How to Do the Pyramid Bench Press Workout

Video Transcript

"Have you ever been curious about how many different exercises can be done, on a basic flat bench? Hi, my name is Jani Roberts, and I'm a Certified Personal Trainer, and a graduate of the American Academy of Nutrition. Today, I'd like to show you how you can do a Basic Bench Pyramid, effectively. First thing you're going to want to do, is just go ahead and cross the leg over, and sit square on the machine. Now, if you've never done bench press before, just to be on the safe side, don't bother using any weight, just use the bar. We want to make sure that you get your form down correctly, before you start pushing any weight around. Take your body all the way back, so that you're lying flat, and watch your head as you go. Once you're back, go ahead and use your feet to push your lower back into the bench, so there's no arch between your back, and the bench itself. Then, you're going to take a nice wide grip. You'll notice there's a smooth part of the pull right in front of you. You want to grab outside of that, for a nice wide grip. You're going to lift the bar directly up. You're going to drop it down, so it meets right at the top of your chest,and then press it straight back up again. Now, it's not over my eyes, it's over my chest. I'm going to bring it down nice and slow. Then, I'm going to push my lower back into the bench, as I squeeze my chest together on top. All the way down, deep breath in. Exhale, and push. Go ahead and relax that bar back into the holder, and bring yourself back up. Now, with the pyramid, the only difference is, each time you do a set, you're going to increase that weight as you go up, and then you're going to decrease it as you come down, so you're probably going to do five to six sets,and the way it's going to vary, between zero to say twenty pounds, as you go up in weight and down, and of course, as the weight gets heavier, the reps get lighter, so if you start out with ten to twelve reps for your warm up, and just the bar, you're going to gradually increase. Maybe you max out your reps at eight.If you really want to put some size on, go heavier, and do less reps. That's the Pyramid Bench Press. I'm Jani Roberts. Thanks for joining."