I look at it as GO muscle.
And do I think the bench builds GO muscles…….damn straight it does. That is if you’re lifting hard and intense. Lifting like a daffodill going easy and no intensity or progression won’t build GO muscle.
I’ll also say that the powerlifting bench style with arch is a full body exercise baby! Even the toes are working there to get every pound up.
So one can deadlift 135 and never go heavier or push more and more reps. Is that functional? I’ll say no.
I find that regular people, in general, look like they’re in pretty poor shape. If we’re talking about functional strength for real life, it would be McGill’s Big 3 to keep from having shrimp posture from sitting at the computer.
But as far as living longer goes, having more lean mass is pretty awesome.
Yeah…. People dont know the term compound movement and what it actually means.
This is the best carryover example of the bench press and the additional upper body mass that can be added. Added mass increases impact kinetic energy and momentum. I liked how the additional mass helped my rugby game as my weight was increasing from 165lbs past 220lbs while keeping my same speed, if not faster.
Building upper body strength is important for carrying and lifting and pushing stuff in general. So the bench press is effective, without doubt.
But when people start talking “function”, they bring up football and wrestling. But this is unlikely to be the reason you bench now. You bench now because “strength is strength”. You probably do all the exercises required to have a decent overall level of practical strength.
I think people sometimes narrow down “functional” to “sport specific.”
I know a firefighter who says benching helped him brace against the hose, which suprised me. And a nurse friend who pushes heavy gurneys.
And in normal life, I’m sure everyone has had to move furniture or help a friend push a dead car.
I completely recognize this is a forum and discussion is the entire point, so this won’t be fair, but my knee jerk reaction to such an opening is always “who cares?”
People say all kinds of stuff to justify doing whatever they want. What function are you trying to achieve? That will determine whether a given exercise is the appropriate tool.
Bench pressing also comes in handy if you are Donkey Kong, or if you are manning a recalcitrant gate at The Wall which the dead are trying to breach.
More seriously, I’m sure it helps with lifting and carrying in general. A lot of longevity gurus talk about the stuff they want to be able to do when old: move stuff up the steps, lift your grandkids, put stuff into the overhead bins on the airplane… I’m sure having upper body muscle helps with all of that stuff.
You also need arm strength to throw a football, practice archery, shoot a basket, swim or work in the mines. Probably helps with farming and lots of physical jobs.
Hey now! This is important stuff! 
I belive the OP is dealing with his current issue regarding benching due to physical issues he mentioned in his other thread.
I think so too, but who cares what “people say”? We’ve definitely proven over and over people will say all manner of things.
If the function is OCS, the functional exercises are running and pushups. We had to study for the test we’re going to take.
That’s unfortunate and can u stay in reasonable shape without benching and the answers yes u can. Just for biggest return in terms of upper body,it’s benching imo. But u can work around that
I prefer standing press to bench. However, the Bench is the best/most efficient way to build upper body strength.
That said, the carryover you get to overhead from bench is less than the other way around.
I would never worry about how “functional” a lift is. That is fitness trainer BS. I would worry more about getting as strong as you can. Nothing is more functional than strength.
If you incorporate rows and pullups with bench and overhead press, you will get stronger
Im stealing a quote i came across…
“ Strength is not everything…. But it’s never nothing”
Read into it as you will.
Exactly. When I was doing lots of tree work and concrete, everything all day was pulling motions. I needed pushing exercises to ballance all of that pulling. Bench press among other things filled that bill nicely.
I like this, as the converse was often used to address those who would mostly work the bench press and neglect the pulling muscles, which often led to injury.
Yeah, its usually the opposite- people needing to ballance pushing with pulling.
I can’t completely claim ownership of that though. It took hanging out with a pretty smart guy and some movement analysis to figure out.
I will say- running wheelbarrows of concrete hits almost everything, but is only functional if you’re a concrete laborer. Hard to work that in to any other kind of repertoire.
Strength is strength. You can worry about the “functionality” of one exercise which allows heavy loads and which most lifters do. They are all tools in the box to build upper body strength. Heavy loaded carries might be more “functional”. And as you say, if you haven’t balanced out the presses with rows or pulling, then these joint imbalances will catch up with you.
…But what about the stabilizers?
On the other hand, bench press isn’t mandatory.
There are other ways/lifts to build upper body mass. Many bodybuilders with big muscles don’t use the barbell bench.
And there are also plenty of strong guys who don’t spend a lot of time and effort bench pressing.
So if benching is an issue, its OK to forget about it, and spent time on things you Can do.
It’s not mandatory but there’s a reason why it’s universal. It’s the heaviest exercise one can impose on ones upper body,so logically in terms of overall upper body strength,it’s the best. However 1 could make a case for overhead pressing as well. OPs injured. Rehab time bud. Start with the movement with no weight
I did find that with manual labour,once you found your feet at the job,having a gym background was a big advantage over those who didn’t. I know lifters stamina is derided by the blue collar but I’d do massive hours ,because I worked out. I’m sure of it. Stands to reason that if someone’s going home after 8 hrs and working out more intensely than work,when he’s called upon to do 10 12 or god forbid 14 hrs,he ll have the ability to.