5 Ways To Increase Your Bench Press
Oct 23rd, 2007 by Mehdi Tags: Bench Press, Exercise, Strength Training, Weight Lifting
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“How much do you bench?”. I’m sure you often get that question. The Bench Press is the most performed exercise in the average gym. No wonder many want to increase their Bench Press.
If you’re a football player or if you just want to be the strongest at your gym, you need a big Bench Press. Here are 5 ways to increase your Bench Press.
Improve your Technique. Solid Bench Press technique will help you lift more weight & avoid injury. Follow these tips:
- Bar Close to Wrists. Grab the bar close to your wrists, not close to your fingers. Read this article on correct Bench Press grip.
- Squeeze the Bar. Squeeze the bar hard so it doesn’t move. Try to break the bar apart like breaking spaghetti. This activates your triceps more.
- Tighten Your Upper-back. Pull your shoulder-blades together & keep them tight. This gives your body a solid base to press from.
- Drive Into the Bench. Use your legs to drive yourself into the bench. This puts pressure on your upper-back & traps, building a solid base.
- Push in a Straight Line. Keep the bar above your elbows, don’t press it to your face. Fix a point on the ceiling where you want the bar to go.
- Keep Your Elbows Tucked. The only way you can push the bar in a straight line. It also makes using your lats easier.
If you’re into powerlifting, strive for a big arch to decrease the range of motion. Cat/camels will improve your arc. Read this article by Mike Robertson for more info on the powerlifting Bench Press.
I don’t like the idea of arching. The above Bench Press tips echo what Mark Rippetoe advises in starting strength. But if you want to arch: feel free to.
Strengthen Back & Arms. You need a solid base to Bench Press from as well as strong arms to bring the bar down & back up. Strengthen:
- Upper-back & Lats. Bent-over Barbell Rows or Pendlay Rows work your back & lats hard. Rows are the opposite movement of a Bench Press.
- Triceps. Lockout the weight. Close Grip bench press, Dips, Floor Press, JM Press, etc will strengthen your triceps.
- Biceps. The brachialis acts as a stabilizer in the Bench Press. Hammer Curls will strengthen this muscle.
Lift Fast. Lifting slow will never make you strong. Lift fast. The faster you are, the more weight you can Bench Press. You can add bands and/or chains to train on speed specifically if you want.
Eat More. The bigger your muscles, the stronger you are. Eat at least your body-weight in lbs x 18 calories. Get 1g/lbs protein daily from meat, poultry, fish, eggs & whey. Read this article on how to build muscle.
Avoid Injuries. Shoulder injuries are common with the Bench Press. If you eat right & train hard, they’re the only thing that can prevent you to increase your Bench Press. Some tips:
- Balance. Make sure you train the opposite movement to prevent muscle imbalances. Row as often as you Bench Press.
- Proper Technique. Don’t let your shoulders roll forward, don’t flare your elbows, don’t let your wrists roll backwards, don’t use a false grip, etc.
- Posture. Winging shoulder-blades will get you shoulder injuries sooner or later. Overhead Squats, shoulder dislocations, scap push ups, face pulls will help. Check this article by Bill Hartman & the Egoscue Method.
Bench Press Programs. The following training programs will help you increase your Bench Press. It’s not a definite list, you’ll find many more if you search.
- 5×5. Beginner Strength Training Program, Texas Method, Bill Starr, Total Tonnage, etc. Similar approaches to increase your Bench Press.
- Sheiko. Russian Bench Press program, here’s a link.
- Metal Militia. “Strongest Benchers in the world”. Here’s their program.
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Hey, great site.
I haven’t bench pressed much (at all really) but I heard it’s a great exercise for your chest. The last time I went gym with one of my mates we tried the bench press, the weights were really light but it was hard for us to lift (I’m 19, been going gym for months now.. I noticed quite an improvement). When I was lifting the balance was really off. Would I just need to practice using just the bar on its own (seems a bit weird lol) and lift until I can start adding slightly heavier weights?
Cheers
Yeah Chris, simply put the bench press is THE chest excersise! Lifting is progressive so start of light and do the whole routine (i.e. 5×5 or 3×8 or whatever sets you’re doing) and progress each session.
Don’t rush things, this’ll lead to bad form and possibly injury!
The balance thing is because the weight is too heavy, you’ll develop stablising muscles too as you bench.
Don’t worry about lifting as much as you can you lift what you’re supposed to for that session and that only, then progress next session. It’s a marathon not a sprint! Best of luck, i’m sure Mehdi has more tips too!
If you’re a beginner bencher, or if you’ve always done the “chest machines” or smith machine bench, then you’ll have problems with balance with a real barbell, since you’ll need to recruit those stabilizer muscles that have never been recruited much before, and are thus probably weak and/or inhibited. It’ll probably take a few weeks/months for them to catch up to your prime movers(triceps/delts//pecs).
If you’re not a beginner bencher but still have balance problems, same problem, but perhaps you might wanna consider overloading the stabilizer muscles more. Benching with bands are great for this.
Start with the empty barbell, add weight every workout. If you’re a beginner (which I guess you are), it’s just a question of building some base strength. The balance thing goes away after 2-3 weeks of practice on the Beginner Strength Training Program, Chris.
Somehow I get a more controlled bench is I actively focus on squeezing my glutes. (especially declines) But maybe that’s just me.
Also I’m not convinced a straight line is better than the J-curve style of pressing you see a lot. After all, the bar starts at nipple level (sometimes even lower) and it ends at shoulder level, so the bar does travel not only vertically, but there is some horizontal movement also.
Squeezing the glutes works with all exercises including the Bench Press. Good tip Wazzup.
Straight line = shorter distance than J curve. Bar should never end at shoulder level, it should stay above your lower chest/upper stomach.
Are you sure… keeping the bar over my upper stomach will mean my arms are at an angle from my shoulders.. so basically I would have to be doing a sort of front raise in order to keep the weight there…. with several hundreds of pounds of weight that sounds dangerous.
If the bar is too much toward your stomach, yes you will lose it. Just as you’ll lose the bar if it’s too much towards your face when you press in a J curve. The right place is somewhere inbetween.
I think you should do an article about “driving into the bench” because it sounds like like the “lean back” or “activate the glutes” techniques in that it’s easy to get wrong unless you go more in-depth (plus what I’m visualizing seems like it would only work for incline bench).
Ok, I’ve added it on my to do list Pete. Here’s an article on squeezing your glutes.
I’ve been benching for quite a long time now and i’ve seem to have hit a rut. I’ve been stuck at the same weight for quite awhile even though I bump up my weight I’m still not gaining anything anymore. (I just need help completing my sets). I’ve been doing low rep sets and i’m not sure what to do now? I do 5×3 or 5×4 sets on bench then go to incline and then from there I do other chest auxiliary lifts like dumbbell press. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I’m trying to gain strength!
About benching, there are so many techiquies out there there are supposed to shorten the distance of the lift or make you lift more or make your bench easier. But I have a controled 460 pd. bench and I have never taken a short cut. I believe that if you can’t controle the wieght then don’t lift it. My biggest gians came from a 5,4,3,2,1,1- program. You set you last i rep at a wieght that is just out of you rage, and then when you make it for three works outs in a row, and ten pounds to every set.