Let's face it, the bench press is the pinnacle of all gym lifts. How often does someone ask you how much your curl or upright row? Hardly ever. The question is "How much do you bench". If you're asking yourself how to increase your ...
Let's face it, the bench press is the pinnacle of all gym lifts. How often does someone ask you how much your curl or upright row? Hardly ever. The question is "How much do you bench". If you're asking yourself how to increase your bench press max, here are 8 Tips to Increase Your Bench Press put together by Gabe who weighs about 195 and can put up 420 - all accomplished in his garage.
Plant your Feet. One of the main keys to big bench press is leg drive. Stop bouncing your feet. Get them planted in the floor so you can gain extra leverage and more power.
Squeeze the Bar. No matter what anyone tells you, always wrap your thumb around the bar. Grab the bar all the way around, squeeze and act as if you are trying to break the bar in half. This will keep your back and elbows in good position.
Don't Forget to Rest. Take your time between sets. Rest periods of up to 3-5 minutes allow your body and muscles to recover so you can go at it on the next set with more intensity. Remember, you are training for strength and not speed/endurance.
Eat! To gain strength and build muscles your body needs to get bigger. This may mean you have to forget about the 6 pack for a while and start piling on the protein and calories. Find out how much protein and calories you should be eating to meet your goals with our protein intake calculator and calorie intake calculator.
Bench Press First. Sounds pretty obvious, but make the bench press the first exercise you do for your chest workout. Commit a majority of your time and energy to the bench press and then mix in your other exercises.
Build your Triceps. The bench press exercise utilizes more than just the chest muscles. At the top of the press, the “lockout,†the triceps is one of the main muscle groups used. Try incorporating exercises such as dips, close-grip bench press, and board presses into your routine.
Don't max out. It is not necessary to get up to your max weight every time you bench. Stick to sets of about 3-10 reps and try to increase the total number of reps completed each workout. Maxing out can be reserved for 1-2 times per year!
Increase the Weight slowly. Instead of piling on the weight by 100 pounds from one set to the next, use smaller increments in your warm up sets (and do fewer reps) to work your way up to your heavy sets. This will help your body and mind adjust to the weight, and the heavy sets won't feel “overly heavy.â€
