in along time

[Aaronk]

Learn the lift of a good powerlifting coach

[skyboat]

lol go find a powerlifter and tell him (or her) that arching is bad form.

[Tom]

skyboat is correct, I am not positive on this but i believe you should arch your back. You should have the arch before you lift the weight, arching while you are benching is wrong, right Sky?

[Napol]

my brother and other people grew up with did powerlifting. they competed in weight lifting tournaments all the time in venice at muscle beach in the cage. u guys would have loved to have seen the look on the faces of all the jonny dangerous "ARNOLDS SWARTZINAGER" when a guy half there size puts up what they do. i can way deep into this.

FORM is everything. if u dont have form, forget about it!!!!
ur better off to have 100lbs on the bar pressing it extremely slow, breathing correctly, and watching ur form. arching ur back, burrying ur head in the seat, and pushing ur feet off the ground are the worse things u can do.

[rtbrouwer]

If you are training for strenght and muscle it's better to keep your back straight and keep your feet of the floor. I ussually put my legs in the air, like you are doing situps with your feet in the air, legs bent. That way you keep your back flat and isolate your pecs more.

If you maxing out or powerlifting however you should arch your back. Only problem is that most people do it wrong. You should place your feet on the ground and keep your feet flat. If you heals leave the ground and only your toes touch the floor the lift is incorrect. You should arch your back before the lift starts. put your shoulderblades together so that the upper part of your back is flat, it helps stability and it pushes your chest up so that you have to lower the bar less far. Also make sure that you keep your ass on the bench, so ass and shoulderblades should be the parts touching the bench. arching like this will increase your lift with at least 10-20lbs.

[skyboat]

Tom thats right. You have to set up before the lift, when most people arch during a lift they lift their arse of the bench - this is when its bad.

further a good arch facilitates leg drive.

[Napol]

u should absolutely never arch ur back. period. when u arch ur back all ur doing is cheating urself. in a POWERLIFTING tournament, your lift will be no good if u drop the bar to ur chest without controling it on the way down, dont pause once reaching the chest, and if ur back arches at all as well. no powerlifter should ever say its cool to arch ur back.