Barbell Guillotine Bench Press
Trains the Clavicular Head.
- Equipment
- A barbell, a rack and either a flat bench or an adjustable bench
- Mechanic
- Compound
- Force
- Push
- Level
- Intermediate
How to do it
- Set a barbell in a rack over a flat bench with the safety pins just below neck height.
- Lie back and take an overhand grip wider than a standard bench press.
- Set your shoulder blades back and down.
- Unrack the bar and hold it over your upper chest with straight arms.
- Lower it toward your neck rather than your sternum, letting the elbows travel out wide.
- Stop above the neck and press back up along the same line.
Common mistakes
- Lowering to the neck without the pins set at that height. This variation deliberately brings the bar down over the throat, which makes where the pins sit the first decision rather than an afterthought.
- Keeping your flat bench weight. Wide elbows and a high bar path is a much weaker shoulder position, and the load drops sharply to match it.
- Tucking the elbows. The flared elbow is what this variation is — tucking it makes an ordinary press done to the wrong place on the chest.
- Doing it because it is said to isolate the upper chest. The high bar path does bring the fibres from the collarbone in more, and an incline press reaches them with the shoulder in a stronger position.
Muscles worked
Primary
- Clavicular HeadPecs