Bench Press Mistakes and Fixes: From the Outhouse to the Penthouse
by- Josh Bryant
Never Miss a Rep – Bulletproof Your Bench with Josh & Mark Bell
In parts of Appalachia, a boy’s rite of passage wasn’t a trophy or a certificate—it was Pawpaw leading him down a muddy creek bed with a mason jar and a grin. You’d wade through Laurel Fork or Tug Fork, slipping on rocks slick with moss, till he showed you the tucked-away holler where the old still sat. That’s where you learned how to turn corn and creek water into white lightning.
You didn’t need a diploma to grow up. You needed to know how to mash, fire up the copper coil, and keep your mouth shut around revenuers. That was manhood training, Appalachian-style.
Fast-forward west to Texas, and some boys got their trial by hanging on eight seconds in a rodeo chute.
For most of America, the scenery changes, but the rite of passage is the same. That nerve gets hit under the bar. The bench press is where boys test themselves and prove they’re ready for more.
Why Listen to Me?
I was the youngest lifter to ever bench 600 raw. Years later, my own lifter Peter Edgette nailed the same milestone and passed me by. Since then, I’ve trained 25 600-pound raw benchers, six over 661. I’ve bled under the bar, coached lifters at the highest level, and written the book on it.
So I know the mistakes that kill benches before they’re born.
These are the most common mistakes—and here are the fixes.
Mistake #1: Thinking Wide Means Stronger
The Mistake: Copycatting the max-wide grip just because you saw someone like Al Davis do it back in 2011. Most lifters end up frying their shoulders with little to show for it.
The Fix: Stick closer to shoulder width. It’s friendlier on the joints, stronger off the chest, and sets you up for decades of sustainable pressing. Look at the legacy of guys like Jeremy Hoornstra—shoulder-friendly pressing pays off.
Bottom line: unless you’re chasing a record, a title, or benching is your only sport, going crazy-wide doesn’t make sense. Everything in strength training—like in business or life—boils down to a risk-to-benefit ratio. Shoulder width gives you the better end of that deal.
Mistake #2: Over-Focusing on Lockout
The Mistake: Lifters burn daylight hammering 4–5 board presses and pin work because some relic from the shirt-bench days said “it’s all about lockout.” But if you fail at the chest, it doesn’t matter how strong you are at the top—you’ll never get there.
The Fix: Train explosion off the chest. That means Spoto presses, dead benches, pause dumbbell presses, and wide-grip pauses (if shoulders can take it). Build speed in the hole and the top will take care of itself.
This old “lockout cures all” gospel is leftover from multiply shirts where lifters had to blast past the shirt’s spring. Today, raw benching rules—it’s a whole new ballgame.
Mistake #3: Treating Arms Like Decoration
The Mistake: Training arms like they’re just mirror muscles instead of part of the bench engine.
The Fix: Big arms aren’t just for sleeve-filling vanity (though they’ll certainly get you a few more right swipes on Tinder). Biceps act like the thick trunk of a tree—keeping the bar steady when the storm hits. Triceps are king of the road for blasting through lockout. Add curls, extensions, and smart isolation. Stronger arms mean a more stable bar path and more weight moving skyward.
Mistake #4: The Straight-Line Myth
The Mistake: Treating a raw bench like it’s an elevator ride—pressing straight up. That path overloads your weakest links.
The Fix: Drive the bar in a J-curve. Touch low, then back and up, finishing stacked over pecs, shoulders, and triceps.
This isn’t cute junior-high physics—it’s the carryover from shirted lifting days. In reality, when you push back into the J-curve, the bar finishes directly over every joint and major muscle: wrist, elbow, triceps, shoulders, pecs. That’s a rock-solid structure.
Go straight up instead, and the bar never gets centered over the big movers. Now the smaller stabilizers and triceps take the brunt, and your foundation is faulty. Sure, the bar path looks shorter, but it’s weaker. Strong structure wins.
Build Your Best Bench: Josh’s 8-Week Overload HERE.
