Pin Presses
Also works: Chest · Forearms · Lats · Middle Back · Shoulders
A bench press that starts from a dead stop on the rack pins instead of from your chest. There is no lowering phase and no stretch reflex to borrow from, so every rep begins with a stationary bar and tests raw starting strength at whichever height you set the pins.
Own the movement
Set up first, then execute. Every cue below is something you can check on your next set.
Before the first rep
- Put the bench inside a power rack and set the pins at the height you want to train: an inch off the chest for starting strength, mid-range for the sticking point, high for lockout.
- Load the bar on the pins before you lie down. You never unrack this lift, so j-hook height is irrelevant.
- Lie so the bar sits directly over the spot it would touch on a normal bench, not further up your chest.
- Pull your shoulder blades together and drive your feet into the floor to press your traps into the bench — set that tightness before your hands take any load.
- Grip at your usual bench width, or at shoulder width to shift the work onto the triceps.
- Take your breath and brace with the bar still on the pins; there is no descent to set up during.
Every rep
Breathing & tempo — Fresh breath and brace before every rep while the bar is parked. Explosive concentric, controlled two-second return to the pins, then reset. Never chain reps on one breath.
Before you load it
- Use the rack's own pins or heavy-duty safeties rated for a dropped bar — light spotter arms can bend under repeated dead-stop loading.
- If the rep will not move, simply relax and let the bar sit back on the pins. That escape is the reason this lift is safe to train alone.
Sets, reps & load
Where to start, and what to change when it stops being hard.
Start at roughly 70% of your full-range bench for the same grip and expect that to feel heavy — dead-start reps always do. Progress in 2.5 kg steps only when every rep breaks off the pins immediately with no grind. If the first rep flies and the third one takes three seconds, you are training grinding, not starting strength; cut the reps rather than the weight.
What goes wrong
The errors that show up most often, and the cue that fixes each one.
Let the bar rest completely, take your hands off the pressure for a count of one, then re-grip and press. If you cannot lift it from a true dead stop, the weight is wrong for this lift.
Film your heaviest bench set from the side and find the exact height where the bar slows. Set the pins two centimetres above that and train there.
Re-set shoulder blades, feet and breath before every single rep. Treat each rep as its own single with a five-second reset, not as part of a flowing set.
Log it as its own lift with its own history. A pin press well below your bench is normal and is the information you came for.
Lower at the same speed you would on a bench and set it down quietly. Repeated slamming bends pins and rattles the loaded bar out of your control.
Why bother
A normal bench rep stores elastic energy on the way down and releases it off the chest. That is free force, and it hides weak spots. Setting the bar on pins deletes the eccentric entirely: the bar is dead, the muscles are slack, and the only thing moving it is force you generate from zero. Lifters routinely find their pin press 15-25% below the same height on a touch-and-go bench, and that gap is the honest measurement.
The second use is surgical. Set the pins two centimetres above where your bench stalls and you can hammer that exact inch with near-maximal load, over and over, without accumulating the shoulder wear of full-range heavy singles. Set them at mid-range for triceps, or high for lockout. The pin height is the programming variable, not an afterthought.
Where it fits
Straight after your main pressing work, or as the main lift on a second weekly upper day when your shoulders want a break from full range. One height per training block — pick where you actually stall, stay there for 4-6 weeks, then reassess. Rotating pin height every session teaches you nothing because you never establish a baseline to beat.
If this one isn't it
No kit, too hard, or too easy — here's where to go instead.
Same job, different kit
Start here instead
Asked and answered
Where should I set the pins?
Two centimetres above where your bench actually stalls, which for most lifters is 5-10 cm off the chest. Film a heavy set from the side to find it rather than guessing. If your goal is triceps and lockout instead, set them at mid-range and use a shoulder-width grip.
Why is my pin press so much weaker than my bench?
Because you have removed the stretch reflex. A touch-and-go bench borrows elastic energy from the descent; a dead start borrows nothing. A 15-25% gap is normal and closing it is a legitimate training goal.
Do I need a spotter?
No, and that is one of the best things about the lift. A failed rep just goes back down onto the pins it came from. This makes it the sensible way to press heavy when you train alone.
Can I do these as my main bench movement?
For a block, yes, if your shoulders dislike full range or your bench dies at a consistent point. Long term, no — you still need to train the bottom position and the full bar path, so rotate back to full-range pressing after 4-6 weeks.