Starting Strength

the job, described in detail at the end of this chapter.

    Figure 5-3 . Three ways to use equipment for the bench press. (A) The upright-support bench is preferred by most lifters, but the power rack (B) offers adjustability and a better use of space and limited resources. (C) It also allows you to safely train the bench press without a spotter.

    As usual, start with an empty bar. ALWAYS start every lift with an empty bar, whether learning the lift for the first time or warming up for a personal record. Lie down on the bench with your eyes looking straight up. In this position, you should be far enough down (“down” always meaning toward the foot end of the bench) from the bar that when you look up, your eyes are focused on the down side of the bar ( Figure 5-4 ). This means just a short distance, not several inches, which would increase the difficulty of getting the bar unracked.

    Figure 5-4. Eye position for the setup. The eyes look just past the bar, placing the body the correct distance down the bench.

Your feet should be flat on the ground in a comfortable spacing comparable to the squat stance, with your shins approximately vertical. Your upper back should be flat against the bench, with your lower back in an anatomically normal arched position – at first. We’ll modify the back arch later.

    Figure 5-5. Foot and leg position on the bench.

    After getting into position, take an overhand grip on the bar. Your grip should be somewhere between 22 and 24 inches, measured between the index fingers; the variation is based on differences in shoulder width. This grip width will produce a vertical forearm for most people when the bar is on the chest, a position that produces the most range of motion around the shoulder joint during the movement. The bar should rest on the heel of your palm (not up near the fingers), and directly over the bones of the forearm, so that power being transmitted up the arms and to the bar goes directly to the bar without being channeled through the wrists. Wrap your fingers around the bar AFTER you have set it correctly on the heels of your hands. This grip is best accomplished by pronating your hands, with a slight internal rotation of your arms.

    Figure 5-6 . Grip width for the bench press.

    You are now ready to take the bar out of the rack. Look directly up at the ceiling, above your position on the bench, and push up on the bar, locking out your elbows. With elbows locked, move the bar out to a position directly over the line of your shoulder joints – the glenohumeral joints – to place your arms in a perfectly vertical position relative to the joints and thus to the floor. Don’t stop before you get the bar over your chest, because if you do, the bar will be over your chin or throat. Make sure the bar gets out to the place it needs to be, right over the joint. This is the place where the bar is in balance at lockout, where there is no moment arm between the bar and the fulcrum that is the shoulder joint. Move the bar to this position quickly and without hesitation, with your elbows locked out the entire time. Your spotter can help you do this the first few times, just making sure the bar clears your face and neck and gets all the way out over your chest.

    Figure 5-7. The bar is in balance when it is vertically aligned with the glenohumeral joints. Any horizontal distance between the bar and the balance point represents a moment arm that must be worked against. The distance between the rack and the start position is a significant moment arm at heavy weights, and the spotter’s job is to help the lifter deal with this bad mechanical position. ( M.A.= moment arm )

    As the bar becomes stable in the lockout position, look at the very important picture directly overhead. You will be staring at the ceiling directly above the bar, and the ceiling with the bar in the foreground will comprise your entire field of vision. This picture is your reference for the path the bar will take as you move it down and up. You will see the bar against the ceiling in the lower half of your field of vision. Look at the bar’s position relative to the features you see on the surface of the ceiling. Don’t look at the bar; look at the ceiling and just see the bar. Move the bar a tiny bit. Notice that if the bar moves even a little, you can tell by the change it makes against the ceiling. The bar moves and the ceiling does not, and the ceiling is therefore your position reference for the