The Bench Press in CrossFit: Why You Should Do It (And How To Do It Right)

“How much do you bench?”

It’s the question that never goes away. Ask a room full of ninth graders about fitness, and every single question will be about the bench press. It’s been that way for decades, and it’s not changing anytime soon.

If you’d rather listen to this conversation, you can do that here.

But if you’ve been doing CrossFit for a while, you might have noticed something: we don’t bench press nearly as much as traditional gym programs. In fact, CrossFit includes the bench press less than almost any other training methodology out there.

Does that mean we think it’s wrong? That we shouldn’t do it because we’re lying on our backs pressing up instead of going overhead?

Not at all. Let’s talk about why the bench press deserves a place in your training and how to do it correctly.

Why CrossFit Doesn’t Emphasize the Bench Press (But Still Includes It)

The bench press is a phenomenal upper-body strengthening exercise. It builds mass, it builds raw pressing power, and it’s been a staple of strength training for good reason.

Where it falls a bit short is in functionality. When we talk about functional pressing in CrossFit, we’re focused on the overhead press series: strict press, push press, and push jerk. These movements build tremendous core strength and better mimic real-world pressing demands.

But that doesn’t mean the bench press doesn’t have utility.

For athletes and general people trying to get stronger, the bench press can be a very solid part of a comprehensive program. The danger only arises when it is overused or when other pressing movements are omitted entirely.

If you’re doing a well-rounded program that includes press, push press, push jerk, AND bench press, that’s ideal. The bench press becomes a complementary exercise that builds raw upper-body pushing strength alongside your functional pressing work.

It’s Not As Imbalanced As You Think

One common criticism of the bench press is that it only works the front side of your body. You’re neglecting your back, they say.

But when done correctly, the bench press absolutely works your back. And that’s the key phrase: when done correctly.

In powerlifting, there’s a saying: “Big back, big bench.”

Your back creates the foundation you’re pressing from. When you retract your shoulder blades properly and create tension through your upper back, you’re using those muscles to stabilize the movement and create a solid platform to press from.

Think about it this way: overhead pressing works your whole shoulder girdle, including posterior muscles. The bench press, when done right, engages your back in a similar way, just from a different position.

The Technical Details That Matter

Here’s the thing about the bench press: its simplicity makes people think it’s not a technical movement. Just lie down and push the bar up, right?

Wrong.

The bench press is absolutely a technical movement, and it can be a full-body exercise when executed properly. From your feet all the way to the bar, everything matters.

Start With Your Feet

Bench pressing starts at your feet, not your hands.

Place your feet flat on the ground, either tucked slightly under your knees or directly beneath them. You want to be able to generate force through your heels or whole foot. You need pressure on the ground.

Push your knees out slightly, just like you do in a squat. This creates tension up through your legs, into your hips, into your glutes.

Brace Your Core

Just like you do when squatting, brace your abs. You’re building tension from your feet, through your legs, into your core.

Retract Your Shoulder Blades

Pull your shoulder blades back and down. This activates your lats and creates that upper back tension we talked about.

Now here’s where it gets interesting. There are two schools of thought on shoulder-blade positioning:

The powerlifting approach: Fully retract your shoulder blades and lock them there. Keep them squeezed together throughout the entire movement. You’ll have a big chest position, and you’ll build tremendous tension through your upper back as you lower the bar.

The athletic approach: Start with your shoulder blades slightly retracted, then increase that retraction as you actively pull the bar down to your chest. This allows for more natural scapular movement similar to a push-up, which can be better for shoulder health, especially for throwing athletes.

For most people learning the movement, start with the powerlifting approach: shoulder blades fully retracted and locked in place. Once you master that, you can experiment with allowing slight movement.

The key is this: never let your shoulder blades protract (round forward) at the top of the press. That’s where shoulder problems start.

Grip and Tension

Grab the bar with your thumbs about a thumb’s length away from where the smooth part meets the knurling. Adjust from there based on comfort.

Now, turn your thumbs into the bar. Some people call this “trying to break the bar.” This simple cue does several things:

1. It gets you to angle your elbows to about 45 degrees from your body instead of flaring them straight out (which is hard on your shoulders).
2. It creates tension up through your arms.
3. It engages your nervous system; squeezing hard radiates tension throughout your body.

Use Your Legs

This is where it becomes a full-body movement.

As you’re lying on the bench, push through your feet horizontally as if you’re trying to slide yourself off the top of the bench where your head is. You’re not pushing vertically; you’re pushing yourself “up” the bench.

The weight will pin you down, but that force from your feet travels through your tight hips, your braced core, through your tight back, and up into the bar.

Good bench pressers use this leg drive brilliantly. Watch closely, and you’ll see the bar fly off their chest because they timed their leg drive perfectly.

Put It All Together

The full checklist looks like this:

1. Set your feet
2. Push your knees out
3. Lie down on the bench
4. Squeeze your glutes
5. Brace your core
6. Retract your shoulder blades back and down
7. Make your chest big 
8. Grab the bar
9. Turn your thumbs in
10. Push through your feet

Most of this becomes habit quickly. What’s great about the bench press is that you can set everything in a static environment before you even lift the bar off the rack. Once you lift it off and push with your feet, you’re set. Now you just need to move it up and down through the proper pattern.

The Warm-up Set Rule

Here’s something that separates experienced lifters from novices: how they warm up.

A novice lifter thinks, “This weight is light, so I’ll just crank out my warm-up sets quickly and get to the heavy stuff.”

An experienced lifter treats every set the same, even the empty bar.

If lifters who bench press 800 lb start with an empty bar, grooving the pattern, setting their position, building the proper tension, that’s something worth following.

From the second you lie down on that bench with the empty bar, you should be going through your full checklist. Same setup, same ritual, same bar path. Every single set.

It’s interesting how people naturally apply this to Olympic lifts. They’ll carefully work through their empty bar snatches and cleans. But somehow, with the bench press (or back squat or shoulder press), that focus disappears because these lifts seem less complex.

They’re not. Treat your warm-ups with the same attention as your heavy sets, and you’ll build better habits and stay healthier.

Protecting Your Shoulders

For anyone who’s ever had that anterior shoulder pain while bench pressing — that nagging ache in the front of your shoulder — proper technique is your solution.

The techniques we’ve discussed aren’t just about maximizing performance. They’re about protecting your shoulders so you can keep bench pressing for years without pain.

Most teenagers and young adults start feeling shoulder issues from bench pressing because they’re doing it wrong. The movement becomes less fun, they start avoiding it, and they lose out on a valuable training tool.

Master the technique, and the bench press stops being a shoulder destroyer and becomes a shoulder builder.

Bench Press in Met-Cons

The bench press obviously works great as a standalone strength movement. But what about in metabolic-conditioning workouts?

It’s a bit limited for fast-paced met-cons because of the setup requirements, but there are ways to make it work.

The classic example: Lynne

Five rounds for max reps of:
Bodyweight bench presses
Pull-ups

The bodyweight standard can be modified to whatever makes sense for you — 135, 155, 185, 95, 115, whatever. We’re looking for the right stimulus, not arbitrary numbers, even though standards like benching your body weight or hitting specific rep tests at 225 are neat goals to chase.

Breaking Through Plateaus

Stuck at the same weight for weeks or months? Here are two proven plateau busters:

EMOM Style Volume Work

Take a weight below your plateau and double your target volume. If you want to hit 10 reps at 225, you’ll work toward a total of 20 reps.

Start with sets of 3 reps on the minute at 185 lb for 7 minutes. Once you can complete that, move to 4 reps per set for 5 rounds. Build up until you can hit your 10 reps unbroken at 185.

Then bump the weight to 205 lb and restart the progression.

This works for pull-ups, Olympic lifts, and pretty much any movement. It’s an easy progression that doesn’t take much time.

Slow Negatives

At your plateau weight, do shorter rep sets and don’t go to failure. Then add a couple of sets of very slow negatives (the lowering portion).

This technique is criminally underutilized. We’re always rushing to add more weight to the bar instead of controlling the eccentric, which can provide a valuable stimulus for breaking through sticking points.

Critical Safety Notes

The bench press requires two non-negotiable safety rules:

1. Always use a spotter. Always. The bench press is the most dangerous movement in most people’s training. Don’t skip this.
2. Wrap your thumb around the bar. The “suicide grip” (thumb on the same side as your fingers) is called that for a reason. Bars slip, and wrists give out without any warning. All of a sudden, the bar is just falling toward your face, neck, or chest. People have died from this. Don’t do it.

If you’re coaching a class, make these points explicitly. Teach people how to spot each other properly. Make it clear that you’re available to spot anyone who needs it.

This is not the time to be cavalier about safety.

The Bottom Line

The bench press deserves a place in your CrossFit training, not as the centerpiece, but as a complementary exercise to build raw upper-body strength.

When you include it, do it right:

• Master the full-body tension from feet to bar
• Treat your warm-ups like heavy sets
• Protect your shoulders with proper technique
• Always use a spotter
• Keep your thumb around the bar

The bench press might not be the most functional pressing movement, but when done correctly as part of a comprehensive program, it’s a powerful tool for building upper-body strength.

Plus, you’ll finally have a good answer the next time someone asks, “How much do you bench?”

Just start with the empty bar and work your way up. With proper technique, consistent practice, and smart programming, you’ll be surprised how quickly that number grows.

Now get under the bar — with a spotter — and get to work.

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About the Author

Stephane Rochet is a Senior Content Writer for CrossFit. He has worked as a Flowmaster on the CrossFit Seminar Staff and has over 15 years of experience as a collegiate/tactical strength and conditioning coach. He is a Certified CrossFit Trainer (CF-L3) and enjoys training athletes in his garage gym.