When bench pressing your shoulder girdle should be kept in a retracted position. This may take practice at first if your not used to it. Stand normal with your hands against the wall. Now take one step backwards. From here, without bending at the hip or leaning forward, stretch your arms out as far in front of you to try to touch the wall.

That is the protracted position. To get to the retracted position, you have to do the opposite and pull your arms as far back as possible at the shoulder girdle (no bending of the elbows). In a sense you are squeezing your shoulder blades together. Practice for 5 minutes a day for a few days or a week and you'll have it down in no time. This is the position your shoulders should be in for the safest and most powerful bench press.

Make sure your feet are planted firmly on the floor and do not come up during your bench attempts. They should also not be moving around. This creates a stable base and foundation, which makes your bench more powerful. The whole body must be stable during a bench press and the feet are a huge part of that.

In addition, when benching you can learn to kind of “push” off with your feet for additional power. Try this during your normal chest workouts until you can get it down, then use it to help increase your max on bench!

Before every single max attempt you need to visualize yourself doing that weight. This also may take a little practice but you should be able to see yourself benching that weight. You should be able to "feel" the heaviness of the bar on you and the strain in your arms and chest as you move the weight. "Feel" the bar in your hands; "hear" the sounds of the gym. Literally go through the motions without the weight while you do this. This will help prepare your body for what is to come so that it won't be such a huge shock.

This technique works well for some people if they can be really convincing and are good at lying to themselves and making themselves believe it. Before you attempt a max bench press, lie to yourself about the weight.

Say you have 200 pounds that you are about to try to bench. Lie to yourself and tell yourself that it is nothing and that you've done it before. Also, pretend that it is only 150 pounds for example. This may help you get that weight up!

For the average lifter this technique is one that is never thought of or heard about. Your body is only as strong as it's weakest link. By tightening up your glutes as you perform the bench, you will help reinforce that stability that the body needs so that you can channel power from your whole body into the bench. You will be amazed at how well this can work.

Depending on your strengths and weaknesses you may want to try different grips on your bench press. For example, if your triceps tend to be a little bit stronger, take your grip a little bit narrower. If they tend to be a little weaker, try widening your grip slightly.

However, you need to remember that any time you change your grip it may feel a little different and uncomfortable at first. Your body adapts to the new grip quickly and if you really had business changing your grip, you will notice your bench going up.

If you have a particular weak area of the bench, for example getting stuck at the bottom or getting stuck halfway up, you may want to work on just that section of your bench press. Also remember, your shoulders are a lot more “in play” at the bottom of the movement and your triceps are a lot more “in play” at the top of the movement. No matter where you are getting stuck, start benching inside a power rack and set it up so that you are benching using only a range of motion within your weak zone.

Using a thicker bar temporarily can help make your benching seem easier when you switch back to a standard sized Olympic bar. Many power lifters use this technique. Chances are if you go to a fitness center rather than an all out gym, you may have a hard time finding this thicker bar.

We all know how mental working out can be and this is especially true with the bench press. A person could use the same weight on an exercise for years and never go up just because that is what they're “used to”. Once they convince themselves that they can do more and that it's time to try they often surprise themselves. Is your unyielding bench a result of a physical plateau or a mental plateau? That is what you need to ask yourself and be honest with.

Jumping into an attempted one rep max on bench press is probably the most costly mistake as far as missing your goals on bench press. When you max out, your muscles need to be thoroughly warmed up but not excessively warmed up. In other words you don't want your muscles to be tired when you start your maxing session but you also need to make sure they are adequately warmed up. This will help prevent devastating injuries as well.