Bench Press Warm Up: Do’s & Don’ts

Bench press Warm up Do’s & Don’ts

First off, there is never a bad exercise, but there may be a more efficient choice.

Take a look at this Bench Press example. While it’s common for people to warm up using the banded external rotation drill, most people don’t know how to effectively engage their shoulder blade and thoracic during the movement. The problem is that this can lead to an anterior shear of the glenohumeral (ball & socket) joint, exerting excessive force on the shoulder joint instead of properly stretching the pec muscle.

Choosing an exercise that mimics the bench press movement and incorporating tools to activate or ‘wake up’ underdeveloped muscles will have a much better transfer to the strength exercise that follows.