How To: Tone your chest with a barbell bench press exercise

This video from Men's Health shows you the proper way to get a fit chest by doing a barbell bench press. Safety first!

Lie on a bench with your feet flat on the floor. Grab the bar with your hands slightly more than shoulder-width apart, holding the weight with your arms extended over your chest. Pull your shoulder blades back and together then lower the bar to your chest.

Pause when the bar touches your chest before pushing the weight back up to the starting position. Breathe in as you lower the weight and breathe out as the bar touches the chest and moves back towards the starting position. Do not bounce the bar on the chest.

This conventional bench press works the chest, triceps and front of the shoulder. Using a closer grip will target the triceps more, so experiment to find what works best for you. As with the close grip bench press, we recommend that you keep a training partner close by who can assist you if you get into difficulty.