It seems there are so many programs out there to follow for everything you want to do these days. Each one more eager than the last to tell you that you don’t know anything about fitness and in fact you should forget everything you think you know. From what I’ve found however, all programs work as long as you stick to them. It seems that most true experts out there would eagerly agree with me. So what happens when you want to do something simple like increasing your bench press without having to jump all over the board and abandon your old program? Well, you may just be out of luck if you follow most advice on the internet. So my goal here is to help you out a little by giving you some tips you can follow to increase your bench press without having to abandon your program.
I won’t go into all the normal stuff like being properly warmed up and sleeping and eating correctly. I’m assuming that you already know that these will be death blows to your progress if you don’t do them correctly but I will say a couple quick things on them.
First, if you’re looking to do something specific like increase your bench press, do stretches and warm ups that will help you accomplish just that. One thing that I’ve used that I’m always surprised no one does is that just before I do my warm up sets on the bench, I will use the bar to stretch with. This is so simple you’ll want to smack yourself if you’re not already doing it. When you get in position, unrack the bar (with no weights on it) and lower it down to your chest. Bring it all the way down and let it rest for 10 to 15 seconds. Press the bar a couple times normally and then do it again. Repeat this 3 to 4 times for optimal stretch. The closer to your neck you bring the bar the greater the stretch will be. I do this because this is the exact plane of motion I’m about to use so it gets your body stretched in the exact areas that are going to be used. Makes sense right? As an added bonus, even on your off days, if your chest is sore and tight, use this to help you loosen up a little. It feels great and it does wonders for your tight muscles.
Next, don’t train your chest too often. Three days a week is more than enough and many people only need two. For the longest time I was so hooked to the bench press that every time I was in the gym I had to hit the bench. After no gains for several months of this I finally decided to bring it down to two days and almost immediately I saw gains in my strength. Your muscles, tendons, ligaments, and for that matter your nervous system needs to recover if its ever going to get stronger. More on the nervous system in another post.
So now that we have that out of the way, a couple quick changes you can make to the workouts you’re already doing to increase your bench press.
1. Burnout sets
What I really mean here is not just burnout sets but high reps. I know some of you think I’m nuts for suggesting high reps when you want more power but hear me out. If your bench press is stuck in a rut of 3 sets of 10 at 185lbs and you condition your body to be able to press 135lbs 50 times in one set, don’t you think you’ll have a little easier time breaking out of that 185lb range? I know, 135lbs 50 times sounds ridiculous and in a way it is but I’m crazy and I like to do crazy things sometimes and I can tell you from experience, it helped me. Don’t think you can do it? Try this, get through your bench press routine, then immediately lower the weight to 95lbs and shoot for 25 reps. If you can do more then do more but don’t exceed 50 reps. If you’re anything like I was, you’ll hate yourself and everything in the gym by rep 25. Oh and these aren’t concentrated reps. These are fast paced with no rest. Your goal is to get it done in about 1 minute or less but keep proper form or you may hurt yourself. Next workout, do everything the same but this time bring the weight up to 115lbs and try the 25 reps again. If you can do that, your next workout will have you lower the weight back down to 95lbs and shoot for 30-35 reps. Play with these patterns and it won’t be long before you’re hitting 50 reps. Then just up the weight and do it again til you get 50 reps of 135lbs. After doing this myself, I decided that if I could do that, there was no reason I couldn’t do the same with 185lbs. So I started working up to it. I got up to 30 reps with 185lbs but then my program took an entirely different turn (using kettlebells) so I stopped. I’m still thinking about trying it again though. Also, when I got up to 30 reps at 185lbs my max bench press started climbing quickly.
2. If bench press is your primary goal, make it the first thing you do!
There are so many schools of thought out there that tell you that you should work your shoulders and triceps before you bench press. The theory being that your supporting muscles will be fatigued and your chest will have to do more work. While this has its place, if you’re goal is to increase your bench press, you don’t want your supporting muscles to be fatigued when you go for new records!
3. Don’t be afraid of the heavy weights!
This should go without saying but if you want to lift those heavy weights and have an impressive bench press, then lift the heavy weights! Sometimes, your body just feels like its refusing to get stronger. Funny thing is, usually its at those landmark numbers. Ever wonder why people are stuck on 135, 185, and 225? Because these are the psychological landmarks in your training. Its nowhere near as exciting to bench 215 as it is to get to 225 and its just because the first time you put those two plates on each side of the bar, you feel like a monster! Getting to 215 just means you added a couple of 5 pound weights to the ends… Big deal right? Well when we glorify those two big plates for so long and it seems so impossible to get there, that ceiling maintains its ceiling status to us even after we reach it instead of becoming the new floor it should be. So if you find that you’re stuck and that 225 or 185, or whatever it is for you is just not becoming any easier, just grab a spotter and try something bigger. If you’re at 225 and have been there for a month with no progress, grab yourself a spotter and throw another 20 pounds on the bar. Don’t play with the five pound weights at this point. Put on those tens admire that bar for a second, throw your favorite “pump you up” song on your ipod and go for it. If you can’t do it, then try the 5’s but try for something. Even if you only get a few half reps, just the feeling of doing it will help you break through that old 225 ceiling.
4. And last…If nothing works, try something else
Sometimes, our bodies really have just reached a temporary limit. And if your sleep, nutrition, and training are dead on and you still can’t move up, move on to something else for a while. Go over and do dumbbell chest presses for a while. Maybe try some inclined bench presses and build those up for a month or so. Then, when you start to plateau there, come on back home to mama bench press and try it again. Don’t worry if you have to start a little under where you were before, you should be able to get it back and surpass it very quickly through the strengthening of your other workouts and the memory of what you’ve already built up.
Overall, just remember that while the bench press is a magical thing that will effectively melt the clothes right off the opposite sex if you can do it well, it’s just one of many exercises you should be concentrating on. Also, no matter what you do, if you just give it your all and stick to a routine, results will come.
I hope some of these tips help you out. I know some of them are a little “out there” and they may not be in the fitness journals but they have worked for me and several of my friends that have tried them. If they work for you, let me know! Throw in a comment; I’d love to know my ideas have helped you out. Likewise, if you think I’ve left out something that could be helpful or you just think I’m off my rocker, let me know that as well.
Yours in success,
Kris
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