Is Arching On Bench Press Bad For Your Back? (Should You Arch On Bench?)

Maybe you have ventured across this post cause you saw some internet troll say “ArChiNg iS BaD fOr YoUr BaCk” and wondered… “Is this true?”

Short Answer- No.

Long Answer- Fuck No.

If this was the case every yogi doing a back bridge would have blown their spine out their butt hole by now. However I think this question actually brings up three more interesting questions that relate to this question.

1.) Why isn’t arching bad for your back?

2.) Should You Arch?

3.) Is Arching Cheating?

In this article I will use my over a decade of experience in the industry to answer these questions.

Why Isn’t Arching Bad For Your Back?

Simply stated arching is not bad for your back because the load is on your shoulders not on your back.

Performing an arch on a bench press is no different that performing any yoga pose that includes bending your back. You don’t hear anyone saying “Don’t do yoga, it will hurt your back” or at least I have never heard anyone say that.

Like wtf even are some of these.

So simply stated the back isn’t even being loaded in a bench press and bending your back into extreme positions is fine if you are capable of it and not everyone will even have the mobility to get into these extreme positions (in yoga or arching on bench press).

What if the back was loaded though?? Would it not be okay to load then?

Well also no, it would still be okay. We actually have some pretty good data to suggest the back is able to be loaded with a rounded spine position safely.

This actually may be good for the back when something like a Jefferson deadlift is slowly progressed over time however that is not the topic of this article (maybe I will cover it at a later date).

Should You Arch?

So if the arch isn’t bad for your back why wouldn’t you arch?? Or why would you???

Simply stated arching allows you to reduce range of motion and put yourself into a more advantageous position to bench more weight. It is typically used for powerlifters to increase their bench and in turn their totals. (Total = combination of best squat, bench, & deadlift in a powerlifting meet or in training)

For awhile a reverse stigma started to be created that arching on a bench press was actually safer for your shoulders and EVERYONE should arch.

I actually don’t really buy into this either. It feels like the reverse “Arching is bad for your back”. Sure if your Max bench is 225lb with and arch an you load 225lb and try to bench it with a flat back you are more likely to hurt yourself cause you are not able to lift as much that way and therefore beyond your max capabilities which always comes with more injury risk.

However I think when appropriate loads are used flat back benching is a great way to promote muscle building through the increased range of motion and extra stretch on the pec.

So…. should you arch? or should you flat back bench?

Well most simply put it depends on your goals. Everyone’s goal are different and both flat back benching and arching are tools that can be used to achieve certain goals.

If your goal is strictly hypertrophy maybe arching is like using a hammer to put a screw in. Sure if you bash it hard enough it may go in but there’s probably a better tool for the job.

If you are a powerlifter though you may be hitting the nail on the head (see what I did there with arching being the hammer).

Basically every powerlifter will arch in some regard, some may be more extreme than others in order to lift the most weight possible.

However powerlifters may also use a flat back bench to meet muscle building demands for the sport but usually it’s not with a barbell but performed with dumbbells or a machine.

Just remember just cause flat back or arching is the tool that works best for YOUR goals, that doesn’t mean its what works best for everyone. If you are commenting on some ones post “ArChInG iS cHeAtInG” just cause flat back benching is the tool that works best for you I will become your sleep paralysis demon and haunt you.

Tiny arm Max at 2023 CPU Nationals.

Is Arching Cheating?

So lets address the elephant in the room cause anytime you see a lifter with a big arch benching a lot of weight there’s at least one person in the comments saying its cheating, or doesn’t count or how is this allowed or something like that.

So first of all if you are not a competitive powerlifter there is no “cheating” there’s no rules to how you have to bench press and anybody that makes up arbitrary ones can suck it.

There are many ways to perform the bench press and as long as the way you are doing it a.) makes you happy b.) works towards your goals and c.) isn’t being used in a way to compare to others using a different standard as you… keep doing what you are doing.

Now if you do compete in powerlifting there are rules you need to follow in order for the lift to count in competition.

So sure I guess if you are benching with a big enough arch that your lift would not count in competition this could be seen as “cheating” although its just more so you are not training in a way that would count.

The tricky part of this is there are many federations each with their own set of rules and to date only one has a rule that would limit how much you can arch in competition.

The IPF (and its affiliates) has a rule known as “elbow depth”. This rule limits how much you can arch by creating a standard that your elbows must be in line with your shoulders in order for the lift to count. This will limit very extreme arches for most people as they will not be able to meet this standard with a very large arch.

Here is the rule as stated in the IPF rulebook.

Here’s some examples of lifts that would count.

Here are some examples of lifts that would not count.

So when we look at the lifts that would count and the ones that wouldn’t they both include arching. Therefore arching in and of itself isn’t cheating even in the IPF.

I also wouldn’t classifying as “cheating” as much as it’s just not lifting to a passable standard in competition.

How much you are allowed to arch is variable to how much arch your body can do until your elbows start to be over your elbows.

This also only applies to the IPF and its affiliates arching to all levels despite elbow position is allowed in other federations.

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