Bench Press
Exercise Information
| Exercise Name: | Bench Press |
| Resistance Band Type: | A resistance band with handles |
| Equipment Required: | A bench to lie on |
| Body Parts Exercised: | Chest, shoulders and arms |
Exercise Procedure
Exercise Start Position
- Anchor the resistance band around the legs of a bench and lie on the bench face-up. The resistance band should be at chest height.
- Grasp a handle in each hand with your hands at shoulder height and your elbows directly below your hands. The length of the resistance band should be such that there is tension at this start position.
Exercise End Position
- Arms extended directly above you whilst maintaining the posture with which you started.
Exercise Start Position
Exercise End Position
Action
- Maintaining your elbows directly below your hands, extend your arms straight up, without locking your elbows. Your hands should be quite close together in the extended position.
- Return to the starting position and repeat.
Modification Options
- Vary the strength or length of the resistance band to increase/ decrease the difficulty of the exercise.
Technique Tips
- Breathe out as you push your arm forward and breathe in as you return to the start position.
- Perform the exercise slowly. Aim for 4-6 seconds per repetition.
- To change the difficulty of the exercise, use a weaker or stronger resistance band or move closer or further from the resistance band.
Exercise Prescription
1-3 sets of up to 15 repetitions. Note that if you can do more than 15 repetitions of a particular exercise, you should increase the difficulty of that exercise. If you are performing multiple sets, you may do 2-3 sets of the one exercise before moving on to the next exercise or cycle through your whole program 2-3 times.
Up to 60 seconds rest between sets. The duration of rest will be dependent upon the intensity of the exercise for you.