Competition bench press

obi604

My gym has a new ‘Competition bench press’

I see it has safety bars at the side 

what is the real difference/advantage of a competition bench press. what does it allow that a standard bench does not cater for?

sorry for silly question, just interested.

Deano7788

Outside of the safeties there's no real extra benefit (bench pad might be better but that would depend on the model really), it just means that its the type of bench that would be used in competition by certain powerlifting federations.

Federations will tend to use one of 2 set ups for bench press, a fixed competition bench (typically where squats are done in a monolift), or a combo rack, where it is also used for squat by removing the bench part. These would have 2 sets of hooks for placing the bar, one for bench and a higher one for squat. The fixed bench will just have the one.

obi604

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119246138#Comment_119246138

Thanks. One thing I did find on the competition bench is the place where the barbell rests when idle was not very safe! Kinda felt like the barbell could slip off over the tiny little bump thats there to keep it in place.

Cill94

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058251595/competition-bench-press

Main advantage is a much better quality pad. **** bench pads you get in most gyms are hard and slippy, making it hard to keep positioning.

On a good bench, you’ll sink right into it and stay far more stable. Easily adds 2.5-5kg to my bench.

Mellor

The good benches at my gym also has a monolift style rack. Which makes a big difference imo