Pull the bar from the rack
You may want to keep your butt elevated for the liftoff component and then drop your hips down once you've unwracked.
Jeff Nippard
I raise my butt off the bench, I lift the bar out of the rack, and then I put my butt back down exactly where it was before. This changes the pivot point of the lift so the bar actually moves out in front of the J hooks so now you're clear to bench.
Neversate
Think about lifting the bar out, not up.
Jeff Nippard
You just want to pull this out of the rack as little as possible - just enough to get over these hooks. Actually, you can think about scraping the bar against the hooks... that'll help you to make sure that you're doing it efficiently. You won't be picking it up too much and it's gonna keep your upper back tight...and I'm gonna position it so that it's directly over my sternum right at the center of my chest.
Mind Pump
Most importantly here is you maintain the tension from your setup to get the bar into position...When I unrack, breath, triceps...it's just enough to clear the hooks and then we pull the bar into position...
Calgary Barbell
Don’t try to press the bar out of the rack, wasting energy. Use your lats, and think of it as a straight arm pulldown...The bar should just clear the J hooks of the bench and smoothly be brought out.
Elite FTS
Think about pulling your shoulders into the bench towards the floor. At this same time pull the ribs to the bar HARD. You should feel the weight loading straight into your upper back, pinning your shoulders down - this is good.
MPS Training
“Pull” the bar out using your lats. If you’ve ever performed a pullover of any type, you know what I’m talking about here. The goal is to “pull” the bar out, so you barely clear the racks. This will help you maintain your upper back stability and positioning, while getting you into the appropriate position to bench. DO NOT press the bar up and out to clear the racks; you’ll lose your upper back tension, and therefore, your stability.
Robertson Training Systems
Instead of pushing the bar up and out, which loads your shoulders and takes you out of position, wedge your shoulders into the pad and use the bar to push your body into the bench. Think about dragging the bar out instead.
Big Benchas
Set the bar at the maximum height you can reach, so that when you take the bar out, you’re just barely clearing the hooks... without doing a half rep.
Juggernaut
When you push the bar up, you take yourself out of position and load your shoulders. Instead, dig your shoulders in and think about using the bar to drive your body deeper into the pad. DRAG the bar out of the rack.
Big Benchas
Bar over shoulder blades
Move the bar down the body to the point where the lats start to engage. The shoulder blades sink even further from their set up position and it drives the chest up and forces as much extension as we can get through the upper back...the bar will start to feel almost almost weightless at that point.
Calgary Barbell
...Unrack the bar and begin moving it up and down your body with locked out arms. It is important to do this with your eyes closed! Just tune in to how the bar feels as you move it from your neck to your belly and back again. Take note of where the bar seems to become weightless. Find the exact spot the bar becomes weightless and drop the bar straight down.
Elite FTS
Too often, we stop with the bar over our face. Allow the lift-off to come out to the same position where we’d like to finish the lift. Ideally, this is just below nipple line, or about 2/3rds of the way down our chest.
Robertson Training Systems
If you take this bar out and your arms aren't fully locked out, you are going to be putting stress on that tricep to hold that weight where it needs to be. But if you get your arms locked out, now you can load into your back.... which is huge for stability.
Big Benchas
Stabilize bar + pin shoulders
If you look at the J cups here, you see how all the paint's just tore to shit because we're pulling [the bar] over right them... you pull [straight out] all that stays locked in... you're actually flexing your lats harder so it becomes more stable at the top.
Elite FTS
It's critical to bring the bar just out. You don't want to bring it up and out, as bringing the bar up and out would likely cause her to lose that great tight upper back position.
Juggernaut