Glossary of Notes to Increase Lifts: The Bench Press

In case anybody gives a fuck, here’s a couple of tricks that I have learned over the years to increase your bench:

Assistance Exercises to Improve Bench Press:

• Dips (develops lower and outer chest, as well as triceps to assist with pressing strength)
• Pec Flies with Cables or Pec Deck (develops shoulder stability during pressing from stretch/negative to maximal contraction, develops full-inner chest)
• Incline Bench Press (develops upper chest and shoulder stability)
• The “Bro Pulls” aka Face Pulls, Barbell/ Dumbbell Rows, and Pull-ups (develops Rear-delts, traps, grip, forearms, biceps, lats, rhomboids and lower back to maintain strong grip, scapular retraction, and shoulder positioning/structural integrity during Bench Press, and balance between pushing/pulling movements for maintenance of shoulder and spinal health)
• Barbell Overhead Press (develops the anterior and medial delts, triceps, and grip for maximal pressing strength by training a similar but much weaker movement/ form of press).
• Speed Bench (develops maximal power output across accumulated volume, without the CNS fatigue or risk of injury from lifting heavy, by using minimal time-under-tension and decreased weight)
• Pause Bench (develops ability to drive out of the bottom of the bench with no “bounce reflex”, it is upon pure nervous system strength to produce the inertia to press out from the chest aka making it harder so the “real thing” is easier)
• Floor Press (develops pressing strength with a limited range of motion of the shoulder, strengthens the lockout portion of the movement, also takes away the ability to use the legs to produce power when driving to lockout aka making it harder so the “real thing” is easier)
• Triceps Exercises (Skull crushers, cable pushdowns, Tricep kickbacks, develops maximal pressing and driving force from beginning of movement-to-lockout)
• Scapular-Retraction exercises (Eg. Slow-Tempo Rear-Delt Flies with a resistance band, Face Pulls, and Crossover Symmetry - Develops scapular health for healthier shoulders and spine/ injury prevention, as well as scapular positioning for maximal power output during the Bench Press)
• Technique Exercises aka Bench with an empty barbell (develops ability to “set up”, maintain positioning prior to and after unracking the bar, as well as performing to the movement with perfect positioning from start to finish. The “set-up”, particularly retracting the scapulas, tucking the elbows, and bar placement-in-the-hand is the hidden secret to many failed bench presses. And as with the squat and the deadlift, the bench follows this same rule: better positioning, more stability, better power output, better lifts)

Mental Cues of the Bench Press -

The key to a stronger bench is a combination of strength, positioning, and speed. You want to initiate the bench by first getting into the most crucial aspect of the bench press: your “set-up position”. By laying flat on the bench, feet on the floor, you want to tuck your feet underneath you, roll your chest “up” (not flat on the bench) as if a rope is fastened to your sternum and pulling your chest towards the ceiling, hold this position. While holding this position, you want to retract your scapulas, and begin to grip the bar for un-racking. With feet on floor underneath you, chest-up, and scapulas retracted, you want to drive your heels into the floor while driving your traps directly into the bench (this will increase your ability to utilize maximal power output throughout the kinetic chain). With feet on floor underneath you, chest-up, scapulas retracted, while driving heels into floor and driving traps directly into the bench, you now want to grip the barbell, placing it in your hand so that the bar is set resting directly over your forearm with wrists straight - not relaxed (barbell in-line with your forearm from a side-angle view with wrists straight not relaxed/at an angle). With feet on the floor beneath you, chest-up, scapulas retracted, driving feet into the floor, gripping the barbell with wrists straight, and barbell resting directly in-line with your forearms, you want to now grip the bar as hard as you can, while bracing the core. This is your “set up position”. It needs to be “tight”, and you need to be “tucked” and solid/immovable. Now that your grip, and set-up is set, you now want to unrack the bar. As you unrack the bar from the J Hooks, you want to maintain your exact set-up positioning, with out breaking. This means feet on the floor beneath you, chest-up, scapulas retracted, driving feet into the floor, gripping the barbell with wrists straight, and barbell resting directly in-line with your forearms, gripping the bar as hard as you can, while bracing the core, you want to “pull the bar” out of the J Hooks using your lats - not “lifting the bar”, and pull the bar until it is positioned directly in-line with your wrist, forearm, and upper arm, directly over your chest from a side-angle view. Now that you are in proper positioning for the bench press, you now want to take a deep breath, pulling into your diaphragm, hold it, and brace your core. You are now ready to engage the descent (eccentric portion) of the bench press.

As you engage the descent, the first thing you want to do is maintain feet on the floor beneath you, chest-up, scapulas retracted, driving feet into the floor, gripping the barbell with wrists straight, and barbell resting directly in-line with your forearms, gripping the bar as hard as you can, while bracing the core, you want to break at the elbows to begin the descent. As the bar descends towards the chest, you want to tuck the elbows “in” towards your side (do not “flair” the elbows out, as this can damage the shoulders and cause injury), guiding the bar on the descent while flexing the lats until the bar touches the chest. You will decide where along your chest feels most comfortable for the bench press (a common point of contact on the chest for the bench press is lower portion of the chest). Once the bar has reached the chest, maintaining feet on the floor beneath you, chest-up, scapulas retracted, driving feet into the floor, gripping the barbell with wrists straight, gripping the bar as hard as you can, while bracing the core, elbows tucked, and lats flexed, you want to now initiate the ascent (concentric portion of the lift).

As you engage the ascent, you want to feel as if you are driving yourself into the bench as you press. This will allow you to push your traps and lats more into the bench, to create a stronger foundation/base to push from. As you produce maximal inertia, driving yourself away from the bar and into the bench, you want to keep your feet on the floor beneath you, chest-up, scapulas retracted, driving feet into the floor, gripping the barbell with wrists straight, and barbell resting directly in-line with your forearms, gripping the bar as hard as you can, while bracing the core, and keep your eyes on the bar as you press from the bottom (not at your arms or straight up, on the bar from bottom to lockout). As the bar rises from the chest, past the “sticking point”, to lockout, you want to flare your elbows out, while maintaining the bar in-line with your wrists/forearm/upper-arm. You then want to arc the bar back as it ascends to lockout (bar arcs back from the chest-to-lockout position from a side-angle view). While staying as tight as possible, driving yourself directly into the bench as you push yourself away from the bar, brace the core to remain stable and drive to lockout.

Reasons why you may be failing and how to improve:

Positioning and speed are important factors in the bench press, but you also want the strength to be able to do so under maximal load. As with all kinetic chains, there is always a weak point and the bench press is no exception. If you struggle with maintaining complete control of the bar as it descends (especially towards the chest) your triceps may be weak. If you struggle getting the bar off your chest, your chest and shoulders may be weak. If you struggle with the “sticking point” (aka the half-way point of the concentric portion coming out of the bottom of the bench press), your chest, shoulders and triceps may be weak. If you are all over the place and not “solid” or steady throughout any portion of the bench, you probably have a weak core need to strengthen that to improve. Also, keep in mind that having a solid and well-practiced “set-up” - will basically guarantee you lift more weight, because instead of wasting energy by fighting to stay in proper position, you’ll instead be in proper position and using all of that energy to focus on maximal power output through the kinetic chain. Again, these are common points where guys hit plateaus, and how they can overcome them with the bench press. Will post again next week with the standing overhead/ military press.