Common Injuries: Elbow or wrist strains, lower back injuries from excessive arching, torn shoulder muscles, broken ribs from dropping heavy weights on your chest.

Bench press is one of the many exercises that any knowledgeable trainer would stress the principle of quality vs. quantity. How many times have you been in a weight room, or anywhere else for that matter, where a group of people argue over who has the highest bench press numbers? Unfortunately, many of you probably have which can be costly for a young and inexperienced lifter. Only caring about numbers, or feeding your ego, should never happen in the weight room. The bench press seems to have become the ultimate ego booster, but this is not being fair to the exercise itself. The flat barbell bench press, one of the best exercises you can do for upper body strength, can add serious mass and strength to your chest, shoulders, and triceps if done safely.

If you can put 300lbs on the barbell and bring it down to your chest, but use your legs and everything but your chest to push it back up, you are not accomplishing anything. The only thing that can be gained with this philosophy is an injury that could put you out for a long time. Until you perfect your form, which should be done with an empty bar, you should not add the bench press into your routine. This will save you a lot of trouble in the long run, especially when you start moving heavy weights.

The starting position involves lying on the bench with your shoulder blades pinched together. It is rare to see someone do that correctly, but it can make all of the difference between a shoulder injury and a successful lift. A trick to use to keep the bar in a straight line is to keep your eyes directly under the bar. When lifting, pick a point on the ceiling and do not take your eyes off of that point. By moving the bar to that same point, you will not have problems with keeping the barbell in a straight line. Before starting the set however, make sure your feet are flat on the ground at a comfortable distance apart. Do not allow your buttocks to come off the bench at any time during the lift.

The grip varies with personal preference. A wider grip will hit the pectorals more, while a closer grip will work the triceps a bit more. The only important thing in both of these situations is that the hands are equal distance apart from one another. After griping the bar, make sure your elbows are bent at a 90° and your elbows remain under your wrists. When you are ready for your set, lift the bar off of the bench and position it above your chest. Make sure that the bar is in line with the point on the ceiling that you picked earlier. Lower the bar to your mid to lower chest and touch the chest very softly. Do not bounce the weight off of your chest! Explode the weight off of your chest keeping everything stated above in mind. This is a key to remaining injury free.

The flat barbell bench press remains a great staple for any lifter with any type of experience level. The problem is when people care more about putting up the most weight; they often disregard form and safety. When you do master the correct form, it would be wise to increase weight at a fairly slow place. Adding weight each time to your bench is what everyone wants, but it is not always possible. If you do decide to try and set a new personal max, please properly warm up first, follow the safe lifting technique, and have a spotter on hand. Good Luck!