How to Improve Bench Press

Increase your bench press by learning proper bench press technique and how to design a workout routine for bench press max.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A workout bench
• Other workout equipment

1. Learn proper bench press form. Powerlifting bench press technique involves as much triceps as possible. Beginners on the bench press tend to be into bodybuilding routines and they want to make the pecs as big and pretty as possible. If you want a heavy raw bench, you need very strong triceps and you need to use them in your form. Your deltoids and shoulder muscles are the next most important muscle group. Pecs come last when it comes to correct bench press form.

2. Lie down on the bench, and put your hands on the bar in your strongest or most comfortable grip width. Make sure there is some decent weight on the barbell, and now press up into it, without unracking the barbell. There is now a force pushing your back down into the bench. Now, with this force pushing down, tuck your shoulder blades behind your back and press down into them harder. It should feel like your back is all scrunched up and then pinned down onto the bench. This creates a large, solid foundation from which you will be pushing off. Your shoulder blades will remain tucked throughout the entire press, minimizing your pecs' influence. Now that your back is positioned properly, maintain the pressure on the bar to keep it pinned there. If you release the pressure, your shoulder blades should release a little bit. If they don't, you haven't tucked them properly.

3. Next you must learn proper bench press form for your legs. With your shoulder blades tucked in, and your butt touching the bench, arch your lower back a little bit, and use your legs to push into the ground. This should feel like it's pushing you backwards in the direction of your head. Since you have pinned your back to the bench and are maintaining pressure there, this won't make you slide on the bench. Instead it will help you arch your back a bit and this pushing with the legs will add tremendous strength to your arch. To recap, your back now has a lot of downward pressure coming from the weight of the bar that you're pressing against, even though you haven't unracked it yet. Your back also has a lot of pressure from your legs which are pushing it towards your head, but your back doesn't slide because of the downward pressure of the bar. Maintain all these pressures and get ready to bench.

4. Keep your shoulders tucked and your legs tense as you unrack the weight. Keep your back arched and your butt on the bench. Now, lower the bar while keeping your elbows tucked in and flush to the sides of your body. This is the exact opposite of what bodybuilders will do. Bodybuilders tend to put their elbows out at right angles to maximize the workout on their pecs. If you want to bench heavy, you must keep the elbows close to the body to maximize the use of your triceps. Touch the barbell to your chest and notice that the arch in your back has raised your chest so you don't have to bring the bar so low. If you've arched your back properly and have the right leg drive, you should also have a feeling of pressing downhill, like a slight decline press.

5. Lock out while keeping the elbows tucked. Note that when I say keep your elbows tucked, I obviously do not mean do a straight tricep extension. That would not be heavy benching. Anything under a 45 degree angle to the body is good. Your shoulder blades should stay tucked throughout the entire bench press repetition. If your shoulders are releasing and popping out near the top of your press, which is common, you should concentrate on fixing this area. If you were able to unrack the weight and keep your shoulders tucked, you should be able to press it with them tucked too.

6. Workout routine. There are many workout routines out there and none of them are necessarily better than another. But one thing is for sure, and that is that if you want to bench press more, you need to be benching heavy on a regular basis. You should be doing a max workout where you go for a single rep max about once a month, and all of your workouts should tend toward higher weight, lower reps. Instead of the standard bodybuilding sets of 8 to 12, you should do most of your bench workouts in sets of under 5.

7. Start out your bench press workout with the actual benching. Then do some type of tricep exercise. Triceps extensions of various forms work. You should think of your bench press workout as a tricep workout with some other auxiliary stuff added in. Finish out your workout by doing some type of shoulder press, military press, or any type of deltoid workout. You can add in a pectoral exercise if you like, but it isn't as important as the others.

8. Consider eating a protein supplement directly following your workout. Whey protein supplements are the best protein supplements available. Get the protein shake form as it's the most cost effective. It doesn't matter which one you use as long as it tastes good to you. Nutritional supplements help your muscles get the protein they need to heal faster and grow back stronger. You don't need to follow this step, but you do need to eat a high protein diet as a heavy weightlifter.

[amysmarts]

on 10/8/2009 Great article on how to improve bench press. This will come in handy for a lot of people. Great tips. Thanks. 5*