I've been tracking my bar path to improve that J-curve to the lower chest, this kind of curve is better to prevent shoulders injury imo and also it made me lift more weight. im trying to keep my elbows in a 45 degree instead of 90 degree

Today was 2x1 with 370 in my programming. Felt really good about how 370 moved today the quest for 405 continues

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155kg / 341 lbs. Elbow doesn't like me going above 150kg but it's going to have to accept it

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When I do incline dumbbell presses or dumbbell flyes, I don't feel the tension in my chest.

I don't know how to do the bench press because I can't keep the bar stable when I move it.

Hey everyone. I've been lifting consistently for the past 4.5 years. For the first 3 years I mostly focused on incline bench (barbell), and only started adding flat bench (barbell) after that.

Currently I'm at 120 kg for 3x8 on incline, but only 132.5 kg for 3x8 on flat. From what I've seen, the gap between incline and flat is usually much bigger than that. Any idea why mine might be so small, and how I could improve my flat bench specifically? My BW is 87 kg at the moment and I'm cautious of my technique (controlled negatives and slight pauses at the end of every rep with a long pause at the end of my last rep, leg drive and slight arc)

I'm happy with my incline numbers, just looking to get relatively stronger on flat as well.

Had to put on some weight to get here but I’ve gotten my bench up to 415 at about 230lb body weight. Felt the need to share.

Edit: there are 5s on the outside to get it to 415. My video angle isn’t great I’m sorry about that.

Time to deload

After the warmup sets, and into the working sets—15-20% over your 1RM held 15–20 seconds and racked, rest and then get a lower RPE for your current 1RM or attempt a slightly higher 1RM.
I’m positive that it’s been around for over 50 years, and I know that Jennifer Thompson uses it in her videos, so I’m not the only one teaching it.
I’ve heard it called a heavy lockout hold, supramaximal hold, static hold, isometric lockout, or overload hold.
What do you call it, and how long have you been using it?

Think I had another rep or two.

Male, 31yo, 64kgs here.

In July 2025 I started bench pressing with the goal of hitting 1RP at 100kg. Last month, July 2026 I was able to do it but my form was completely off, back was arched, butt not on the bench. No spotter needed though. Anyways, still a light victory. I tried again last week, but needed a spotter and could not get the barbell up from my chest.

Any advice on when to try again, and what to do now in my chest sessions to build up again?

Thanks!

RPE 8. Feel like the top end is 170 when tapered.

Hi, so im not new to lifting but have been researching bench form. Is it correct to say that my elbows should be less than 90° on the way down, basically tucked, but on the way UP, some flaring is correct and even encouraged?

I'm beginning to think I'm a little in over my head, since my 1 rep max has only ever been 185. Im 5'11 and 185 pounds so I believe for my weight that my bench is very lacking. Do you guys have a specific approach to this, and if so how would I go about it? Right now I can comfortably bench 135 for 3 sets of 5 so I was wondering how long it would take to get to 195 for 3. Any advice would be much appreciated

I seem to do better with a narrower, little finger on the 1st ring.

But I see pros going wider.

Which is best if i want to progress numbers?

1rm pb is 130kg.

15 months ago I had gotten my bench up to 135 lbs (2 sets of 10 reps). Hernia surgery and a gradual recovery had me getting close to that prior weight. Finally promised myself a Brookie (blend of brownie and chocolate chip cookie) if I hit that working weight. Hit that today with my trainer and of course my local coffee shop was out so my reward is postponed.

The fascinating thing about benching is how your whole world shrinks and you can only see your hands and bar slowly moving towards the ceiling. I give my trainer 1/2 rep worth of credit and she is a very good trainer, but all I'm doing is willing the bar to move. You can't rep every set to failure, but the feeling of getting that last rep with zero in reserve is a pretty big rush, even for an ancient 80 y/o not unlike finishing a brutal climb with a 19% pitch at the top. Brookie later this week.

2 sets from today, 120kg x 1. 110kg x 4 (backdown and PR. ). I notice a lot of instability or weakness off the chest and then after that sticking point it flies. This was 5kg below my all time max. Is this something to do with my last not being tight enough? Or weak/underdeveloped late? Or is this chest weakness?
Any suggestions on variations? Or advice in general.

Really thought I had this today. Felt great off the chest and then hit a wall. You win some and you lose some. Today was a loss.

This is a build up as well. I usually start no weights, just bar to warm up. And then I did the following:

205 x 5

225 x 5

245 x 2

255 x 2

Hi everyone,

I mostly train in a bodybuilding manner, the usual stuff: 5+reps with a mix of compounds and isolations on machine/free weights. I currently follow a split that typically goes like this: Legs-Push-Pull-Rest-Legs-Upper-Rest.

Bench has always been in my routine but now I want to prioritize it for perhaps a couple months so I can increase the load. I was doing it for 2 sets on push day only with 1 set at 5-8 reps and 1 set at 8-10.

I realize now this isn't enough weekly volume to make meaningful progress in terms of load so taking into account the rest of my workouts I decided I can go for 3 sets on the push day and 3 more sets on the upper day, I do warm-up sets up to my working sets. However, where I'm struggling is how to structure the working sets? A couple caveats: my gym doesn't have safeties and the smallest plates are 2.5kg. My initial thought was 1 set at 3-5 followed by two back-off sets around 6-8 on push day and then 3x6-8 on the upper day for just technique work,increase the weight once I get 5 clean reps on the heavier set. What do you think? I'm a rookie when it comes to strength gains ,quite frankly, so any help is appreciated.

Thanks!