Why I NEVER Bench Press (and You Shouldn’t Either) 

Jay is right, I used to bench religiously and my chest was always flat, started doing chest flys to failure and I saw tremendous growth. Honestly machines are just superior, people just don't want to admit it because they're obsessed with "keeping it old school"....

I switched to a hammer strength plate loaded machine a couple months ago and haven’t gotten shoulder pain from my upper body workout ever since. Thanks Jay for the confirmation I’m making the right choice.

Before giving up the BP, I would recommend taking a slightly more narrow grip, and pausing at the bottom. Was a GAME CHANGER for me personally.

Makes sense as to why Mentzer says do flyes with a super set of incline press

After a lot of experimentation I found a way to "bench" with a barbell which has been far superior to than machines, gave me chest development (my genetics suck, but chest is now one of my best bodyparts), and causes no injury. In fact it feels terrific/heals my elbows. Basically, it's a close grip floor press on a bench: 1. Take a medium grip - should be basically the same as your natural pushup width. 2. Pull yourself up to the bar, let your shoulders and back settle into place. 3. Shove the bar deep into your palm, grip the bar like you are making a fist to punch. 4. Now, put your feet up on the bench. A regular bench is wide enough for most people, if that doesn't work you might need blocks for the feet. The key is to elevate the feet so that the back is completely flat on the bench. 5. Slightly pull your shoulders into the pad, then push the bar up/liftoff. 6. Once you start benching, the bar path should not arc too much - not completely straight but not crazy like a arched power bench either. 7. I lower all the way to my chest slowly, pause, then push. Do NOT try to tuck your elbows artificially, let them do what feels good naturally. 8. One cue I use is "Push yourself away from the bar", which seems to help. I guarantee you'll feel this deep in our chest, somewhat in your triceps, and not a whole lot in your shoulders (which seems counterinutitive) - and this is coming from someome who had a bum shoulder from wrestling and had impingement in the past. I'm not an exercise scientist so I am not sure why biomechanically this works, but it does. You'll have to put the ego aside and not worry about the weight on the bar... I'm working with 20% less for the same number of reps as a regular bench, but the inroad and chest doms (both pec major and minor) is insane.

When you bench press with dumbbells you can get the humeral adduction you're talking about. Machines have improved with properly working your muscles along with a good safety factor.

Man you may have good points. But I'm tired of people saying "don't do that" Don't do flat bench Don't do Squat Don't do deadlift Don't do good mornings Don't use machines Don't use Smith machine Don't do weighted chin ups ... Etc I guess the only exercise people should do is calf raise

I've always thought this. Thanks for confirming!

When you have benched enough that you hit a sticking point, it is failure like any other movement. Also, there are studies done on tension in the stretched position when the fillements are apart... it is the most effective part of the rep. Many great chests were built using the bench by pulling the scapula together at the stretch. It's not so much about the weight; it's about performing the exercise properly. If you're not getting anything out of your bench, then you're not benching properly. Dumbells are excellent mass builders because of the lower stretched position that you can reach. At failure, you can do partial reps at the stretched end of the rep. Focusing on the stretch is awesome for building mass. The bench doesn't work for you because you don't do it properly. I've been dumbell and barbell benching for 40 years; at 61 years old, my shoulders have absolutely no problems. Everybody is trying to make money on RU-vid. It's gotten to the point that people are running out of new ideas to sell in the fitness world, and it's getting stupid. Benches, deadlifts, squats, and shoulder presses are key for strength and size. The reason you can do 300+ lbs in a bench is because of your pecs, shoulders, and triceps. Each of those muscles groups can't do it by themselves.

I can see why the Bench Press may not always be the best option. But I do the BB or DB Floor Press helps give me the proper ROM and no stress on the shoulder joint.

i have worked out since I was 16 i am 42 now only result i have seen is my shoulder getting way bigger i have tried every position no results all i got over the years is shoulder pains. so no more bench press for me.

I get significantly more chest stimulation doing hammer strength chest press, landmine press and weighted dips. Bench made my front delts explode at first , but if that’s the primary benefit I get from them, I’m better off just doing strict barbell ohp.

@Jay Nincent. Bench press does move your humorous closer to your sternum. Your grip just need to be wide enough so that your forearms are positioned paralleled to each other. I don't know where you were looking when making your first point, friend.

I tried bench for years and always ended up with shoulder pain as I increased weight. Dips, flies, and machines always got me much better results and no pain

I haven’t benched in the longest. I do every kind of push-up imaginable, and anything else but bench at the gym. I met a Marine once at an event, and he asked me how much I benched. He was amused when I told him I don’t!😄😄

The fact that it’s hardest in the stretch is a huge PLUS for the bench lol I don’t love it but the stretch is the best part. Much better with dumbbells imo

There is not one method for all people. I built a 53” chest at 5’7” doing primarily bench presses.

I'm with you. I have personally always hated bench press. For one, I just flat out don't enjoy it. Second, regardless of how clean my form is, it kills my shoulders nowadays. I have always done it because my ego told me it was a lift I "HAD" to do. Finally learning to ignore my ego after YEARS LOL.

I always do bench press... It gives me strength, power, and confidence. But still it's depends on person to person.

If bench press doesn't work the pecs, then why a pec tear is one of the most common injuries in competative bench pressing?

Hey Jay there might be something wrong with your scheduling setup. I signed up for a fitness-consultation call (I was 10 mins early on both occasions) but you or no one else was on the Google meet call…

0:46 This is a load of complete and total horseshit. First, you can see in the video that your pec is contracting and that your humerus is following the movement you're describing. Second, adduction of the humerus is not the only function of the pectoralis major. The muscle is also responsible for depression (movement of the arm downwards, such as seen in dips) and internal rotation of the arm. 1:12 This... this is literally muscle failiure. Myofibrillar hypertrophy (as opposed to sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, more commonly known as a pump) is triggered because the muscle can't cope with the load that's being put on it; you're not capable of completing the movement. It doesn't matter if this happens near the top of the movement or at the bottom, your body will still detect that the muscle is not capable of dealing with the stress and will adapt accordingly 1:59 That is also objectively wrong. Bench press, when performed correctly, will not put excessive strain on the rotator cuff, since the pec is doing most of the work. In fact, when you look at injuries related to overloading the bench press, the majority are pec tears (which is also a sign that the pec is being put under a lot of stress)

Bench press has been shown to be superior for chest growth, but man.... I'm tired of hurting my shoulder everytime i start start progressing. Get up to 225 for reps, get hurt, lower the weight and restarting at 205. Nonstop. Switching it up for this mesocycle. Ive also always got a better pump doing everything else besides bench.

Wished you did this video a week ago LOL. Started doing so slow reps after watching many of your videos. I work out from home with dumbells and did flys while trying to hold the weights out to the side for more tension and felt awful 10 mins later and rest of the day as feel like I may have overly stretched something doing things in this awkward position. Looking back after seems much safer doing this instead with a machine.

Bench (paused,for moderate reps was great for my chest growth) but chewed up my shoulders even with perfect form Football/parallel grip bar incline is my favorite chest lift now Im older

I agree 100%. Bench pressing causes too many shoulder issues for it to be worth it and hammer strengths are much better. However, if your gym does not have hammer strengths, you may have to bench. Just do it safely.

Dumbbell bench press allows the arms to move naturally, and I would say press-ups on rings are even better. I doubt many here will get to the point that they need to add a weighted vest to the latter.

So what bodyweight alternative would you suggest.

I can't disagree, nor will I. Yet I am thinking that the distinction between a bench press and a chest fly could be that bench press is a complex movement that works more than one muscle group versus the chest fly. Am I wrong?

Sorry if you have mentioned this elsewhere and I have missed it, but you could shed some light on effectiveness of the dip exercise. Thanks.

Fact: I have no other options due to lack of equipment at home. Fact: I don't have money to buy new equipment. Science: Incline,Decline,Flat bench have been working for me just fine all these years.

It depends on the lifters anthropometric proportions to be honest. My chest has always exploded from Bench Press with a medium grip.

I was able to get up to a 315 bench press but saw very little in terms of development - dead right on the pec deck and hammer machines - far more recruitment of more muscle tissue overall and they go a long way in actually shaping the muscle

I'm a 46 year old professional powerlifter, and I completely disagree with you. If your sticking point is low, then your chest is weak. If you have trouble locking out, then it's your triceps. Once you know your weakest point in the lift, you focuse on that. Right now, for me it's my lockout I'm having a weak spot with. A few months ago, it was at the bottom. I focused on my chest for a few months, fixed the problem. Also, look at history, look at Arnold Schwarzenegger. Best chest in history. Tell him the bench press dont build your chest well.

Really great insight on chest development.

Tried reverse grip bench press you have to do a lighter-weight but it really makes a difference.

My favorite chest exercise is as follows: On a cable chest machine I do cable flys to failure, then change my hand position so I'm doing a pressing movement to failure. Simple. Slow and controlled, of course.

Barbell presses never made sense to me bc the distance between your hands can't change throughout the ROM

I never liked the bench press. I’ve only just switched to using a machine press for my chest. Looking forward to keeping my joints healthy while developing my chest! Thanks Jay :)

At home version of exercises would be nice. Currently I do Flys with dumbells attached with bands. Keeps tension high throughout the rom. Can only do one side at a time and a bit of time to set up, works well tho.

Suggestions if you don’t have access to equipment? Push up variations? Dips? Or are they bad too?

Something else you didn't mention is that you almost certainly need a spotter for bench press

100 % correct especially for older guys , traditional free weight bench is press is an injury waiting to happen

You are right except in one point. The resistant curve of HS Chest Presses are much worse than the bench press. The load should decrease the further I press, but this stupid manufacturer produced exactly the opposite. For this reason, HS bench presses are not for heavy weights and are especially bad for people with long arms. The perfect resistance curve looks like this: hardest to stretch and easiest to contract. I only know of one manufacturer who has incorporated this simple fact into their machines.

Brave sitting there with under developed PECs and gyno in plain site and saying the bench press is not a good chest exercise.

I tend to agree that the bench is overrated and potentially dangerous. However, show me a guy with a big bench who doesn't also have well-developed pectorals. It doesn't happen. When you train a movement pattern, you will inevitably strengthen all muscles involved, including weak links. Even so-called "shoulder dominant" or "triceps dominant" benchers wind up with big pectorals. Also, barbells/dumbbells are much more accessible than pec decs and hammer press machines. Work from home guys aren't going to have that equipment. I also question whether the stretch at the bottom of the exercise is "inefficient" or "suboptimal". Stretch on the actin and myosin fibers has itself been shown to stimulate muscle growth, even just a static stretch without going through any range of motion. If you don't want the stretch, it's as simple as not going down as far to eliminate that factor. No need to throw out the exercise entirely. Personally, my main issue with the bench, at least as a general gauge of strength, is that it is strongly biased towards heavier people, as the range of motion decreases the bigger you get. It is a lift that you can literally eat your way to higher numbers on.

Meh, if you are going for strength and performance flys are useless.

I don’t have membership to gym, so I slowly bought squat rack bench, barbell and dumbbells equipment. Without machines how would go about workout the chest by side push up. What would be a better way at home?

I’m going to go out on a limb and guess you had a crappy bench session, and now you’re telling everyone not to do it.

Why do I feel soreness in the chest after doing bench?

ummm you have a bench press in the golden era plan you sell? weird

Jay...if bench press is not recommended, what would you recommend for someone at home with no machines? Are dips on my parallel bars ok...and how is this different than the pushing motion of the bench press? I find dips to be equally dangerous to the internal shoulders, so I minimize my depth substantially to avoid stress on shoulder.

I get the best stretch and pumps with bench press.

Yes, makes a lot of sense.

I agree with what he said at first regarding movement but to totally give up the bench and say it doesn’t give you a decent chest is wrong I’ve done bench for years 30 plus and he’s wrong and looking at the comments on hear most people are glad he has said this out loud it gives them an excuse to stop benching and do easy exercises like plate loaded press😂

"SCIENCE BASED?!?!" You don't look like Anthony Fauci to me 😂 (THE science.)

Is bench press the best exercise for chest? no. Can u build ur chest with bench press? yes. It's not the exercise it's how u use it.

I just use machine bench press since I started working out a year ago in just 4 months I gained strength from 50 kg first day to 100 kg , I don't have any problem and I always feel my chest

Always bounce off my belly Tom avoid sticking point and to dodge the “too hard at bottom “ claim

I was training 6 days a week , probably 2hours a day, doing 4 sets per exercise as my trainer told & i was bench pressing as well. Most of the time after doing flat bench press or decline bench press , me & my friend felt terrible shoulder pain , & we thought that might be bcuz of incorrect form , Now i understand totally why , bcuz i was putting a lot of load on my internal rotators & there was a time when i hurt my one rotator.😢

Ok, so tell me how to train the chest at home? And the push up should be the same as the bench press?

Any exercise can be safer or less safe depending on a variety of factors. While there may be alternatives to focus on the chest exclusively, the bench press, of which I am taking Mr. Vincent specifically means the barbell bench press, in my experience training and working with others, can be very effective and safe. Also, whether or not the barbell bench press is effective would depend on how you are measuring effectiveness. If, for example, you are a power lifter, you need to practice the barbell bench press to be competitive. In the context of a general lifter working out to be healthy, strong, and looking their best, dumbbell's are a safer alternative as they allow the movement pattern to have the adduction action to be performed better when done properly. Also, I would caution the use of machines exclusively. Machines can be effective for isolating the chest but depending on the machines fixed path of motion and positioning of various body part placement relative to the handles and seat position, etcétera, the said path of motion may be overly restrictive. Plus some people are unable to use a variety of machines due to the design being for the average sized person. Life ain't fair, but the iron is even for us all, a 50lb dumbbell is a 50lb dumbbell.

Don't tell me the pec dec is better than the bench 😵‍💫

Not a big fan of bench press, I like the push up more. But when you go from a bent elbow position to a straight elbow position with a starting position of 90 degrees of shoulder abduction, you ARE horizontally adducting. That's why every dude you know that emphasizes bench press in the gym has a large chest. I guess some might do bench press with a starting position of 0deg abduction but I think its much less common. Also passive insufficiency is an impressive term but not sure strengthening a muscle in a portion of the range where it is weak is necessarily a bad thing or a recipe for pain. My criticism of the bench press would focus on its potential to create scapula and humeral head malpositioning/dyskinesia (which really could harm the rotator cuff) if not balanced with lower trapezius and external rotation strengthening. Imbalance in the shoulder girdle is the most common cause of non traumatic pain.

Nice. Bart Kay says don't barbell bench use dumbbells instead

The bench press does train humeral adduction though. If you watch someone’s arms as they bench you can see them move in as the bar goes up. The bench press does a phenomenal job stimulating the pecs (given that it is performed correctly). It loads the pecs in a stretched position arguably better than most if not all exercises. The studies back this up. Pec thickness is highly correlated to bench press 1rpm. Just because it is a great exercise it does not mean it is for everyone. Maybe it is not the best exercise for you anatomically, but that does not mean it is a bad exercise by any means and you shouldn’t post misleading information saying that it is. Given that it is performed correctly with weight that the individual can handle, it is a great and safe exercise that stimulates the chest while allowing for progressive overload

Good stuff jay

I think you are right! I should learn your shoulder routine: you’ve done an awesome job

You don’t bench press, I can tell. If bench press doesn’t work the pectoral muscle, then how do lifters get bigger pecs by doing this? If I bench press, my pecs get sore so if it doesn’t stress them why do I get that result? However the NFL uses it as a benchmark. So I guess they care. It’s part of their test of potential players….you had an EX-NFL strength coach on your show, maybe there is a reason he is an EX, and not a current How many world class bodybuilders don’t bench press? How may football players or wrestlers, shot putters , discus throwers don’t bench press?

Jay what exercises do you recommend instead dips and flys is that it .????

Your humerus does adduct when you bench press, just not to as great a degree as a converging press or a flye machine. And whether you reach passive insufficiency or not depends entirely on you. You're not required to let the bar touch your chest, you can stop short of that and only get as low as you need to keep tension on the chest. You can also fix the mis-matched resistance profile of the movement by adding band or chain resistance. All that makes the bench press a viable movement for developing your chest. That said, I do agree that a well designed machine will always be better than a barbell bench press. The only way I see a barbell bench press could be better is if you're participating in a sport that requires you to do the movement, like powerlifting. If you're not an athlete required to do barbell bench presses then you will be completely fine never doing them ever and you certainly can build a chest as good as anyone's completely without it.

More great content thank you Jay from Liverpool UK, I do alot of body weight exercises from home although I am adding some weight to it, I feel I have a back issue trapped nerve middle back sometimes so I don’t like loading my back with weight, I do wall squats with plates statics, and static lunges with plates, what’s your thoughts on static lunges as an exercise please?, they sure feel intense.

Awesome workout

Bench press also doesn't prove how strong ur pushing strength is irl too so, and very easily provable

so does this mean that push ups are also ineffective and inefficient???

this was great, make videos of each body part debunking serious. Great content

I really like floor press with a shorter rom. What about a neutral grip football bar, does that change anything?

Thank you, can you tell for what bench press could be good to do ?

0:48 love how he doesn't realize he's immediately disproving his point. There's so much wrong with this video lmao jeez. However, one advantage of chest flys are longer a longer levers arm. Which means you can get similar stimulus with less weight. Really good for those at home with just dumbbells.

How about push ups ? Are they good at all ? And how about people have no access to that type of machine what are the options? Other than bench press?

What about a seated cable press with an high incline bench?

One of the few who understands the principles of bodybuliding

I never felt the bench in my chest, flat,incline or decline, did them all with proper form. I actually don't like the bench press either. So it's going out of my program. Wil chest dips and DB Flys be enough? Edit* I work out at home so I only have free weights

You could lighten the weight and use dumbbells to do a hybrid bench press and chest fly

The flat bench press bangs up my joints but when I do a slight decline or 15-30 incline bench it’s better for chest and joints . And yes a chest press machine does work very well for my chest because of the isolation.

What about dumbells

Studies show that the bench is the exercise that activates the pecs the most. Also, if you don't take a tight grip, there is obvious adduction.

What about dips?

These are the exact reasons I dislike Barbell Bench Press too. Btw, you could've added dips too, it's a great horizontal pushing movement. Great explanation, really science-based (not some goofy video). Thanks Jay 👍

What if we don’t have any of those machines? It makes since completely. I’m 43 and have rotatory cuff issues from benching non stop as a kid till about 6 years ago. I have a gym in my basement but not sure how to train my chest without messing myself up more.

So many contradictions, you never do bench press.. yet you programmed it in your workout Program Golen Era Physique

This is gold! Thanks

What about the incline and decline benchpress?

Hammer Strength and Nautilus chest machines all the way I’ve seen some off brand (Precor/Matrix) converging machines I may give them a whirl to see if they’re worth a damn Great video keep it up

Hi Jay. How would you train chest if all you had access too was dumbbells. ? Thanks

Nothing hits the pecs better than dumbell flyes done PROPERLY. And pullovers. If you superset the two. For one warm up set a piece. And one set to failure. You pecs won't only blow up. They will have great shape too.

Yes. Exactly my thoughts. Bench press is just suboptimal and not the best exercise. And often people just do it for their ego's

Wish I saw this a couple months ago. After benching I developed impingement issues in my shoulder

Sir, kindly advise about push ups routine for a good chest... Thank you

Good advice