maratoolBench Press with Chains
How to do the bench press with chains
- Adjust the leader chain, shortening it to the desired length.Place the chains on the sleeves of the bar.
- Lying on the bench, get your head beyond the bar if possible. Tuck your feet underneath you and arch your back. Using the bar to help support your weight, lift your shoulder off the bench and retract them, squeezing the shoulder blades together. Use your feet to drive your traps into the bench. Maintain this tight body position throughout the movement. However wide your grip, it should cover the ring on the bar.
- Pull the bar out of the rack without protracting your shoulders. Focus on squeezing the bar and trying to pull it apart. Lower the bar to your lower chest or upper stomach. The bar, wrist, and elbow should stay in line at all times.
- Pause when the barbell touches your torso, and then drive the bar up with as much force as possible. The elbows should be tucked in until lockout.
Muscles worked
The prime mover is the triceps brachii, which straightens the elbow, and through its long head helps pull the arm back at the shoulder.
Because more than one joint is moving, the work does not stay in one place: the chest adds pushing force at the shoulder; the lats keep the upper arm drawn in toward the torso; the deltoids stabilise the shoulder and add force at the top of the range.
How this movement works
The working muscles shorten as they drive the load away from you, and more than one joint changes angle to do it. Load spreads down a chain instead of sitting on one muscle, which is why a compound push handles more weight than any single-joint alternative — and why joint position, not the muscle, is usually what fails first.
It is filed under powerlifting — the squat, bench and deadlift family and their accessory work. Technique is judged by whether it survives a near-maximal single, not merely by whether the weight moves.
What you need
A barbell locks both hands to one bar, so neither side can drift and the load climbs in plate-sized steps. That makes it the simplest way to add weight and the least forgiving thing to bail out of.
Every exercise using:Barbell
These train the triceps too, using equipment this one does not:
- Bent-Over One Arm Triceps Extension with Dumbbelldumbbell
- Body Tricep Pressbody only
- Cable Lying Triceps Extensioncable
- Close-Grip EZ-Bar Presse-z curl bar
- Dip Machinemachine
Difficulty
Listed at expert level. It asks for range, stability or speed that takes time to build, and it punishes a rushed set-up much harder than an easier movement would.
Of the 99 triceps exercises in this database, 2 are listed at expert level.
Photos: free-exercise-db — public domain (Unlicense) Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.