Bench Press Form Check

Hello all,

I would greatly appreciate some feedback on my bench press form. This is my third consecutive training session failing a 3x5 bench press at 185 lbs, and it’s starting to get to my confidence, so I want to ensure everything is in order. Those training sessions went as follows:

Session 1 - 185 x 5 x 5 x 4 | Session 2 - 185 x 5 x 4 x 4 | Session 3 - 185 x 5 x 4 , 180 x 4 (the set in the video below)

I am eating and sleeping well, as well as resting 5 minutes between each set.

I usually experience a slight pain in my right shoulder when benching, which sometimes feels like it extends into my elbow. It hasn’t been severe enough to prevent me from finishing my working sets.

Thanks in advance.

  1. Are you still on NLP: Looks like you should be on a post novice program by now. Repeating set @10 is not sustainable.
  2. You bounce the weight quite hard from the chest. If I were you, I would lower the weight and start doing 1ct bench presses (comp bench).
  3. Try not to move around as much during and in between reps. Your feet and butt slide all over the place. keep you feet firmly planted on the floor and drive trough your legs.

Hi rho,

Thank you for your response.

I’ve probably never had great bench press form, and failing at 185 has finally brought attention to that. I’ve been watching a couple instructional videos repeatedly to improve in any way that I can. Lately, as soon as I unrack the bar, I’m in my head and uncertain in my execution.

  1. I am no longer on novice LP. I am currently nearing the end of a PPL split program that has me adding 5 lbs to my main lifts each week. Once I have completed the PPL cycle, I intend to start the bridge. I’m not too concerned with my programming right now; I just want to make sure I can bench press properly first.

  2. I don’t think I’m bouncing the bar off my chest, really at all, but I’ll be cognizant of that at my next training session to be sure. I think the 1 ct bench press you mentioned would be great to use as verification.

  3. Yes, I had no idea how fidgety I was until I got a video of myself. I’ll have to focus on that.

Couple thoughts:

  1. Push your chest UP
  2. You might be able to get those legs tighter, you should feel constant tension in your legs.
  3. I would like to see a video from the side to see your bar path.
  4. You have very long arms, so your anthropometry is going to make bench a stubborn lift for you. On the plus side, you’ll be at an advantage in deadlifting.
  5. I personally think the bounce off your chest is perfectly fine for touch and go bench.
  6. I wouldn’t be surprised if the shoulder pain went away when you swap to the bridge, as you’re obviously training right to or at failure every set right now. That has always been a recipe for shoulder pain for me. Load management is huge for longevity. When you start training with RPE and leaving reps in the tank every set I think your joints and connective tissues will thank you.