ChestBarbellIntermediate

How to Bench Press

By Bryan Alger, Co-Founder of Gravitus

· Updated Sep 30, 2026

The bench press is a barbell press on a flat bench. Grip the bar so your forearms are vertical at the bottom, lower it to your lower chest with your shoulder blades pinned, then press it back over your shoulders. It trains the chest, front delts and triceps. Most lifters do 3 to 5 sets of 5 to 10 reps.

Sets x reps 3-5 x 5-10

Median 10-rep weight 15570 lbkg men 6530 lbkg women

Muscles Chest, front delts, triceps

Grip Forearms vertical, inside 81 cm (32 in)

1Bottom. The bar touches your lower chest, forearms vertical, shoulder blades pinned and feet planted.
2Top. Press up and slightly back until the bar is over your shoulders, then lower over 2 seconds.

Watch 3 video demonstrations

Video 1 of 3

Find more video demonstrations in the Gravitus app

Technique

How to bench press

Lie on the bench with your eyes under the bar. Plant your feet flat, pulled back toward your hips as far as they stay flat.
Grip the bar with your index fingers a few inches inside the ring marks, thumbs wrapped around it. The bar sits low in your palm, stacked over your forearm.
Pull your shoulder blades back and down and lift your chest into a small arch. Your head, upper back and glutes stay on the bench.
Take a big breath, straighten your arms to lift the bar off the hooks and bring it forward until it sits over your shoulders.
Lower over 2 seconds until the bar touches your lower chest, elbows 45 to 60 degrees from your sides and forearms vertical.
Push your feet into the floor and press the bar up and slightly back until it is over your shoulders again. After the last rep, press to lockout and move the bar back onto the hooks.

Research

Bench press grip width: what changes

Attribute	Narrow	Medium	Wide
Hands	About shoulder width	Halfway between narrow and wide	Index fingers on the rings, 81 cm (32 in)
Weight you can lift	5 to 8% less	Most	Same as medium
Chest activity	Same	Same	Same
Triceps activity	High	High	About a tenth less
Biceps activity	Least	More	Most
Bar travel	Longest	Shorter	Shortest

Verdict

Use a medium grip for your main bench. It lifted as much as a wide grip in two studies (Saeterbakken 2021, Larsen 2021), with the same chest activity and more triceps. Set the width so your forearms are vertical at the bottom, and use the same ring marks every set.

Setup

Where the bar touches, bar path, arch and leg drive

Touch pointLower chestWhere the bar lands with your forearms vertical, usually at or just below the nipples. Touch the same spot every rep.

Bar pathDown and forward, up and backStart over your shoulders, lower slightly toward your feet, and press back toward the rack. Not a straight vertical line.

ArchSmall, from the upper backShoulder blades back and down, chest up. Keep your glutes on the bench and a hand's width under your lower back at most.

Leg drivePush toward the rackDrive your feet into the floor as if sliding up the bench, without lifting your hips. It keeps your arch and shoulders pinned.

Experienced lifters in a film study lowered the bar more slowly and kept its path closer to their shoulders than novices, and they lifted 79% more (Madsen 1984). A bigger arch raised powerlifters' max by 4.2 kg (about 9 lb) and shortened how far the bar traveled at every load, with the same upper and lower chest activity (Bartolomei 2024). Keep your feet on the floor for working sets: at the same weight, benching with the hips and knees bent and the feet up drew more activity from the chest, shoulders, triceps and abs (Muyor 2019), so the lift gets harder, not more targeted.

Gravitus data

What Gravitus lifters bench for 10 reps

On Gravitus, the median man lifts 155 lb (70 kg) for 10 reps on the bench press, and the median woman 65 lb (30 kg).

Men, typical 155 lb for 10 reps

Most lift: 125 to 185 lb
Top 10% lift: 215 lb or more
Starting out: under 125 lb

Women, typical 65 lb for 10 reps

Most lift: 50 to 80 lb
Top 10% lift: 100 lb or more
Starting out: under 50 lb

Men, typical 70 kg for 10 reps

Most lift: 57.5 to 85 kg
Top 10% lift: 97.5 kg or more
Starting out: under 57.5 kg

Women, typical 30 kg for 10 reps

Most lift: 22.5 to 37.5 kg
Top 10% lift: 45 kg or more
Starting out: under 22.5 kg

One-rep max / 10-rep weight, rounded to 5 lb (2.5 under 40). From 36,765 men and 6,710 women who log the bench press on Gravitus, computed Oct 4, 2026 (Brzycki). Methodology
Percentile	Men	Women
25th	170 / 125 lb	70 / 50 lb
Median	205 / 155 lb	90 / 65 lb
75th	245 / 185 lb	110 / 80 lb
90th	285 / 215 lb	135 / 100 lb

One-rep max / 10-rep weight, rounded to 2.5 kg (1 under 20). From 36,765 men and 6,710 women who log the bench press on Gravitus, computed Oct 4, 2026 (Brzycki). Methodology
Percentile	Men	Women
25th	75 / 57.5 kg	30 / 22.5 kg
Median	95 / 70 kg	40 / 30 kg
75th	112.5 / 85 kg	50 / 37.5 kg
90th	130 / 97.5 kg	60 / 45 kg

Weights include the bar, usually 45 lb (20 kg). These are 10-rep working weights from barbell bench logs. For your 1-rep max against lifters of your bodyweight, sex and age, use the Gravitus bench press standards and average bench press pages.

Anatomy

Bench press muscles worked

Chest, middle and lower mostPushes the arms up and together. On a flat bench the middle and lower chest work harder than on any incline (Rodríguez-Ridao 2020).

Primary

Front deltsRaise the arms forward. They work in every press and more as the bench tilts up.

Secondary

TricepsStraighten the elbows to lock the bar out. They work harder with a barbell than with dumbbells (Saeterbakken 2011).

Secondary

Rotator cuff, biceps, serratus anterior, upper backKeep the shoulders steady and the shoulder blades pinned. Biceps activity rose as the grip widened (Saeterbakken 2021).

Stabilizer

Research

Bench press claims the research does not back

"A wider grip works the chest harder." Chest activity was the same with narrow, medium and wide grips in trained and novice men (Saeterbakken 2021). An isometric study found a little less lower chest activity as the grip narrowed, and its author called the changes small (Lehman 2005). Grip width changes how much you lift and how hard your triceps work, not which muscle does the pressing.
"Grip as wide as the rules allow to lift the most." A medium grip lifted as much. Trained men's 6-rep max was the same with medium and 81 cm grips (Saeterbakken 2021), and their 1-rep max was 108.9 kg with a medium grip and 109.8 kg with a wide one (Larsen 2021).
"Press the bar straight up." Experienced lifters' bar path ran closer to their shoulders than novices' (Madsen 1984). The bar touches your lower chest and finishes over your shoulders, so it has to travel back as it rises.
"Feet up on the bench isolates the chest." It makes the lift harder for every muscle. At the same weight, chest, shoulder, triceps and ab activity all rose with the feet up (Muyor 2019).
"Arching lifts more because it puts the chest in a stronger position." Chest activity was the same with an arched and a flat back. The arched max was 4.2 kg higher, and the bar traveled less at every load (Bartolomei 2024). Use a big arch to lift the most, and a smaller one when the goal is muscle and a full range.

Compare

Bench press vs dumbbell bench press vs incline bench press

Attribute	Bench press	Dumbbell bench press	Incline bench press
Weight you can lift	Most	80% of your bench, both dumbbells together	80% of your bench
Chest activity	Middle and lower most	Same as barbell	Upper most
Triceps	Most	Less	Similar or less
Bar touches	Lower chest	Dumbbells beside your chest	Just below the collarbones
Best for	Heaviest loads, small jumps	One arm at a time, free wrists	Upper chest

Verdict

Keep the barbell bench as your main press if you want a bigger bench, and add one of the others. Chest activity was the same with a barbell and dumbbells, with 17% less weight on the dumbbells (Saeterbakken 2011). Over 8 weeks, incline pressing grew the upper chest more than flat pressing (Chaves 2020). The dumbbell vs barbell and incline vs flat comparisons cover programming both.

Programming

Sets, reps and progression

3-5Sets

5-10Reps

1-2Reps left

Bench once to three times a week, first in a chest, push or upper-body workout. Stop each set 1 to 2 reps short of failure, closer only with safety pins set or a spotter behind you. Sets taken close to failure build muscle across a wide range of reps (Schoenfeld 2021), so heavy 5s and lighter 10s both work.

Touch your chest every rep. In a 10-week study, full-range bench pressing built more strength than two-thirds or one-third reps (Martínez-Cava 2022). Add reps first: when every set reaches the top of your range, add 5 lb (2.5 kg) and drop back to the bottom. To see how your max compares with lifters your bodyweight, sex and age, use the bench press standards or the average bench press page.

Form

Common mistakes

Elbows flared straight outAt 90 degrees the front of the shoulder takes the strain. Keep your elbows 45 to 60 degrees from your sides, forearms vertical.
Bar landing on your upper chest or bellyToo high loads the shoulders, too low bends the wrists. Touch your lower chest, where your forearms are vertical.
Hips lifting off the benchYour arch turns into a bridge and the rep does not count in competition. Push your feet toward the rack, not the ceiling.
Wrists bent backThe bar sits in your fingers and strains the wrist. Set it low in your palm, stacked over your forearm.
Bouncing the bar off your chestThe bounce skips the hardest part of the rep. Touch lightly, then press.
Benching heavy with no safetiesA missed rep pins the bar on your chest. Bench in a rack with the safety pins just below your chest, or have a spotter behind you.

Variations

Bench press variations

Paused bench pressHold the bar still on your chest for 1 to 2 seconds. Takes the bounce out and builds the bottom of the press.

Close-grip bench pressHands about shoulder width, elbows tucked. The narrow column in the grip table above.

Incline bench pressThe same press on a 15 to 45 degree bench. More upper chest, about 80% of the weight.

Dumbbell bench pressOne dumbbell per hand. Each arm works on its own and your wrists can turn.

Larsen pressLegs straight and feet off the floor. No leg drive, so your upper body has to stay stable on its own.

Floor pressLying on the floor, which stops your elbows short. Loads the top half of the press.

FAQ

Questions people ask

What muscles does bench press work?

The chest (pectoralis major), most of all its middle and lower parts on a flat bench, with the front delts and triceps helping. The rotator cuff, biceps, serratus anterior and upper back keep the shoulders steady.

How wide should my grip be on bench press?

Wide enough that your forearms are vertical when the bar touches your chest, usually with your index fingers a few inches inside the ring marks. A medium grip lifted as much as the widest legal grip, 81 cm (32 in), and drew the same chest activity (Saeterbakken 2021).

Where should the bar touch on bench press?

On your lower chest, at or just below the nipples, where your forearms are vertical. A wider grip or a bigger arch moves it a little. Touch the same spot every rep.

Should you arch your back when bench pressing?

A little. Pull your shoulder blades back and lift your chest, with your glutes on the bench. A bigger arch lifted 4.2 kg (about 9 lb) more in powerlifters by shortening the bar's travel, with the same chest activity (Bartolomei 2024).

Is bench press better than dumbbell bench press?

Not for chest activity, which was the same with dumbbells and a barbell, with 17% less weight on the dumbbells (Saeterbakken 2011). The barbell loads heavier with smaller jumps and builds the barbell bench best. Dumbbells let each arm work alone.

How to bench press safely without a spotter?

Bench inside a power rack with the safety pins set just below your chest at the bottom of the rep, so a missed rep lands on the pins. Without a rack, stop 2 or more reps short of failure and leave the collars off, so you can tip the plates off one side if you get stuck.

How much weight should I bench press?

For 10 reps, the median on Gravitus is 155 lb (70 kg) for men and 65 lb (30 kg) for women. The strongest quarter lifts 185 lb (85 kg) and 80 lb (37.5 kg) or more.

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References