Benchpress scapula depression

[Yeong Oh]

Hi, before I read the starting strength book.

I was always told to bench

"retract your scapulars back and down"

but when I actually retract my scapular as much as possible

and then do scapular depression, retracted scapular becomes a bit more loose.


I uploaded bench video a few days ago, and Steve Hill told me I can do a better job of scapular retraction.

So I looked up the book, it never mentioned scapular depression in bench press.

It just said "retract scapulars, put your chest as high as possible"


I also watched Barbell Medicine's bench press video that came out two weeks ago

It did not mention scapular depression, only mentioned scapular retraction.


So my question is,

if I retract my scapulars and place my chest as high as possible

is scapula depression supposed to be done naturally when I follow that? (I tried it a few times, and I think it does)


or is scapula depression something that you just don't have to care about much?

Should I just focus shoulder retraction, and chest as high as possible??


Thanks in advance!

[Steve Hill]

We cue people to pinch them together. Then get a good, hard arch going on the bench. No need to over-complicate it.