Barbell Guillotine Press
What Is the Barbell Guillotine Press?
Barbell Guillotine Press is a compound exercise that primarily targets the chest and also engages the front of the shoulders and the triceps. It is an advanced-level movement that changes one thing about the flat barbell bench press: instead of lowering the bar to the middle of the chest, you lower it toward the base of the neck with a wide grip and the elbows flared out roughly in line with the shoulders.
The movement was popularized by the bodybuilding coach Vince Gironda, who called it the neck press and preferred it to the regular bench press for chest development. It is a bodybuilding accessory, not a competition lift or a strength test, and it is usually programmed after the main pressing work of a chest session with light loads and moderate to high reps.
Coaches use it to put a long stretch across the upper chest without an incline bench. With the elbows flared and the bar traveling high, the triceps contribute less than in a standard Barbell Bench Press and the pecs and front delts take more of the work. That upper-chest emphasis is a long coaching tradition rather than something that has been measured, and the Barbell Incline Bench Press remains the more reliable and more easily loaded way to train the same area.
The trade-off is risk. The bar spends every rep over the throat, and the bottom position takes the shoulders into a wide, flared and deeply stretched position, so the exercise suits experienced lifters with healthy, pain-free shoulders and a solid flat and incline bench press. If you are still building that base, Dumbbell Incline Bench Press and Dumbbell Incline Fly train the upper chest with far less at stake. When you do use the guillotine press, a slow, controlled lowering and a focus on squeezing the chest to drive the bar up matter more than the weight on the bar.
Muscles Worked
- Pectoralis Major
- Primary
- Deltoid
- High
- Rhomboid Major
- Minimal
- Teres Minor
- Minimal
Instructions
- Set up a flat bench with a barbell on the uprights and a spotter standing behind you, or place the bench inside a power rack with the safety pins set just below the bottom of your range.
- Lie on the bench with your head, upper back and hips on the pad, your feet flat on the floor and your eyes roughly under the bar.
- Grip the bar overhand with your thumbs wrapped around it, hands wider than shoulder width so your forearms will be vertical at the bottom.
- Pull your shoulder blades back and down, then unrack the bar with your spotter's help and hold it over the base of your neck with your arms straight.
- Flare your elbows out roughly in line with your shoulders and lower the bar slowly toward the base of your neck, keeping your elbows under the bar.
- Stop when the bar is about an inch above your neck and collarbones and you feel a stretch across your upper chest. Do not touch or bounce.
- Press the bar straight back up until your arms are fully extended over your neck and shoulders, keeping your head and shoulder blades on the bench.
- Finish each set a couple of reps short of failure and rerack the bar with your spotter guiding it.
Common Mistakes
Going too heavy
Loading the bar like a regular bench press overloads the stretched, flared shoulder position and makes a failed rep over the throat far more likely.
Training without a spotter or safeties
Pressing alone on a bench with fixed uprights leaves nothing between a failed rep and your neck, so always use a spotter or safety pins set just below your bottom position.
Using a thumbless grip
Leaving the thumbs off the bar lets it roll out of the hands, which is the most dangerous way this exercise can go wrong.
Dropping fast or bouncing
Letting the bar fall toward the neck or rebound out of the bottom removes control at the exact point where the shoulders are most stretched and the throat is closest.
Losing upper-back tightness
Letting the shoulder blades drift apart and the shoulders roll forward at the bottom shifts stress onto the front of the shoulder joint.
Elbows drifting off the bar
Letting the elbows travel behind or in front of the bar instead of staying under it breaks the pressing line and makes the bar wander toward the face or chest.
Injuries
Barbell Guillotine Press is a high risk exercise when performed with proper technique. The main hazard is where the bar travels: every rep finishes just above your throat, so a missed rep, a slipped grip or a bar lowered too fast can land on your neck rather than your chest. Treat this as a reason for a careful setup rather than a reason to panic. Always use a spotter standing behind you, or work inside a power rack with the safety pins set just below the bottom of your range so a failed rep rests on the pins instead of on you. Wrap your thumbs around the bar, use collars, and pick a weight well below what you use on a regular bench press, ending each set a couple of reps short of failure.
The shoulders take the other share of the stress. The wide grip and fully flared elbows stretch the front of the shoulder hard at the bottom, which can irritate the rotator cuff or the AC joint at the top of the shoulder. A lab study of ten experienced strength athletes found that wider grips on the regular bench press raised the forces through the shoulder joint and the AC joint, and the guillotine press combines a wide grip with an even deeper bottom position. Keep the shoulder blades pulled back and down, lower under control and never bounce out of the bottom.
If you have a history of shoulder pain, impingement or AC joint problems, skip this exercise and use the Barbell Incline Bench Press or Dumbbell Incline Bench Press instead, since dumbbells can be dropped to the sides if a rep fails. Lifters new to the movement can start with the empty bar and a slightly shorter range of motion, stopping at the top of the chest, and lower the bar further only as long as the shoulders feel comfortable.
Stop the set if you feel sharp or pinching pain in the front or top of the shoulder, clicking that comes with pain, or numbness or tingling down the arm. End the set at once if the bar ever touches your throat or you feel the rep stalling near the bottom, and let your spotter or the safety pins take the weight.
Other Names for the Barbell Guillotine Press
The Barbell Guillotine Press is also known as:
- Barbell Neck Press
- Gironda Neck Press
Frequently Asked Questions
- Q: Is the guillotine press better than the incline bench press for the upper chest?
Not as far as anyone has shown. Coaches use the guillotine press as an upper-chest exercise when no incline bench is available, but the Barbell Incline Bench Press trains the same area, can be loaded more heavily and carries less risk, so it is the better main lift for most people.
- Q: Should the bar touch my neck?
No. Lower the bar until it is about an inch above the base of your neck and the top of your collarbones, then press back up without touching or bouncing.
- Q: How heavy should I go on the guillotine press?
Keep it light: a weight well below your regular bench press that you can control for 8 to 15 reps, ending each set a couple of reps short of failure. Beginners to the movement should start with the empty bar.
- Q: Can I do the guillotine press without a spotter?
Only inside a power rack with the safety pins set just below your bottom position, so a failed rep lands on the pins. Without a spotter or safeties, choose a dumbbell press such as the Dumbbell Incline Bench Press, where the weights can be dropped to the sides.
- Q: Why is it called the guillotine press?
The name comes from lowering the bar toward the neck. Vince Gironda, who popularized the movement, called it the neck press, and many lifters still use that name.