Barbell - Powerlifting Bench Press: Sink vs Soft Touch (2024)

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(The short version of this post is this: if you bench press do you sink or soft touch? Why?)

For the longest time, I’ve carried the burden of this aching conundrum regarding the powerlifting bench press - should I sink or soft touch?

Ever since I tore my pec tendon 10 years ago and heard the deafening refrain of my surgeon (“you’ll never lift heavy again”), I made it my plight to silence those words. The bench press, my own personal nemesis which sent me to Urgent Care after crippling my shoulder with contemptuous indifference, has been a vexing foe hitherto. Yet, I haven’t yielded to my quest to overcome it.

Since that time, I managed a very solid 245 lbs, a lifetime PR since even before the tear, at around 175 lbs. I’m looking to surpass that once more.

At the time of my injury, which left me unable to work and sling bound for nearly half a year, I delved into every resource I could to formulate a plan to regain what I’d lost. In that time I found Pavel and Power to the People and it was like stumbling upon a spring in a desert. The concept of tension and strength as a skill resonated with me. I couldn’t wait to practice! Of course, once my sling came off, I could barely raise my arm to brush my teeth. My arm has transmogrified from a solid pipe to a wet, ramen noodle. I had a ways to go…

Fast forward ten years and here I am today, still on the saddle, looking to lift heavy. The bench press has been a befuddlement with occasional Aha moments. One finicky dilemma keeps reading its ugly head - to sink or not to sink?

When I first returned to benching, my tendency was to sink. This was merely due to the fact that as I lowered the bar, I could bypass the troublesome bottom position most afflicted by my injury by allowing the bar to “cruise through it.” This, while temporarily clouding the truth of my glaring weakness, had the short term effect of creating “an illusion of pressing strength”, partnered with a constant onslaught of issues to my shoulders already riddled with them. So I but the bullet, dropped the weights, and practiced tension.

I’d find, over time as the weight increased, my high tension benches would slowly evolve until the sink method but alas, I could move more weight! After much scrutiny and the study of many resources, I’ve since decided, the sink is an optimal style.

Here is a video of me practicing commands using the “sink technique”

The sink style is not often lauded as correct, as it offers two of what some may call “disadvantages”: a larger ROM and a loss of tension. However, I think there are many benefits to both styles that deserve recognition.

The Soft Touch
The soft touch style is defined as bringing the bar down slowly and barely grazing the chest. It is often used by lifters who have a tremendous arch, short arms and are on the lighter side.

Pros
- Tension is maintained throughout duration
- Shorter range of motion
- Less moving part, greater control.

Cons
- Less support of weight from torso/legs in bottom

- Higher fatigue of pressing muscles on descent
- Less power from leg drive

Sink Technique
The sink technique is basically the same but the lifter allows the barbell to rest more on the torso in the bottom position to varying degrees. Some sink slightly like Mark Bell, some sink to extreme levels like Dan Green.

Pros
- Faster eccentric/concentric speed.
- More support and assistance from full body in bottom position allowing for stronger/longer pause
- Helps surpass the weaker bottom position

Cons
- Harder to master as more technique cues required to maintain proper position.
- Longer ROM
- Doesn’t train pressing muscles to fullest degree.
- Tension vs looseness can be confusing

[There may be other points I’ve missed but this list highlights the more prominent aspects.]

I’m sure a lot of you haven’t much pondered these topics to such a degree to warrant an entire post like this. Such diminutive details are probably fleas to an elephant for most folks but heck, paralysis by analysis is my middle name. However, I am curious and the point of this thread was to ask:

If you bench press, do you sink or soft touch?
With the Sink Technique

I’ve found that although I sink for my competition style, I still have to train variations such as tempo presses, spoto (just off chest), and long pauses. This ensure my upper body doesn’t get lazy.

The most common issue of sinking are letting the bar plummet to the chest. This was my cardinal sin when I first started imploring the technique. A free fall descent will collapse the arch, cause the elbows to veer behind the bar and the upper back to flex, putting the lifter in a compromised place. Although the lifter will get a large rebound off the chest, the shoulder will like shrug, the back flatten and the elbows will be forced to contend alone against the stupendous weight. The car will stop dead in its tracks like a Lamborghini to a brick wall.

Instead, the sink technique should be applied in a disciplined manner. There is less tension needed in the upper body than in the soft touch, but less tension doesn’t mean no tension. A controlled but loose eccentric is used, where the lats, chest, torso and legs carry the load. The arms are where relaxation should be localized. In addition, the arch shouldn’t collapse and the upper back shouldn’t un-anchor. The glutes should be tightly squeezed to connect the upper and lower body.

Pavel included an incredibly in depth description of the “supine push press” in Power to the People! Professional. It is definitely worth a read. Likewise, Brazos posted an interesting video on the topic here -

Thanks for reading and happy pressing!

Barbell - Powerlifting Bench Press: Sink vs Soft Touch (2024)

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