Just got this email from a reader. He wanted to build up his chest but was unsure of his bench press technique.

Here’s the email

“I am currently working on chest, since I want to increase me chest size, and I saw your video on how to bench press correctly. I am a little confused and would like to clarify something. How can you tell that you are doing bench press wrong? Occasionally my shoulders do tend to hurt after I do bench press but it’s nothing serious. So if you could give me a few pointers they would be great”.

Here’s my response

In terms of your chest question, there’s a few ways to tell if you’re bench pressing wrong. Certainly sore shoulders are a hint. They can be a little sore since shoulders are involved in pressing but they shouldn’t be sore like you had your own shoulder workout.

Also sore is a interesting term. Do they feel like you had a shoulder workout or is it pain?

Most people bench press wrong. They let their shoulders cave in instead of fighting to keep their shoulders back and shoulder blades tight. Another issue with the bench press technique is that lifters will let their elbows flare. Not only does this put a tremedous amount of stress and cause shoulder and rotator cuff pain but it actually takes away from the stress on your chest.

What you want to do is slightly tuck your elbows in to create a shorter distance between the bar and your chest. Don’t worry about people that tell you that it won’t build chest muscle, it will. Look at powerlifters, their chests are huge.

Here’s a bunch of my youtube videos on chest training