Everyone starts somewhere when it comes to the Bench Press. Some are naturally strong and can start moving weight with no problem, while others have trouble with the bar when first starting out. No matter where you’re at in your strength, here are 3 of the most common mistakes I have made when I was a beginner and I have seen beginners make.

The first common mistake I’ve seen is “flat back benching.” A common idea in beginner lifters is when benching all you do is lay down and start repping the weight. Two main problems with that are, you can’t lift as much weight laying flat on the bench and you put your shoulders in bad positions which can lead to injury. To get in the best position for benching you must squeeze your shoulder blades down and back. Doing this will engage your upper back and lats, and keep your shoulder in a stable position throughout the press. A good cue to think about is to imagine there is a pen between your shoulder blades and you have to keep that pen in place through the press.

Second, common mistake seen in beginner benchers is allowing the hips to leave the bench when the rep becomes hard. Leg drive is very important and overlooked in the bench but, having the leg drive bring your whole body off the bench is doing more harm to your bench than good. Not only does this lead to missing reps in the sticking point, over time this can lead to low back pain. The main keys to perform a bench rep with good leg drive is to drive your feet through the ground, squeeze the glutes and press them down into the bench while keeping the body tight.

The last mistake beginners make is using a grip on the bar that isn’t right for them. Grip is something you’ll play around with long into your lifting days. You want your grip to give you the most drive out of your chest, triceps, and lats. When benching too wide it can take away from the strength of your triceps which can cause you to miss at the lock out while also could cause some potential shoulder problems if good upper back tightness isn’t maintained. When the grip is too close it can take away strength from your chest while also possible causing some strain on your elbows and front delt. to find a strong grip position, try to imagine keeping your wrist directly in line with your elbows at the bottom of the rep, which should work for most people, and then modify slightly in or out depending on your goals.

Bench Press can seem simple, but at the end of the day, there is way more to it then just lifting a bar. If you want to take your bench press to the next level, then make sure to grab the Moose Method 6 Week Bench Program, on sale now!