Bench press - Do you do it?

[Tom156]

I think bench press is a great exercise. I do decline, incline and flat bench press - various cominations of it, close grip, wide, etc. It's hard to do it for someone who is just starting up (like me) without guidence. I am still having hard time with it and haven't really increased weight that much.

p.s. Maybe I don't know something about this site, but why are you guys so negative? What's so bad about this question?

Lol it was only a couple of trolls, everyone else has been really polite and gave good advice =D.

[Tom156]

This might be part of the issue. It's not an exercise that a lot of people (especially women) feel comfortable with unless they at least start with a spotter. You can't just give a newbie a barbell and say "good luck!" It's intimidating and dangerous. It took me quite a while to be comfortable doing them by myself and if I'm trying to go up in weight I still grab a spotter until i know I'm not going to hurt myself.

I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you spot everyone when you introduce a new exercise, but with some things that one time may not be enough for someone to feel confident.

No no no haha they have spotters, it's just not always me! Yes, I ALWAYS induct my clients before writing a plan for them, but they don't always come into the gym at the same time I'm there. All of the other instructors are 10x more experienced than me, so I'm sure they did their best to make them feel as comfortable as they could :P.

[latebloomingmom]

I do the bench
butterflies and pec/decs
I suck at it but ya I still do it

[cowboybiker]

Lol it was only a couple of trolls, everyone else has been really polite and gave good advice =D.

Lighten up dude.
As far as I knew you were a troll.
I turned your red to green.

Good luck.

[Tom156]

Lighten up dude.
As far as I knew you were a troll.
I turned your red to green.

Good luck.

Thank you for redeeming yourself.

[Walks90]

I used to hate benching, not because i didn't want to work my chest, but because i found it really difficult. Then i started dumbbell benching and found that i progressed better with this compared to the barbell and have loved it ever since. Long term goal would be to get the 25kg's up

I really suck at most other chest work i do though...particularly cable crossovers. Useless!

[mrshester]

I like the bench press, though I'm still just doing 50 lbs so far. It is a little intimidating for me, since I'm the only one there a lot of times-small gym, small town-so I'm taking my time and making sure I work in some other exercising that should help (pec/decs, triceps). I definitely agree with including some pics of strong, beautiful women doing the bench press. It helped me

[MrB1g]

Are you able to teach a proper benchpress?

College diploma and lots and lots of gym assistant work. Untill now, I've basically spent most of my time following people around and learning the ropes. This is only in the field though, I actually know a substantial amount from years of my own training and getting my head down in books. I only decided to take up fitness as a profession a few years ago.

You've been training for years?

[Rowyn]

This might be part of the issue. It's not an exercise that a lot of people (especially women) feel comfortable with unless they at least start with a spotter. You can't just give a newbie a barbell and say "good luck!" It's intimidating and dangerous. It took me quite a while to be comfortable doing them by myself and if I'm trying to go up in weight I still grab a spotter until i know I'm not going to hurt myself.

I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you spot everyone when you introduce a new exercise, but with some things that one time may not be enough for someone to feel confident.

I think it would be a very rare occurence for a new female trainee to actually be able to lay down and bench anything that could be "dangerous" in terms of weight. Certainly they need to learn good form, but they also need to be taught how to bail on their lift if they can't get it up, versus always relying on a spotter. If you fail, allow the bar to rest on your chest and roll it down your body. Simple. It hurts a little bit more when you get up to the big girl plates, but its not dangerous.

[scyyy]

I do bench pressing, but I don't like it I do a bit of bench pressing, but also push-up variations and dips for chest.

[ilovethe80s]

I didn't bench for years because it just wasn't appealing - figured I was getting all I needed from overhead presses and dips, which were for whatever reason, more appealing. Even from an aesthetics standpoint, just didn't see how it would do much for me. Even when I started getting into pl'ing, all the excitement was for squats and deads and bench was just like, lift just enough so it is not a total embarrassment, but definitely no A for effort. I love it now though.

Maybe some girls are a little intimidated by it, guys usually LOVE the bench press so maybe they are used to seeing guys load up the barbell with all their buddies jumping up and down and clapping and barking and stuff around them, while the woman is quietly trying to not crush herself with empty barbell. Bench is usually tough when women first start, I agree that showing them how to safely fail should help ease some of their discomfort with the move though

[hothead4]

i love benching! its one of my favorites, i like to get it out of the way at the beginning of my workouut so i can lift as heavy as possible

[kjake55]

Maybe some girls are a little intimidated by it, guys usually LOVE the bench press so maybe they are used to seeing guys load up the barbell with all their buddies jumping up and down and clapping and barking and stuff around them, while the woman is quietly trying to not crush herself with empty barbell. Bench is usually tough when women first start, I agree that showing them how to safely fail should help ease some of their discomfort with the move though

That made me lol. And I'm sure that is exactly why some women don't like it. All the hootin an' hollern can get intimidating.

I got in trouble on the bench a couple of weeks ago. I just shouldn't have gone for that last rep. I didn't have a spooter and I was just about to tilt the bar and drop the weight off. One of the guys in the gym gabbed the bar me and helped me rack it. He must have saw it comming before I did! Anyway I was pretty by it but he just called me a crazy lady and told me to let him know next time I needed a spot! Some people are just so cool.

[nicoledominique]

I bench 135.

I will not bench more than 100 lbs unless I have a spotter. Maybe they are fearful that they will get stuck if they don't have anyone there to spot - it's not so easy to just toss a bb aside as it is db's. Tell them to get a training partner.

[KPainter70]

I love doing bench presses. I'm not great at it, my max is about 95lbs for 6 reps, but the more I do it, the better I'll get. I've come to understand that shying away from the stuff I suck at is the wrong approach. I think many women are probably afraid of them because it's such a "guy" exercise and might be worried it'll make them bulk up or something. I've put an inch on my chest in the last month - for me, that's reason enough to keep at it right there.

[toodlepip]

Hate BB benching...love DB. Incline BB is ok.

Hate BB because it just doesn't feel right/comfortable for me...and I got the fear thing from no spotter too. Every now and then I go back to it and continue to dislike it and drop it again. Plenty of other lifts to do for chest so I don't sweat it...

[wakechica]

Maybe introduce them to it with a training barbell such as a 5kg (12lb) BB that you can put plates on. Slightly shorter as well so easier to get the form right without worry about it a)being 45lbs and b)being a bit harder to balance if you're weaker in the chest/arms. That or infused ones as someone else said. Or DB bench.
I love BB benching at the moment - also love DB. Think I get more out of DB benching weight wise, my BB is a bit behind but still enjoy BB as I might give competing ago in the near future and need to get my BB bench up there.

[5more]

Pushups, db flies, db press, cable flies.
Bench press can be scary for people if they are not familiar with their own fitness levels. The gym can be a very intimidating environment. The last thing you want to do is the "roll of shame"

[SilverSun]

Lol @ "roll of shame" above...it's so true.

I bench, but it's one of my weakest lifts so I haven't gotten to love it yet. Maybe when I can graduate to the big-girl plates I will

I think another poster mentioned it, but first time benching a bb, it feels way more awkward than a pair of dumbbells. If a female client feels uncomfortable with the bar, try starting her off with those. There's also the benefit of them being lighter so they can build up the strength if need be.

[ldyparadox99]

I actually like benching. It all started with my hubby telling me I should just stick to the hammer strength machine since benching was too hard. That pissed me off and I set out to prove him wrong. I'm now at 40kg and my goal is to do a few reps at 100. Don't know if it's a pipe dream, but we'll see!

[heidi1990]

Yes, I bench. It's one of my favourite exercises and the most comfortable I think!! Train on 50kg, but if I don't have a spotter I won't go above 45kg.

As someone else said, maybe they associate it with all the guys who love bench, load up the bar and have people scream and shout at them while they do it! I think if it wasn't for the fact that my bf was always the one spotting me until recently I might've felt the same way.

I also do DB flyes, and sometimes pec deck.

[Walks90]

I'm now at 40kg and my goal is to do a few reps at 100. Don't know if it's a pipe dream, but we'll see!

Holy Moly! I got excited yesterday when i got s 60kg barbell bench

[AK-Element]

I HATED benching at first. I thought I'd lose what little boobage I had (popular misconception among the ladies), it was hard given that I couldn't even do a proper pushup, and I looked stupid struggling to bench a 15lb bar while men around me were benching my weight! But I got started with the dumbbell incline, and as I got stronger, I'm more comfortable with it now.

[daniellemac]

Many of these women may not like the bench press for a number of reasons. First of all chest may be one of their weaker points. Looking at my own training or my clients', the body parts they like to train the least is usually the ones they need to train the most. Although the reason they may feel uncomfortable doing a bench press is the fact that they may not have a spotter, so you may want to start them on a machine bench press or smith machine and then work them up to the bench press.

Another reason women may not like the bench press is because they think they will start to develop a masculine looking chest which is not the case. Men build muscle differently due to the fact they have a lot more testosterone. Breasts are also mostly made up of body fat, so as you get leaner and loose weight you will go down in breast size as well. Doing a bench press won't change that. You can explain to them as well why chest exercises are needed. Balance is required in any training regime. Both push and pull exercises are needed. Hope this helps, happy training!

[itsagoodday]

I enjoy benching with a barbell, but that doesn't mean I'm great at it. Getting better all the time, though. I'm just thrilled that my trainer is having me do these on my own now, too. Woohoo, she trusts me not to kill myself!

[irociron]

I personally love the bench press. It's one of my favorites, but I was uncomfortable with it at first. When I started training less than a year ago I was weak, and it was embarrassing. I couldn't even bench the bar, and would get a 35lb barbell. Depending on the number of reps, I can now do 70-80lbs.

If it wasn't for an encouraging boyfriend, I would have left it out as well. However, I'm glad I didn't. I never really worked my pecs prior, so there is plenty more room to grow.

I also do incline dumbbell bench presses and pec flys. Chest/Bis is my favorite workout night.

[Tom156]

It's been a while since I last posted. Thank you for all of the advice given to me. Since my last post on here, I've kept all of my female clients that do flat bench on flat bench. However, before, I would do 4 sets. Now, I do 2 sets of flat barbell bench, and then 2 sets of incline dumbbell bench. It seems to have worked, and I've noticed some good strength improvements. They also feel ok with what I've done, which is the most important thing. I don't give them an easy ride though; the last set of incline is a drop set because I want all of my serious clients to come close to failiure. I don't believe there is any point in going to the gym if you don't push your boundaries.

It's very interesting to see that most women really aren't massive fans of the bench press. Personally, I think more women should train their larger muscle groups because that's where most of the "tone" is visible. A lot of women wrongly think that "toning" means doing light weight and using machines that are advertised in the catalogues. When really "toning" is just another way of saying build muscle/lost fat. You'll only get a toned bikini body by putting on a decent amount of muscle and losing fat. And there is no better way of bulding muscle than training those huge muscle groups.

[mellie369]

It's been a while since I last posted. Thank you for all of the advice given to me. Since my last post on here, I've kept all of my female clients that do flat bench on flat bench. However, before, I would do 4 sets. Now, I do 2 sets of flat barbell bench, and then 2 sets of incline dumbbell bench. It seems to have worked, and I've noticed some good strength improvements. They also feel ok with what I've done, which is the most important thing. I don't give them an easy ride though; the last set of incline is a drop set because I want all of my serious clients to come close to failiure. I don't believe there is any point in going to the gym if you don't push your boundaries.

It's very interesting to see that most women really aren't massive fans of the bench press. Personally, I think more women should train their larger muscle groups because that's where most of the "tone" is visible. A lot of women wrongly think that "toning" means doing light weight and using machines that are advertised in the catalogues. When really "toning" is just another way of saying build muscle/lost fat. You'll only get a toned bikini body by putting on a decent amount of muscle and losing fat. And there is no better way of bulding muscle than training those huge muscle groups.

I'm a massive bench fan. Massive. I'm the person who would love to do chest-back, chest-arms, chest-legs, chest-chest days. Alas... it can not be so. lol. But ya, bench is my favvvvvvorite. favorite!! And all my clients do it!

[daanaaa]

I love bench pressing!
Maybe they'd feel more comfortable with dumbbells.. maybe incline dumbbell press if they hate the whole thought of benching.
I know at first I was brainwashed thinking bench pressing was manly & would give me man muscles!

[HotGhettoMess]

I think it would be a very rare occurence for a new female trainee to actually be able to lay down and bench anything that could be "dangerous" in terms of weight. Certainly they need to learn good form, but they also need to be taught how to bail on their lift if they can't get it up, versus always relying on a spotter. If you fail, allow the bar to rest on your chest and roll it down your body. Simple. It hurts a little bit more when you get up to the big girl plates, but its not dangerous.

That is exactly what I did when benching heavy a few years ago at my old gym. A middle-aged gentleman saw it happen and came to my rescue during my fail, lol.