How To Bench Press More Weight

f:id:brian_shaw:20200127100330j:plain

I can guarantee you that at least 95% of people in the gym who are serious about working out will want to know how to bench press more weight. People in the gym are often judged by how much they can bench press. Probably not the fairest way to judge a persons strength but never the less your upper body still need to be strong in order to bench press a lot of weight. Let me provide you with some valuable tips that I found at https://sustanoncycle.top on how to bench press more weight:

Form

The first thing that needs looking at is your form. In order to bench press more weight your form needs to be solid. Lie on a bench with the bar around nose level when you look up. Unrack the bar with elbows fully locked. Arms should in no way be bent. They need to be fully extended. Bring the bar above your chest with your feet fully planted on the floor. Your upper back needs to be pinned down on the bench with your chest up.

Don't lay on the bench with your chest totally flat. This will cause your shoulders to roll forward. If you pin your shoulder blades down and back against the bench with your chest up this will give your body a solid base to lift from. Doing this will naturally create a slight arch in the lower back. Grip width should be wider than shoulder width but not too wide. Ensure you are gripping the bar with your thumb around it. Unlike the squat you should not use a thumbless grip for the bench press. Bar should be gripped in a way that it is close to your palms. Not directly in your palms but close.

To perform the bench press unrack the bar as described above. Elbows should be locked with the bar above your chest. Lower the bar down to your chest around the nipple area with your upper back remaining pinned back against the bench with your chest up. When lowering the bar it can take a while to grasp the technique. Heres a few tips when lowering the bar.

Lower the bar down as if you are pulling it down to your chest. Don't just let the bar drop down to your chest. Imagine you are rowing it downwards in a controlled manner focusing on keeping the upper back down against the bench with your chest up. This will help eliminate any wobbling and help you to lower each side of the bar equally. Lowering the bar lopsided can cause one side to do more work than the other and make the movement uncomfortable.

When lowering the bar you should also ensure that you do not flare your elbows out. Try and keep them tucked inwards. To help with this imagine lowering the bar with elbows moving forward instead of out to the side. This will help prevent shoulder injuries. Lastly, look at a fixed point in the ceiling. Don't look at the bar when performing the lift. I found this hard at first but you will get use to it.

Once you've lowered the bar down to your chest push it back up in a similar line by driving your upper back against the bench and using your chest to push the weight back up. Remember to keep everything still and tight against the bench to help form a solid base to push the weight from. Feet should remain on the floor as you push the weight up and your upper back and bum should remain on the bench.

Lift Heavier!

This one might sound extremely obvious but you'll be surprised as to how many people don't actually do this. They attempt to lift 100lbs for 3 sets of 12 and when their progress stalls they don't know what to do. Theres nothing wrong with lifting in the 12 rep range, I would in fact recommend it for a lot of exercises but this doesn't mean you have to stick to high reps forever.

Throw on some more weight and try a lower rep range. 3 sets of 5 reps can work great for compound exercises such as the bench press. Once you can hit 3 sets of 5 reps with a certain weight throw on another 5 pounds and try again. Eventually you can revert back to lowering the weight a bit and upping your reps again. This leads me to my next point.

Add variety. Variety can be important for your training and overtime will help you bench press more weight. However, do not change something that isn't broken. If your seeing strength and muscle gains in your current routine don't be too eager to change it. I normally like to change something around in a workout when I find I did not progress in reps or weight for a week or two. Don't stick with the exact same routine for weeks and weeks when you are not progressing in anything.

Changes don't have to be big. They can be small ones such as lifting heavier weight for less reps, lifting less weight for more reps, changing the exercises performed in a specific workout, changing the rep speed of your lifts or simply changing the order of your exercises. All of these are great ways to add variety to your workouts and help increase your bench press.

Bench Press More

If you think about it, the only way to get better at something is if you do it more. To get better at the bench press and bench press more weight try performing it more often. If your bench press is lagging I would recommend adding another chest workout to your routine. However, be careful if you do this. If you add another chest workout to your routine it should either be a light chest workout or a low volume one. If you've worked your chest hard earlier in the week you risk overtraining the chest muscle if your not careful.

As an add on to your routine perform your second chest workout 3 days after your first one and perform only 3 working sets focusing on purely the bench press movement. 3 heavy sets should allow you to get stronger and recover in time for your next chest workout. The bench press will work your shoulder, chest and tricep muscles hard so make sure you have adequate recovery times between certain workouts in order to recover and lift harder each workout.

Pay attention to your shoulder and tricep workouts

As I mentioned above, your shoulder and tricep muscles are also worked during the bench press movement. Ensure your shoulder and tricep routines are effective in order to help you bench press more weight. If you continue to progress and lift heavier weights in your shoulder and tricep workouts then the chances are your going to improve your bench press as well.

Protein intake

How much protein do you need to build muscle? around 1-1.5 grams per pound of bodyweight. Ensure your getting in enough protein each day to help you recover and build new muscle tissue. A lack of protein in your diet can make it harder for you to progress in your workouts. A lack of progress will lead to a lack of strength and muscle gains, making it impossible to bench press more weight.

Supersets, forced reps, partial reps. This is similar to the 'adding variety' point I mentioned above. Supersets, forced reps and partial reps can all help add variety to your chest workouts and will increase the intensity of your workout. Try throwing some of these in to your workout if you fancy something different.