Weight Training Advice
Bench Press Tips and Techniques
pectoral size is to bench press regularly. For these reasons, and the fact that it's a relatively easy compound weight training exercise to perform, the bench press is likely a weight trainers favorite exercise. You can also get a great pumped feeling in your pectoral muscles if you bench press the right way. Here we'll give you some bench press tips and techniques to proper benching form and increasing your bench press strength.
Of course, there are many weight trainers that don't bench press the right way. If you don't perform the negative, or lowering, part of the bench press under control (dropping the weight on your chest hoping for a little bounce to get the weight started upward) you aren't going to get the most out of your benching. Performing the negative slower, with complete control of the weight, will prevent injuries and give the chest added work to grow. Another good bench press technique is to contract your upper back muscles and pull your shoulder blades inward to pop the chest out so you aren't over relying on the front deltoids and triceps to lift the weight. Keep your butt on the bench at all times while bench pressing. Raising your body to decrease the distance you have to push the weight up won't actually make you any stronger, and you may injure yourself doing so. Proper bench press technique will allow you to gain real size and strength in the chest without hurting yourself.
Like every other weight training exercise, you'll want to vary your bench press rep ranges at every chest workout. Do bench press workouts where you do higher reps (12-15 or 15-20) to pump your chest, medium reps (8-12 or 10-15), and lower reps (3-8 or 5-10). This way you'll work both fast and slow twitch muscle fibers for optimal pec size and strength. On your low rep bench press training day you may want to test your one rep max every now and then.
If you want to increase your bench press max (for powerlifting competitions or if you just want a higher one rep max) it's important to find where your weakest part of the lift is and do some sets focusing just on that part of the movement. This means that if you are weakest at the point where you are lifting the weight off your chest you should do some sets where you just lift the weight a few inches off your chest. The best way to do this is to bench press in a squat rack that allows you to set the bars to stop the weight from going up anymore, as opposed to stopping the weight while you're going downward while squatting. When the weight hits the bar hold it there for a second or 2 and continue until failure. You'd be best off having bar set under and above the weight or using a spotter. Obviously, you should use much lighter weight than you can bench press for a full rep while doing this. If you're weakest at locking out or finishing the bench press, you should do the same thing with that part of the movement. Set up a squat rack so you'll do the last few inches of the bench press.
Weak triceps may also make it harder to lock out a bench press so make sure you're hitting them hard during your triceps workouts. Some gyms have bench machines that will allow you to overload at the beginning, middle, and lock out parts of a bench press rep. They're a great alternative to using a squat rack, and more convenient.
Another bench press tip is to not bench if your front shoulders or triceps are sore from their last workout. The shoulders and triceps assist on the bench press and any weakness in them will cause your bench to suffer. For this reason you may want to do chest, shoulders, and triceps during the same workout in your routine.
Using these bench press tips and techniques will give you a bigger bench if you are patient. Don't expect to be able to increase your bench press by 5 lbs. at every workout. Try as hard as you can to do more each time you bench without cheating, and eventually you'll increase your bench. Check out Blast Your Bench to learn how to increase your bench press max by 50 lbs. in only 3 weeks.
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