Bench Press for Olympic Weightlifters?
Can Olympic weightlifters bench press? Yes.
Do weightlifters need to bench press? No.
Should you bench press? Maybe.
First, if you don’t already have adequate if not excellent overhead mobility, don’t bench.
Second, if you don’t have a severe lack of upper body strength or need to put some mass on your upper body, don’t bench.
If you do have good overhead mobility and shoulder health, and are willing to do the extra work needed to preserve it when benching regularly, AND have a genuinely good reason for benching, then it’s worth doing.
Otherwise press and push press variations will help you build strength and mass without the potential mobility issues that accompany the bench press.
If you do bench, here are my suggestions:
Use a relatively narrow grip and keeping the upper arms within about a 45-degree angle from the sides for more range of motion, less shoulder stress and more emphasis of the muscles that will contribute to weightlifting ability (ie more delt and tricep and less pec).
Make sure you’re doing enough vertical and horizontal pulling exercises like pull-up and pulldown variations, and row variations, respectively.
Ensure you’re doing adequate mobility work to maintain your overhead range of motion and position. This should include everything from simple pec and shoulder passive static stretches, to dynamic range of motion exercises like arm swing and circle variations, things like CARs, and any other movements you find useful.
Finally, ensure you prepare adequately for benching in a session—don’t rush into it and hurt a shoulder to save two minutes in your warm-up.
Do weightlifters need to bench press? No.
Should you bench press? Maybe.
First, if you don’t already have adequate if not excellent overhead mobility, don’t bench.
Second, if you don’t have a severe lack of upper body strength or need to put some mass on your upper body, don’t bench.
If you do have good overhead mobility and shoulder health, and are willing to do the extra work needed to preserve it when benching regularly, AND have a genuinely good reason for benching, then it’s worth doing.
Otherwise press and push press variations will help you build strength and mass without the potential mobility issues that accompany the bench press.
If you do bench, here are my suggestions:
Use a relatively narrow grip and keeping the upper arms within about a 45-degree angle from the sides for more range of motion, less shoulder stress and more emphasis of the muscles that will contribute to weightlifting ability (ie more delt and tricep and less pec).
Make sure you’re doing enough vertical and horizontal pulling exercises like pull-up and pulldown variations, and row variations, respectively.
Ensure you’re doing adequate mobility work to maintain your overhead range of motion and position. This should include everything from simple pec and shoulder passive static stretches, to dynamic range of motion exercises like arm swing and circle variations, things like CARs, and any other movements you find useful.
Finally, ensure you prepare adequately for benching in a session—don’t rush into it and hurt a shoulder to save two minutes in your warm-up.
