Is Arching in a bench press Bad for your Back?

Is arching your back during bench bad for you?

One of the longest standing questions of bench press; is it bad for your back to arch your back during a bench press?

Simple answer, no it’s not bad for your back and it actually might be easier on your shoulder joints! 

Now I would first of all like to squash the myth of arching your back being a bad thing to anyone who still holds that misconception. If this were true anyone who did yoga would have absolutely just destroyed backs from doing cat-cows. But this leaves the question of where did this myth come from?

Well arching your spine in either direction while under extra load may have some more damaging effects, maybe not as much as people think as the spine is pretty durable however it’s safe to say that a neutral spine is safe under load than a extended or flexed spine. 

So why is it safe to arch your back in a bench press? 

Well in a bench press the load isn’t on your spine it’s all on your shoulder blades into the bench and no load is on the spine while benching. 

In my next post I will be covering the differences between benching with an arch in your back vs benching without an arch!