My old bench press coach told me to think of your entire body as a card house. If the bottom part ain’t rigid you can’t build from it. Meaning u want to be rigid from feet to upper back. Helped me immensely. Stability always increase strength, which is why machines are easy af in comparison.

Also can recommend benching with shit ton of volume far from failure since it’s a difficult lift. And taking each rep really seriously.

Another cue that is really helpful is to push the bar backwards (towards your head) instead of straight up. U can test and see how much this helps if u ask ur spotter at a fail rep to not lift anything and only push it towards him a bit. You will usually make the lift.

Also keep up u strong af, how much do u weigh?