Barbell bench press
The standard upper-body press. In men who had benched for at least a year, ten weeks of it thickened the chest by about 17%.
Why it's here
The bench press trains the chest, triceps and front of the shoulders together, with a load that can keep rising in small steps for years. In a ten-week trial of men who had been benching for at least a year, chest muscle thickness rose by about 17% on a barbell bench press program [1].
The evidence
- Training study Twenty-two trained men, each with at least a year of bench press experience, benched three times a week for ten weeks in a powerlifting-style program, with or without an elastic support device. Chest thickness and one-rep max rose in both groups — the chest by about 17% in the group using the bar alone — with no difference between groups; triceps thickness did not change significantly. The trial had no non-training control group, and its program also included rows, chin-ups, squats and deadlifts [1].
How to do it
- Lie on the bench with your eyes under the bar and your feet flat on the floor.
- Grip the bar a little wider than your shoulders, lift it off the rack and hold it over your shoulders with your arms straight.
- Lower it under control to your lower chest, then press it back up until your arms are straight. In the trial above, every rep touched the chest and finished with the elbows fully straight [1].
- Use safety bars or a spotter when sets get close to failure.
Stop an exercise that causes significant or unusual pain and have it assessed. This page describes the movement; it is not rehabilitation advice.
Making it harder over time
This is a large compound exercise in the Progressive Overload Calculator, which adds weight in steps of 2.5%–5% once every set reaches the top of your rep range, and adds reps until then.
Alternatives
- Dumbbell bench press — A bench press with a dumbbell in each hand. In trained men it built pressing strength over ten weeks, most of all in the dumbbell press itself.
- Smith machine incline press — A press on a bench tilted to about 45°. In a trial on a Smith machine, it grew the top of the chest more than the flat press did.
- Push-up — Needs nothing but the floor. Push-ups matched a light bench press for chest growth, and a banded version matched a heavy one for strength.
References
- Gavanda S, Wischtukat D, Ruckdeschel M, Geisler S, Held S. Training with an elastic bench press device provides comparable adaptations to conventional resistance training in trained men. Biol Sport, 2026;43:839-846. doi.org
How we reviewed this page
Every claim is cited to research we opened and read, and labelled with the kind of evidence behind it. Training studies, which measure muscle or strength over weeks, carry the most weight; an exercise is listed only if at least one training study or review supports it. Studies of muscle activation (EMG) can add detail but are never the reason an exercise is here. Sources were last checked on October 6, 2026.
These are five well-supported choices we list for this muscle group, not a ranked "top five" — the research rarely supports one.
Drafted with AI assistance, then edited and fact-checked by a human.
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General information only. This is not medical advice.