Scapula Retraction while Benching

[JaNrOne]

Hey Coach,

I have a question referring to the Bench Press
when I bench I try to squeeze my shoulderblades as strongly together as possible.
When I do so, my shoulder starts to rise minimal towards my ears in the fully retracted position. Its not like as if i would excessively shrug my shoulders up to my ears but i can't retract without a slight upward motion of the shoulder.
Some other coaches say one should depress and retract the shoulderblades at the same time which isn't possible for me because wenn i fully retract my shoulder and start to depress them, they start to protract aswell.
What do you think about the whole topic? Should I simply focus on retracting as hard as possible and ignore the slight upward motion toward my ears or should i retract less and therefore depress my shoulders stronger away from my ears?
I don't think you can Maximally depress and maximally retract at the same time so on which one should one focus?

https://youtu.be/i7Pw2OG7yUw
In this video you can see what I mean. The first action is the retraction/adduction. I think thats like in SS. Her shoulder's are also moving slightly upward. The secound part, the depression, let her shoulders come slightly apart out of that fully retracted position.

Thank you,
Jan

[ColoWayno]

Just retract those scapula. Retract them when you are driving to work. Retract them when you are brushing your teeth. Retract them when you make love to your SO.

Especially think about retracting them on the set up and descent when bench pressing. Keep them retracted on the ascent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdE0043WyfE

[JaNrOne]

So you mean to pinch them together as much as possible without concentrating on downward/depressing or upward/shrugging motions?

[Bryan Dobson]

DO band pull aparts and retract them like that. Do band pull aparts between bench sets concentrating on squeezing the scapula together. it will be fresh in your mind when you bench.

[JaNrOne]

Like this?
https://youtu.be/Ovhy1mlJ8uU

Thats a video of me retracting like I normally do for Benching