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The bench press is a simultaneous motion exercise and is considered one of the “core” weight lifting exercises. The reason behind this is because it is extremely effective in strengthening the prime movers of the upper extremities. Here are a few examples of were this can be found: football-tackling, blocking and passing, swimming-crawl and breaststroke, track and field-pole vault, shot put, and discus, boxing-punching, basketball-shooting, boxing out and rebounding. There are also other muscles that are strengthened besides your pectoralis major and minor. There are you triceps, anterior and middle deltoids, wrist flexors (grip), and your rotator cuff and biceps work as a stabilizer and are slightly strengthened. There are a few things that you should do before you begin your lift phase of the bench press. You should stretch and warm up. Your stretching should be static stretching and it should be before you work out and after you are finished. The reason that you want to stretch is that it helps prevent injuries and it also improves strength. The more flexible you are the better. A good stretch before bench pressing is to grab a pole above your head and lower your body while you hold on to the pole. This will stretch out m