50 keys to a bigger bench press
1) Blast Your Triceps
As you know triceps are important in development of the bench press. Have you ever tried drop set dips to torch your tris?. Have a spotter put four 45lbs plates, 35 or 25lbs plates on your lap as you have your hands on one bench and your legs on another bench. Now perform dips and have the spotter remove the plates as you continue to fail. Remember, it’s not so much the exercise but the intensity that you put forth in this exercise. Always make sure that you train your triceps with complete focus and intensity just like any other muscle group.
2) Work Your Back
You don’t just need a strong chest and triceps to bench big. You also need a strong upper back to keep your body tight and stable. Concentrate on barbell rowing, seated rowing, and pull-ups (or pulldowns) to build a big strong back. In addition to stability, this will also go a long way in keeping your shoulders healthy (and your upper back looking nice and thick). Don’t be one of those guys from the gym that completely neglects the back muscles. If you do your bench will pay the price.
3) Thoroughly Warm Up
Many benchers suffer from nagging shoulder exercises and as a result their bench press careers end before they hit their primes. Other lifters go through their bench press training days and they always have bad shoulder pains.
After every hard bench day, before you go home make sure you stretch the shoulders, ice them and rest them to keep your shoulders, fresh, strong and healthy so injuries won’t happen to you.
A huge mistake is jumping into an attempted one-rep max on the bench without warming up. When you max out, your muscles need to be thoroughly warmed up but not excessively warmed up. In other words you don't want your muscles to be tired when you start your session but you also need to make sure they are thoroughly warmed up. To warm up you can do rotator cuff exercises, push ups, light overhead presses and or some dynamic stretching
4) Floor Presses
During your current workout you might find a specific weakness along the way. One weakness that benchers run into is a sticking point about two inches off the chest. If this is one of the weaknesses that you run you can add floor presses to your routine. To perform the floor press, lie down on the floor, lower the weight until you elbows touch the floor, then explode the weight up. This will strengthen your bench where most benchers struggle, two inches above the chest.
5) Bench Press Bands
Bands aren’t totally needed to bench big. If you take Mike MacDonald and all of the raw champion benchers of the past, I don’t think they used bands and they were some of the most powerful benchers of all time. However, if you do have bands they can definitely help just like any other technique can if used correctly.
When you are using bands during the eccentric (lowering phase) of the lift, the bands are pulling the bar down to the ground. This teaches you to build kinetic energy to explode the weight up on the concentric (upward) phase of the lift. Every inch that you press the bar up the bar will get heavier since the bands are anchored to the ground. This teaches your muscles how to work harder (then if you weren't to use bands at all). At the end of the lift with the usage of bands you should develop much greater finishing power than if you were to never use bands at all. The bands are also much easier on the pecs and shoulders than old conventional training giving benching a safer groove and making you stronger at the same time.
1) Blast Your Triceps
As you know triceps are important in development of the bench press. Have you ever tried drop set dips to torch your tris?. Have a spotter put four 45lbs plates, 35 or 25lbs plates on your lap as you have your hands on one bench and your legs on another bench. Now perform dips and have the spotter remove the plates as you continue to fail. Remember, it’s not so much the exercise but the intensity that you put forth in this exercise. Always make sure that you train your triceps with complete focus and intensity just like any other muscle group.
2) Work Your Back
You don’t just need a strong chest and triceps to bench big. You also need a strong upper back to keep your body tight and stable. Concentrate on barbell rowing, seated rowing, and pull-ups (or pulldowns) to build a big strong back. In addition to stability, this will also go a long way in keeping your shoulders healthy (and your upper back looking nice and thick). Don’t be one of those guys from the gym that completely neglects the back muscles. If you do your bench will pay the price.
3) Thoroughly Warm Up
Many benchers suffer from nagging shoulder exercises and as a result their bench press careers end before they hit their primes. Other lifters go through their bench press training days and they always have bad shoulder pains.
After every hard bench day, before you go home make sure you stretch the shoulders, ice them and rest them to keep your shoulders, fresh, strong and healthy so injuries won’t happen to you.
A huge mistake is jumping into an attempted one-rep max on the bench without warming up. When you max out, your muscles need to be thoroughly warmed up but not excessively warmed up. In other words you don't want your muscles to be tired when you start your session but you also need to make sure they are thoroughly warmed up. To warm up you can do rotator cuff exercises, push ups, light overhead presses and or some dynamic stretching
4) Floor Presses
During your current workout you might find a specific weakness along the way. One weakness that benchers run into is a sticking point about two inches off the chest. If this is one of the weaknesses that you run you can add floor presses to your routine. To perform the floor press, lie down on the floor, lower the weight until you elbows touch the floor, then explode the weight up. This will strengthen your bench where most benchers struggle, two inches above the chest.
5) Bench Press Bands
Bands aren’t totally needed to bench big. If you take Mike MacDonald and all of the raw champion benchers of the past, I don’t think they used bands and they were some of the most powerful benchers of all time. However, if you do have bands they can definitely help just like any other technique can if used correctly.
When you are using bands during the eccentric (lowering phase) of the lift, the bands are pulling the bar down to the ground. This teaches you to build kinetic energy to explode the weight up on the concentric (upward) phase of the lift. Every inch that you press the bar up the bar will get heavier since the bands are anchored to the ground. This teaches your muscles how to work harder (then if you weren't to use bands at all). At the end of the lift with the usage of bands you should develop much greater finishing power than if you were to never use bands at all. The bands are also much easier on the pecs and shoulders than old conventional training giving benching a safer groove and making you stronger at the same time.
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