When you pause at the bottom of the bench press, your shoulder muscles work harder and swell more than your chest or arms — meaning your body shifts the work to your shoulders.

When trained guys use the 'zero point' bench press technique, their shoulder muscles swell more right after the workout than when they use the normal method — but their chest and arm muscles swell the same either way.

When trained guys lift lighter weights but pause briefly at the bottom of each bench press, they can do more reps and keep their muscles under tension longer than when lifting heavier weights without pausing — even though the total weight lifted stays the same.

Adding a one-second pause at the bottom of each bench press doesn’t make your muscles more damaged or sore the next day than lifting heavy without pausing.

Even though the pause method makes you do more reps and keeps your muscles under tension longer, it doesn’t make your chest or arm muscles puff up more than the normal heavy-lift method.

The pause method doesn’t make your muscles more sore the next day or two after your workout than the normal heavy-lift method.