Band Bench Press

Setup

1. 01Loop the band under the bench or across your upper back and grip an end in each hand.
2. 02Lie on the bench with feet planted and shoulder blades squeezed together.
3. 03Set the hands just outside shoulder width with knuckles toward the ceiling.
4. 04Check that band tension is even on both sides before the first rep.

Execution

1. 01Press both hands up until the elbows are fully extended over the shoulders.
2. 02Lower under control, letting the hands travel to the sides of the lower chest.
3. 03Keep elbows at roughly 45 to 70 degrees from the torso.
4. 04Drive back up, accelerating through the increasing band tension to lockout.

Checkpoints

• -Band tension never fully slackens at the bottom.
• -Wrists stay neutral rather than bent back by the band.
• -Shoulder blades stay pinned to the bench.
• -Lockout is deliberate against the heaviest tension.

Common mistakes

• -Letting the band pull the hands into a wobbly path.
• -Cutting the range short because lockout is the hard part.
• -Uneven grip lengths creating side-to-side tension differences.
• -Choosing a band so heavy that the bottom range gets no work.