The mh3 Bench Press Guide
Everything I teach about the bench press in my reels and on the floor at mh3, in one place. The setup that saves your shoulders, the bar path, why reps actually get missed, and the exact 6 week block structure we program at the gym. Save this page.
If you are stable you can be strong
The bench press is a stability lift. If you are moving around on the bench, feet sliding, back shifting, bar wandering, you are leaking power, and strength disappears with it. Everything in this guide is about one thing: locking in a base so that every bit of your energy goes into the bar instead of into holding yourself together.
And here is the truth about missed reps: a lot of bench press reps are missed not because you are not strong enough, but because you panic when the bar slows down. We will fix that too.
The setup: grip, shoulders, legs, unrack
The press: the J curve and the pause
The bar does not move in a straight line and you should not try to make it. It comes down to the bottom of your chest, and it presses back up over the front of your shoulders. A slight J. Your lats control that path: squeeze the bar down to your chest with your lats, keep it tight to your body, then push it back over your face. On the way down and up, keep trying to pull the bar apart, as if it could split down the middle. That lights up the back of your shoulders and holds the whole path together.
Pause every rep. Control the bar down, pause on the chest, count 1, 2, 3, press. No bouncing. Bouncing means you are not in control, it wastes the energy into the bounce and it shifts the work onto your shoulders. Paused, tight, your chest does the pressing, and every rep is the same rep. Brace at the top before the bar comes down, hold it through the pause, let it go at lockout, re brace.
And when the bar slows down on a heavy rep: nothing changes. You do not twist, you do not flare, you do not chase it with your elbows. Stay stable, stay tight, and let the muscles move the weight slowly. As long as you hold your positions, a slow bar is still a moving bar. Get comfortable in the struggle. That is where strength is built.
The 3 mistakes that cap your bench
The 6 week block: how we actually program the bench
Same engine we run on the gym floor and in the app. The indicator comes first, one set at the same reps as the top set around RPE 6.5, your reading for the day: moves like it should, proceed; feels heavy, today stays lighter, the plan bends to the day. Then one all in top set at the day's target RPE, the set that drives progress. Then back offs at exactly top set minus 10 percent. Feel genuinely great on the indicator? Add 2.5kg to the top set yourself, the bench moves in smaller steps than the squat and deadlift, so no hero jumps.
RPE 8 means about two good paused reps left, RPE 9 means one. Warm up with singles past your first working weight. Day 2 earns its place: close grip bench for the pressing volume, palm up front raises, one of the exercises that made the biggest difference to my own bench, they teach the top of the chest to control that J curve back over the shoulders, and rows, because a big bench sits on a big back.
Scoring your test: estimated max = weight x (1 + reps x 0.033), and because you left one rep in the tank at RPE 9, count one extra rep. Example: 90kg for 4 with one left is 90 x (1 + 5 x 0.033), about 105kg. That number seeds your next block, it is what the indicator, top set and back offs all calculate from.
The mh3 training app takes your numbers and builds every set of this for you, then adjusts the weights as you log. Your first week is free, no card needed.