How To Bench Press More Weight
Bench press is the ultimate test of a person’s strength. It is also the key upper-body exercise, which primarily builds your chest, while also developing your shoulders and triceps.
While the most popular exercise in bodybuilding also happens to be one of the most demanding, you can start adding plates onto the bar in no time by reading through the step by step guide written just for you.
Instructions
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1
Improve your bench press technique
Your imperfect bench press technique keeps you from realising your true potential. It is quite common to see guys and even trainers in the gym bench pressing with their feet on the bench and elbows flared out, both of which are incorrect. Ignore what they are doing and work on correcting your technique instead. First of all, get your feet off the bench and plant them firm on the floor. The heels should be pushing down as you lift the weight instead of on the bench. Secondly, tuck your elbows in to your body so that they make a forty-five degree angle between your torso and upper arm. This increases the involvement of your shoulders and triceps while lifting and also reduces the stress on your chest to an extent during the press. -
2
Build your triceps
You may have realised after going through the previous point that bench press has a significant involvement of triceps during the lift, while a little involvement during the press. While many people commit the mistake of ignoring the role of these muscles, you should work on strengthening them as it will help your performance on the bench. Consult a trainer at your gym to know about the different exercises that strengthen triceps. -
3
Strengthen your muscles through similar but distinct exercise
Varying your bench press exercise by making small yet significant changes can prove to be very effective in increasing your overall strength and helping you bench press more weight. Switching from barbell bench to dumbbell bench, or from flat bench to an inclined one for a while will likely help your surpass your personal best once you return to your original routine. -
4
Eat more
Bench press is a high-intensity workout and therefore requires plenty of energy. In order to meet the energy requirement of your body, you need to increase your food intake. Be sure to heat plenty of healthy food; though do not worry too much about taking in too many calories as you will be burning them a lot during your workout sessions. -
5
Sleep more
Bench press puts a significant amount of strain on your body and makes it feel pretty tired. Giving your body time to recover through eight-to-nine hours of sleep at night will help it return to a fresh and good anabolic state. -
6
Do not rep to failure
Remove the misconception from your mind that you should push yourself to the limit in the gym, stopping only when it starts taking you 10 seconds or more to complete a rep (repetition). Doing this will cause fatigue and have an opposite effect on your body than the one you are aiming for. It is best to stop with still some effort left in you. Leaving a few reps in the tank is strongly recommended.
