Thoughts on the bench press: wrists

Sure, you can look at any explanation of bench press form on YouTube and think you got it all figured out.  But the one thing they always miss is the wrists.

If you look at the bench press as a kinetic chain, you will notice the movement involves the triceps, front deltoids, pectorals and legs.  But the weakest link in that chain are your wrists.

If you bench press without wrist wraps, you are setting your wrists up to fail and consequently you miss the lift.  When you unrack the bar and bring it over your face and then lower it down to your chest, your wrists take on a folded over backwards position with your knuckles pointing to your face.  If you begin your press in this wrist position you are going to miss your lift.

To remedy this malady of weakness and to fully engage your triceps and pectorals and front deltoids, you have to literally flip your wrists to a perpendicular position relative to the bar when the bar is laying on your chest. There should be a ninety degree angle formed by your wrists connected to the bar via your hands to assume the right angle position in order for you to explode your arms away from your chest. That flip will greatly enhance your bench pressing ability.


To train this flip I decline bench press, and
when the bar reaches midpoint between chest and stomach I let the bar slide down towards my neck right below my Adam's apple and try to slide the bar on my chest back towards my stomach and then push my arms away from my body.  Of course you need to do this in a squat rack with safety bars situated above your windpipe to prevent the bar from choking you if you miss. This movement emphasizes the front deltoids and wrists.