Bench exercises
Flat, incline or a sturdy chair. Needed for pressing, supported rows and step-ups; a hard bed or a low table covers many of them.
What this kit can actually load
49MOVEMENTS
Covering 15 muscle groups as prime movers and 6 of the 9 movement patterns — all of it usable in a front room.
మూలం·Published exercise references·COVERAGE COUNTED FROM PRIME MOVERS ONLY·జూలై 2026న సమీక్షించాం
How the bench list is built
- Start from the joint action, not the sensation. A muscle is credited when the action it produces is the one being resisted.
- Credit exactly one role per exercise: prime mover, or synergist and stabiliser. Nothing is listed twice.
- Rank by technical demand on a 1–5 scale — how much practice the movement needs to be done safely, not how hard the set feels.
- Credit a movement to a piece of kit only when that kit supplies the resistance — a bench you lie on is not the load.
- Attach the published MET category so the energy figure on every card traces back to the same table.
మూలం·Published exercise references·ATTRIBUTION BY JOINT ACTION·జూలై 2026న సమీక్షించాం
All 49 bench movements
Muscles you can cover with bench
Not covered: hamstrings, calves, obliques, hip flexors, rotator cuff. That is the honest gap — fill it with another implement or with bodyweight work.
Programmes that run on this alone
The questions that come up on the floor
What can I train with bench?
49 exercises on this site use bench, covering 15 muscle groups as prime movers and 6 of the 9 movement patterns. 26 of them are compound movements, which is the number that decides whether a piece of equipment can carry a whole programme on its own.
Is bench enough to build muscle?
Yes. With 49 exercises across 15 muscle groups, bench covers enough of the body to run a complete programme. Muscle growth responds to effort, load progression and volume — not to which brand of resistance supplied them.
Can I use bench at home?
Yes — this is home-scale equipment. Flat, incline or a sturdy chair. Needed for pressing, supported rows and step-ups; a hard bed or a low table covers many of them.
How do I make bench exercises harder over time?
Add weight in the smallest increment available whenever you reach the top of the target rep range with clean technique, and keep the range of motion and the tempo identical as the load climbs.
Muscle roles follow standard kinesiology references and are described by joint action rather than by gym convention — see how this site is built. Energy figures are derived from the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities. Every reference is named and dated on the sources page. General information only — not medical or coaching advice. Load, form and progression should be adjusted to your own experience and any injury history. When in doubt, get coached in person.
మూలం·Published exercise references·MUSCLE ROLES ASSIGNED BY JOINT ACTION·జూలై 2026న సమీక్షించాం
The people behind these sites
Follow the build
This site and nine others like it are built and photographed by two people: Amit Sharma — behind the build; Geeta Patel — the poses, demonstrated. New work goes up on Instagram and Facebook before it reaches a page here.
Amit Sharma
@amitsharmaofficial
Instagram
Geeta Patel
@geetapatelnz
Instagram
Geeta Patel
GeetaPatelYoga
Facebook
Following changes nothing here — every page stays open, with no account and no wall.
