Should Athletes Bench Press? Great Debate Series

July 27, 2009 on 2:45 pm | In Muscle Building Articles, Strength Training, Strength Training Debates | 10 Comments

Should athletes bench press?  This is a huge question that I get asked by a lot of coaches (not strength coaches usually but sport coaches.

Sooo, for you long time Synergy Athletics readers, I’m finally bringing back the great debate series (check out older entried here - The Great Debates) !  It has been nearly 3 months since we have had one of these discussions, and that’s my fault.  Let’s get right to it.

The Debate:  Should Athletes Bench Press (please post your thoughts in the comments!)

bench press rep Should Athletes Bench Press? Great Debate Series

My opinion:  Yes.

Reasoning:  Before I get into my reasoning, I need to outline a few assumptions that need to be made in order to rule on this case. 

  1. This is a generally healthy athlete
  2. The athlete has no lingering shoulder issues
  3. The bench is PART of a well balanced program
  4. The person has good form (ie, arm angle, breathing, full ROM, etc)

If those 4 factors are in place, then I think the bench press is a great upper body strength and mass builder.  The bench utilizes the chest, shoulders, and triceps while activating musce fibers in the delts as well. 

Bench Variation – Shoulder Rehabd - From Our Trip To Westside Barbell

I’ll qualify this statement by conceding that the bench press is hugely overused.  I’ve seen high school athletes that bench every other day all week….pyramid style (12, 10, 8, 5, 3, 1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 12 for reps).  That is poor use of the bench press, and probably a real posture killer. 

Here’s my bone to pick.  Coaches who usually recommend against the bench press, push for either the incline bench – stating that is how a football lineman is more realistically going to push someone – or for just pushups. 

I enjoy both of those exercises, but they have their limitations as well.  Pushups are a closed kenetic chain exercise, meaning that your hands are fixed to the floor.  When you lower yourself to the floor, the hands cannot move to adjust to the pressure of your body.  Therefore if you have a bad set up, you’re screwed. 

With the bench, the bar can be moved to a certain path that can be adjusted based on the angles.  The only true factor that makes a pushup “safer” is that it is much lighter.  If  someone would just bench with a very light weight they would be just as safe.  Again, I love pushups, but I want to put this argument in perspective.

_________________________________________________________________

The sticking point (in the argument, not the bench) is that bench press does not necessarily mean sport success.  Actually, it is a very poor indicator of success in athletics.  HOWEVER, so is most other upper body exercises.  The squat, hang clean, tire flip, and deadlift are all better indicators.

What does that tell us?  In order to be successful in sports, the athlete has to have rock solid legs. 

Post Your Thoughts In the Comments! 

- Joe Hashey, CSCS -

PS.  If you could tell, I’ve fallen out of the 30 videos in 30 days.  It looks like I am going to come up with 23.  I’ve been flooded with mantaining and upgrading the site (which I truly enjoy doing) and haven’t had time to edit 7 more.  However, I’ll be passing a big video bonus your way to make up for it!

10 Comments »

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  1. I agree. As an ex-college football player, bench is essential. Granted, it’s not going to make you run faster or jump higher, but it will allow you to fight off blocks (or block), rip the ball out of the opponents hands, and hold on to a poorly performed arm tackle.

    And yes, the key to athletic performance is ALL lower body, specifically, in my opnion, the hips.

    Comment by Dave — July 27, 2009 #

  2. Joe

    The reason I don’t use the barbell bench as an exercise is that it just never felt right to me.

    I got up to 100kg for reps, threw some 130kg negatives in there to mix it up, I presevered for a long time, but in the end I moved to db pressing instead, it seemed to feel better to me.

    People maybe thinking that I just wimped out, but beleive you me I am no quitter, Just felt like better results with dumbbells.

    Cheers

    Dean

    Comment by DeanCoulson — July 27, 2009 #

  3. Dean, Of course you didn’t wimp out. People definately perfer differnt styles.

    This is a debate, so all perspectives are welcome. Thanks for stepping up and throwing your 2 cents in!

    Comment by Admin: Joe Hashey, CSCS — July 27, 2009 #

  4. What Dave said.

    Comment by JR — July 27, 2009 #

  5. I’m on board with all types of pressing movements with athletes, although when it comes to athletes in certain sports and/or positions (like baseball, football QB’s, swimmers, volleyball players, etc.) I tend to stick with neutral grip bars, DB’s, floor presses, and loaded push-ups for pressing and avoid incline work and straight bar benching.

    Perhaps I tend to treading a bit too cautiously, but I haven’t noticed any drop-off in performance or compromise to my athletes results since adopting this “philosophy.”

    Comment by Jack — July 27, 2009 #

  6. Joe,

    Much like you said, I am all for incorporating the bench press for athletes. I think so long as it remains a PART of a program, and not the EMPHASIS of the program, its a very good exercise. I think that where athletes and trainers fail with the bench is improper antagonistic training, and getting lax on the flexibility and stabilization aspect. This is where you run into issues.

    Comment by Jason Pegg — July 27, 2009 #

  7. Excellent point about the antagonist training Jason.

    Its important to keep a balanced musculature – athlete or not.

    If your chest is 10 times stronger than your back then you have some issues to work out.

    JOe

    Comment by Admin: Joe Hashey, CSCS — July 27, 2009 #

  8. Athletes, yes. All athletes? No.

    There is no argument that the bench press is a phenomenal foundation exercise. It is not, however, for all athletes. I have never consistently bench pressed. There were times where for a month or so, I would incorporate it into my training, but I have never made it a key exercise in my program. As a martial artist, I have always found that the dumbbell press is far superior for my training goals. For sports where raw pushing strength is important, the bench press is a key movement. For other sports, however, I think there are better movements to emphasize. I won’t hide the fact that I don’t like bench pressing either. I have always found it to be a rather uncomfortable exercise, and, since I don’t take part in any sports where it should be a necessary part of my program, I never missed it. Give me some good old dumbbells and I’m good.

    Chris

    Comment by Chris Smith — July 28, 2009 #

  9. Hey Joe,

    My athletes bench press in certain phases of our programs and most of the times it is ugly. I use the bench as a general strength exercise typically. I also will use the principles of speed bench and eccentrics. It just depends on what team I am working with and what are the needs of each athlete. There are phases of the year that my athletes will not bench at all. I tend to do more ground based over head movements. I do like the bench press but I do not think it is one of my more important exercises for my athletes. I will tend to lean more towards dumbbells and kettle bells.
    Jerry

    Comment by Jerry — July 29, 2009 #

  10. I dont like the Bench Press, I feel the Incline with Dumbbells and Barbell are much more affective for the football player.

    Comment by Joe — September 21, 2009 #

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