Starting Strength

position requires, stretching is in order. If your back is okay, you should be able to keep your feet down on the floor. Blocks or barbell plates can be used to add height to the floor for inflexible people until they stretch out or to accommodate shorter-legged trainees. The net effect of the use of the lower body is to increase the weight that can be lifted, so putting your feet up lowers the amount of weight lifted, but the exercise can still be done without it. The decision to do a feet-up bench should be made by a lifter who is cognizant of the benefits of training around injuries and the limitations inherent in doing it this way.
     

    Figure 5-29. The knees-up position in the bench press is less stable than the conventional position and should not be used by novice lifters.

    Breathing
     
    As it is for all barbell exercises, air is support for the bench press. In the squat and deadlift, the Valsalva maneuver (as described in the Squat chapter) provides increased back support. In the bench press, it provides support for the chest. This support takes the form of increased tightness throughout the thoracic cavity due to the increase in pressure provided by the big, held breath. A tight rib cage allows for a more efficient transfer of power to the bar by the muscles attached to the rib cage when they contract. If the pec and delt origins on the external chest wall contract against a tight structure that does not move when they contract, then more of the force of that contraction can be transferred to the end of the kinetic chain that does move. When the rib cage is tight, less force gets absorbed, or dampened, by movement of the chest. This tightness, along with the support provided by the lower body connected to the ground, radically increases efficiency in the bench press. Also, in the extended spinal position that the arch requires on the bench, the abs cannot tighten as effectively. They cannot therefore as effectively increase intra-abdominal pressure to contribute to the needed increase in intra-thoracic pressure, thus making the big breath the primary source of support for the chest.

    Figure 5-30. Inhalation at the top, with arms completely extended before the rep starts, allows for a more complete filling of the lungs, a better chest angle, and better stability.

    The pattern of breathing during the bench press depends on the length of the set and the abilities of the lifter. Novices should take a breath before each rep, hold it during the rep, and exhale at lockout, using the very brief break between reps to make sure everything is positioned correctly. More experienced lifters may prefer to use one breath for the whole set. Any exhalation involves a certain amount of loosening of the chest to exhale and re-inhale, and some lifters may decide to stay tight and do the whole set in one breath if it is important and if they can hold their breath that long. Most people can manage only five reps this way before the discomfort from the hypoxia becomes too distracting. For a longer set, some quick breaths will be required.
    The breath has to be taken before the rep. If the breath is taken during the rep, the lungs will incompletely fill due to the loading of the rib cage by the now-contracted pecs. If the breath is taken at the top with locked elbows, the pecs are not pulling on the rib cage and a more complete inhalation can take place. Moreover, when the bar actually starts down, everything should be tight, from the floor to your fingernails, and this tightness will prevent you from taking a really big breath. If you can breathe during a rep, you’re not tight enough.
    No breath taken during the set will involve the complete exchange of the full tidal volume of your lungs. This takes too long, requires too much relaxation, and is unnecessary. Breathing during the set consists only of topping off the huge breath taken before the first rep, after a quick exhalation that might consist of only 10% of tidal volume. This short refresher of air is just enough to allow the set to be finished more comfortably. The fact that it amounts to so little air is the reason you might decide to forego it in favor of maintaining tightness, after you practice it.
     
    Racking Errors
     
    Taking the bar out of the rack and putting it back may seem like rather innocuous parts of the exercise, and most people give it no thought. Please be aware of the fact that any time a loaded bar is located above your face and throat, you have