Common Bench Press Mistakes

The bench press is one of the most common exercises and is also one of the ones that people mess up the most. The only reason I can attach to this is that people seem to think it's not masculine if they can't bench as much as their friends, so they feel the need to throw on more weight than they're capable of doing.

YOU'RE JUST GOING TO GET HURT.

Here are some common mistakes that people make while benching and how it can hurt you or your gains:

1. The most common mistake is that people do not bring the bar all the way down. When you're doing this, you're just cheating yourself. The farther away from your chest you are when you start pushing back up, the less of a work out you're going to get. The proportion isn't even linear - that means doing a 1/2 rep is less than half as effective as a full rep. You're just cheating yourself this way and you won't get very far.

2. I see a lot of amateurs turning their body when they lift. This is due to an imbalance in muscle and is a good way to drop the weights or just hurt yourself. Go down to a lower weight until you learn to control it and use your muscles in unison. If you stick at a lower weight for a little bit with good form and you actually learn how to do it, you'll be surprised by how much more you can lift without actually becoming stronger.

3. Many people also arch their back when lifting. This has a small chance of causing a back injury or pulling a muscle, but it's really just another cheat - similar to only going down half way. You're just going to slow down your gains if you lift this way and it's really useless.

For more information about workout mistakes, go to this site:
Common Squatting Mistakes