Here are 7 things which will aid in your benching especially when done Raw (upequipped).

This should help...

Technique/Set up/Bar Path
Something that I think people need to do in regards to technique is more practice. Every set and every rep must be perfect. Don’t do your warm-up by pressing the bar like an unhinged piston. Do them correctly. Develop a habit.

Bar Speed/Eccentric Control
When benching for a max, whether it be raw or with a shirt, the bar must come down quickly but under control. Here are some tips that will help you in this area:

* Squeeze the bar – You must squeeze the bar as tight as possible when benching. This should be done on every attempt. Repetition breeds habit.

* Strong Lats – Having strong lats will give you the ability to lower the bar correctly and allow you to lower quickly without disrupting the proper bar path. Developing this takes time, so be patient.

* Practice – This is obvious but you have to put in sometime to learn how to lower a bar quickly but do it so it is done correctly. This is not easy to do. Most people get scared doing this with heavy weights so at some point you are going to have put your fears aside, and just do it.

* Set up – By having a tight set up you will be able to confidently lower weights. If you think you are tight, get tighter.

Stabilization
Stabilization basically means that you are able to hold your set up position in the bench press without faltering. You have to be able to stay high on your upper back and have total control of the bar. This is easy to do, but it takes a lot of time. Stabilization in the bench press requires several things.

* Strong AND thick lats - Do you want to know the trick of getting this stronger? Do a lot of work.

* Strong AND thick upper back – This can be accomplished by doing rows and chins (see above), seated DB cleans, face pulls, rear laterals and band pull aparts.

* Shoulders – Few people would argue that you need very strong front delts to be a good raw bencher, but strong delts also help in stabilizing the weight.

Shoulder Strength
I mentioned shoulders before, but strengthening this area is going to be huge. Here is a list of exercises that need to be done. Rotate them into your training.

* Klokov Press
* Standing Overhead Press
* Push Press
* 1-Arm DB Press
* Bradford Presses

Max Effort Exercises
Max effort work is crucial for increasing strength. By lifting in the 90-100% range, you are going to get stronger. The trick is doing enough work in this range without overtraining. According to Prilipin, 3-10 lifts at or above 90% is optimal. But this is based on his findings with Olympic lifters. So you may have to tweak things a little, but use this as a guideline. Start with the minimum (3 total reps) and work from there. The bottom line is that you have to lift heavy weights to get stronger. Here is a list of max effort exercises for the raw bencher:

* Floor Press
* 2 Board Press
* Incline Press
* Bench Press
* 1 Board Press

Pre-habilitation
Because you are not wearing a bench shirt, you don’t have much protection for your shoulders. So I recommend being proactive in this department.

Speed Work
Basically it will teach you how to press from your chest to lockout with force. If you are toeing the line on this one, go ahead and take a step. Most people struggle with speed and this can do wonders for learning how to press with force.