Pin Press: How to Do It, Pin Heights and How to Program It

The pin press is a bench press where the bar starts every rep dead still on the safety pins of a power rack, so you drive it up from a fixed height with no help from your chest or a rebound. Lowering it back onto the pins and resting before each rep takes away momentum and the stretch reflex, which makes it a useful way to build strength exactly where you're weakest. You set the pins at a low, mid or lockout height depending on what you want to fix, and you'll need a power rack and a bench to do it. Here's how to set it up, which height to pick, and how to fit it into your training.

How to set up a pin press in a rack

You need a power rack or cage with adjustable safety pins, a flat bench, and a barbell. If you don't have a rack yet, our guide to the best power cage in the UK covers what to look for, and the Winnow power cage review is a good budget place to start.

1. Centre the bench. Slide the bench into the rack so the bar will sit directly over your eyes when you lie back, not over your chin or forehead. Squint at the bar and adjust until it lines up.
2. Set the pins. Pick your height (more on that below), and set both pins at the same hole. Check by eye and by hand; uneven pins twist the bar and feel awful.
3. Set a second set of safeties. Place the J-hooks or safety arms just under the pins, or the pins below the J-hooks, so you can dump the bar if a rep fails. Never train this lift with only one layer between you and the loaded bar.
4. Load the bar. Roll it onto the pins first, then check that it's sitting flat and the collars are tight on both sides.
5. Get tight, then lift. Retract your shoulder blades, plant your feet, create a small arch and grip the bar like you would for your normal bench. Pull the bar off the pins by pressing, not by yanking, and keep the same bar path you'd use on a standard rep.
6. Reset every rep. Lower the bar under control until it touches the pins, let it rest for a beat, release the tension a little, re-brace and press again. That reset is what makes the lift a pin press and not a partial rep.

Pin heights: low, mid and lockout

Where you put the pins decides what the lift trains. There are three useful heights, and you should pick one based on where your bench stalls.

Low pin (just above the chest). The bar sits about an inch above your sternum, so you press from almost a chest-touch. This works the bottom of the lift and is the closest thing to a paused bench with a true dead stop. Use it if you stall off the chest or if you rely heavily on a bounce.

Mid pin (the sticking point). Set the bar so it sits roughly 3 to 5 inches above your chest, which is where many lifters stall. Research on Paralympic powerlifters found bar velocity in the sticking phase was lower than before it (1.30 vs 1.98 m/s) and the time spent there was more than double (study of the sticking region). That's the region this height targets. It's the most common pin setting and the best place to start if you aren't sure.

Lockout pin (elbows nearly straight). Set the bar so your elbows are bent by 20 to 30 degrees at the start. You can use far heavier weights here than in a normal bench, which loads your triceps hard. It also builds confidence under a bar you wouldn't otherwise touch. Don't confuse this with a rack lockout where you unrack the bar and hold; the pin press resets every rep.

Not sure where you stall? Film a hard single from the side and see where the bar slows. If it's near the chest, go low. If it dies halfway up, go mid. If it crawls through the last few inches, go lockout.

Cues for a clean pin press

Pin presses feel different from a normal bench because there's no lowering phase carrying you into the press.

• Pull the bar down onto the pins, don't drop it. A bar that crashes onto the pins rattles your wrists and loses your tightness. Lower it at about the same speed as a normal rep.
• Stay tight on the pins. Don't let your shoulders roll forward and your upper back go slack while the bar is resting. The press starts from your upper back, not from your hands.
• Drive your feet into the floor. Leg drive still matters, even though the lift is short. Push through your heels as the bar leaves the pins.
• Press in a slight arc, back toward your face. The bar should finish over your shoulders, not over your chest. Keep that path on every height.
• Touch, rest, reset. The pause matters; skipping it turns the lift into touch-and-go partials.

What the pin press fixes

The honest version: it's a strength tool for specific positions, not a magic fix. Here's what it does well.

Sticking point. A mid pin press lets you load the part of the rep where the bar slows. In a trial of 56 untrained men over 10 weeks, lifters who trained partial reps beyond the sticking point gained bench strength similar to those who trained full range, with no difference between the groups (PubMed 15320644). The subjects weren't trained lifters, so don't read too much into it.

Lockout strength. A lockout pin press hits your triceps and the top of your pecs hard, which is where many lifters give up on a grinder. If your bench dies in the last third, this is your best option.

Dead-stop strength. Because the bar begins at rest on the pins, you can't cheat with the stretch reflex. For lifters who've learned to bounce a bar off their chest, a low pin press shows how much force you actually produce from zero.

It has limits too. A 2026 study put 16 trained men through four weeks of either supramaximal partial-range bench presses or standard full-range training. Both groups gained the same amount of 1RM, but only the full-range group showed improved bar velocity and force near the turnaround (Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology). The sample was small and the block was short, but the lesson holds: use pin presses to support your bench, not replace it.

How to program the pin press

Treat it as an accessory that replaces a secondary bench movement, not the main event.

• Frequency: once a week.
• Placement: after your main bench work, or as the main lift on a lighter day.
• Sets and reps: 3 to 5 sets of 2 to 5 reps at a weight you can move with consistent speed.
• Load: on a mid pin, aim for around 80 to 90 percent of what you'd press from that height. Find that number across a few weeks; don't guess it on day one.
• Rest: 2 to 3 minutes between sets, as you would for any heavy pressing.
• Rotation: swap pin heights every 3 to 4 weeks so you don't overload one position.

Fit it into a bigger plan alongside your regular bench work, like the sessions in our bench press program, and keep your standard bench frequency at least twice a week. If you only ever press from the pins, you'll lose the feel for the lowering phase.

Common mistakes

Loading too heavy too fast. Lockout pins invite ego lifting, because the bar moves so easily. Add weight slowly and keep the same technique you'd use on a heavier bench.

Letting the bar crash onto the pins. That hurts your wrists and shoulders and teaches you to rebound. Lower under control every time.

Losing tightness on the pins. Many lifters relax their upper back at the bottom of each rep. Keep your shoulder blades pinned, even when the bar is resting.

Setting the pins in the wrong place. A pin height that doesn't match your weak spot trains something else. Film your bench first and match the pins to where you slow down.

Skipping the safeties. A failed pin press can get nasty if the bar rolls onto your chest. A second layer of safeties is cheap insurance.

The overhead pin press

The overhead pin press follows the same idea for your shoulders. You press a bar from pins set at about forehead height (or slightly above your collarbone if you want the lower half of the range). Stand inside the rack, press the bar off the pins, lock out overhead, lower it to the pins and rest between reps.

It works well when you sit at a desk and your overhead press stalls as the bar clears your head, or when you want a dead-stop version of the overhead press without a rebound off your shoulders. Use the same programming as the bench pin press, but keep loads lower: shoulders are small joints and a dead-stop press from the pins won't forgive a ragged rep. Keep your glutes and abs tight so your lower back doesn't arch to finish the lift.

Variations to try

• Floor press. The triceps-focused cousin, with a built-in dead stop when your upper arms touch the floor. See the floor press guide.
• Spoto press. A pause just above your chest with no pins. Good if you don't have a rack with adjustable safeties: how to do the Spoto press.
• Pin squat. The lower-body sister lift, which uses the same dead-stop idea. See our pin squat guide.
• Close-grip pin press. Narrow your grip a little to shift more work to the triceps.
• Paused bench. A normal bench with a 1 to 2 second pause on your chest, and no pins required.

Building a rack set-up at home? Our home gym hub covers what to buy and how to fit it into a garage or spare room.

Recommended reads

1. How to bench press with good form
2. Spoto press: how to do it and program it
3. Floor press guide
4. The best power cage in the UK
5. Home gym guides and reviews