The Foundation of a Strong Bench Press

12 Feb The Foundation of a Strong Bench Press Starts Before the Bar Moves

Posted at 12:00h in Bench, Coaching, Injury Resilience, Powerlifting, Strength Training by Brian Carroll 0 Comments

Article Rundown

Eyes under the bar set the entire bench press up for success
A strong bench is built on a tripod: upper back and both feet
Scapular tension shortens the stroke and protects the shoulders
Choose either a wide or tucked setup—never a weak hybrid

The Foundation of a Strong Bench Press Starts Before the Bar Moves

When it comes to bench pressing, most people obsess over load, tempo, or accessories. But none of that matters if your setup is sloppy. A great bench press starts before the bar ever leaves the rack. If your setup is dialed in, the press becomes shorter, stronger, and far safer on your shoulders and elbows.

Let’s walk through the fundamentals the way I teach them.

Eyes Under the Bar: The First Non-Negotiable

Every bench setup begins with one simple rule: your eyes should be directly under the bar.

If you’re too far forward, the handoff becomes a long, unstable reach. If you’re too far back, you risk hitting the uprights. Eyes under the bar is the sweet spot — a consistent point of reference that sets everything else up correctly. Get this wrong, and you’re already fighting the lift before it starts.

Building the Tripod: Upper Back, Left Foot, Right Foot

Once you’re positioned correctly, the next step is what I call the tripod setup. You need three solid points of contact:

Your upper back
Your left foot
Your right foot

With your feet set wider, knees pushed out, and glutes engaged, you create a stable base that allows for powerful leg drive. Your glutes stay in contact with the bench — they don’t need to be smashed flat, but they do need to stay down. If there’s daylight under your hips, it’s an illegal bench and an unstable one.

This wide base allows you to drive force from the floor, through your hips, and into the bar.

Grip, Tension, and Scapular Position

Next comes the grip. I like most lifters about an inch inside the knurling, but this can vary slightly based on build. What matters most is how you grip the bar.

I cue white knuckles — squeeze the bar hard and think about bending it. This immediately engages the lats and helps you retract your shoulder blades. When your scapulae are pinched together and locked down, you shorten the pressing stroke and protect the shoulders at the same time.

A loose upper back turns the bench into a shoulder and triceps-only movement. A locked-in upper back turns it into a full-body lift.

Bar Path and Leg Drive: Making It a Full-Body Lift

The bar should come down to just below the sternum, not high on the chest and not drifting all over the place. When the bar settles, that’s when the press starts from the floor.

Drive your heels hard into the ground, use your hips like a controlled hip thrust, and push the bar slightly back as you press up. This isn’t random — it lines the bar up over your strongest joint positions at lockout.

When done correctly, the bench press feels like a full-body exercise, not just an upper-body one.

Two Setups, Two Tools: Wide vs. Tucked

There are two primary bench setups I teach:

Feet Out (Wide Setup):
More leg drive, slightly smaller arch, more stress on the hips.
Feet Tucked:
Bigger arch, less leg drive, more stress on the lower back.

Neither is “better.” They’re tools. Just like pulling sumo or conventional, it’s smart to have both options. If your hips are beat up from squatting, a tucked setup may feel better. If your back is tight, the wide setup might be the answer.

What you don’t want is a hybrid of the two — not enough arch and not enough leg drive. That’s where people lose power on both ends.

Master the Setup Before You Chase Load

Here’s the truth: if you have a bad setup, you’ll never reach your bench potential — no matter how strong you are. The setup is the lift. Load just exposes whether your mechanics are solid or not.

You don’t need 500 pounds on the bar to practice this. In fact, you shouldn’t. Master the setup, feel the positions, and let strength build on top of sound mechanics. That’s how you bench heavy for the long haul — and keep your shoulders healthy doing it.