22
Steps To A Bigger Bench Press (As Published in Monster Muscle
Mag)
By
Ben Tatar
www.criticalbench.com
1.
TIME-
Time is very
important when it comes to getting stronger. Every year when people
work hard at benching, they will see big increases in the weights
they move yearly, monthly, and even weekly. If many of you look
back at how strong you were 10 years ago, 5 years ago, 2 years
ago, last year or even 2 months ago, you will see big changes
in the weights you are benching. Some maxes go up faster than
others, but all of them go up in time with hard work. These gains
will also keep going up in the future. Lots of little gains equal
huge #s over time. You can really become extremely strong over
time.
2.
SACRIFICE-
If you want
an amazing bench, you won't be able to stay out late and have
fun every night because getting enough sleep is very important.
You will need to eat large portions of healthy foods frequently
and take supps by the clock, which takes lots of work and becomes
expensive. You will have to fight through pain in the gym to keep
going to the next level and live in some kind of pain from the
wear and tear on the body from very heavy workouts. Most importantly,
you will have to be in the gym working hard when you wish you
could be out doing other things. To be truly great at anything
you need to make it a lifestyle.
3.
SHIRTS-
Lets face
the facts, if you want to go as far as you can go in the bench
press and bench the biggest weights possible, you will have to
start learning how to use bench press shirts. The biggest weights
ever benched were benched with the shirts. The strongest man at
around 230 can bench more with a shirt than the strongest man
over 300 can RAW. The biggest raw benches today are a little over
700, and the biggest shirt benches are around 800. Lots of benchers'
maxes go up tremendously over 150 and 200lbs when they use shirts.
Lots of them think using the shirts makes benching more hardcore
because you can hit scarier weights. Other people don't like bench
press shirts because it isn't the same as benching RAW. Besides,
RAW benching is the way people around the world bench. There are
all different kinds of shirts and some people get more out of
them than others and different shirts work differently for different
people.
4.GAINING
WEIGHT-
When getting
stronger, gaining weight is very important. You will see that
when you get heavier you will be able to lift more. However, some
lifters don't want to look fat. If that is the case, eat lots
of healthy foods while avoiding excessive fats, sugars, and simple
carbs. If you don't care about aesthetics, and just want to get
heavier to lift more, eat everything you want while getting enough
protein.
5.
STERIODS-
Steroids and
drugs will help you lift bigger weights, however they can have
terrible effects on your mood and on your health.
6.
GUTS-
Having guts
is very important in bench pressing and in life. If you don't
have guts you are gonna miss out on many great moments in life.
You won't be strong. You will only be an admirer-wannabe who lives
life in a comfort zone. It takes guts to work your weak link.
For example, if you have a strong flat bench and a weak incline
bench, you will need to train heavy reps under 5 on the incline.
Even though it will hurt your ego, you will be stronger both mentally
and physically. Anything in life that is worth something takes
resistance. You need guts to fight it. It takes guts to work as
hard as you can. THE BOTTOM LINE IS... You need guts to fail.
When you work hard, you will sometimes fail. Youn need to experience
failure to get stronger.
7.
GENETICS-
Well we know
that people were born in different shapes and sizes and have different
metabolisms. These are the facts; people who have shorter arms
with a bigger chest and bigger bones will always have an advantage
over someone with longer limbs and a smaller bone structure. An
Endo will usually have an advantage over an Ecto, if the Endo
decides to be a big powerlifter and not just some guy trying to
lose pounds and look more like an ecto. Don't let genetics be
your excuse. Anyone can be strong and make progress. You need
to keep confusing your genetics and forcing your genetics to keep
adding weights to the bar.
8.
FORM-
Lots of lifters
have increased their benching tremendouslyo ver night from changing
bodybuilding form to using leg drive, widening their grip, and
changing the groove of the lift with form. By just changing your
form, you can see fast gains in a day!
9.
REST-
Rest is important
in big lifting and to prevent over training. Don't super set your
heavy workouts. Try to rest 5 minutes between sets. Make every
set great quality instead of doing lots of sets and going through
the motions. Every set should have some meaning and purpose, or
it is worthless. The bottom line is, you need to do every set
well.
10.
MAKE WHAT'S WEAK STRONG-
This might
hurt your ego, but you will need to hurt it to get stronger. If
you only do what you're good at, you are likely to plateau because
your weak points will prevent you from moving onto the next level.
11.
MUSCLE CONFUSION-
You need to
keep changing your routine to keep confusing your muscles. This
will cause them to get stronger instead of adapting to a routine,
which will cause a plateau.
12.
BACK WORK-
Having a strong
back is very important in benching heavy weights, and very important
in life itself. Make sure you work your back.
13.
EVERYBODY IS DIFFERENT-
We are all
much the same because we are all humans, but we all have our own
experiences, our own perceptions and our own bodies that adapt
differently to different training styles. So use exercises, supplements
and routines accordingly to what works best for you. You can find
this out from trial and error. What works for 4 months though,
won't work forever, so you have to keep overloading your muscles,
strengthening your tendons and working on your weak points. If
you take two of the strongest men who ever lived, they didn't
get there by doing the same exact routine. If your weak point
is the lower half of the bench, start doing more serious back
work and full range work, if it is strictly the top, get your
triceps stronger and lockout stronger. Just know your body because
you can only have your own, and you can't be anyone else.
14.
WORKOUT PARTNERS-
If you want
a really big bench, try to surround yourself with people who have
gotten one themselves. There is nothing quite like one-on-one
attention. If you're surrounded with people who motivate you to
get better, then you will want to work harder and get better.
This will make your strength journey a more enjoyable one. You
will be pushed to working levels you never experienced before.
15.
TRAIN SMART-
Training smart
will make you last. It is important to work hard but if you're
over training, then you won't make gains and you will just burn
out. Remember, don't bench anymore than two days a week. Also,
use good form to prevent injury and when injured rest. If you
don't, you are just going to make things worse. Fighting through
an injury isn't going to help you.
16.
SQUATS-
Dont neglect
squats and only bench. Squatting heavy will help increase your
bench by releasing more growth hormone.
17.
ATTITUDE-
When you enter
the gym, make sure you have attitude. Get motivated to attack
huge weights. When you have attitude, you will be much more energized
and gom uch farther than someone who just lifts for the sake of
lifting.
18.
TRAIN WITH HEAVY WEIGHTS AND LOW REPS-
You will never
meet a huge weight if all you do is bench 135 or 225 for sets
of 10 and never challenge yourself with bigger weights and lower
reps. If you want your bench max to increase train with lower
reps and bigger weights and as you keep getting your tendons stronger
and adding power to your body you will keep meeting bigger and
bigger weights all the time.
19.
SPECIAL EXERCISES FOR A BIGGER BENCH-
These are
some lifts you can do if you get sick of the basic bodybuilding
workouts. They will help you increase your bench, but choose these
exercises based on your weak links. You should do something different
every workout to keep zapping, shocking and overloading your muscles,
forcing them to get stronger. When using exercise selection, choose
the ones you need most. For example, if your weak from the start
do more incline benches, heavy dumbbells, 3-second pause benches,
close grip and more full range of motionand back work. If your
weak at top, work on lockouts. If it is your delts, work delts.
Just work what needs needs work to keep increasing your max...
Remember intensity and quality matters most........ Here are some
exercises that some people aren't aware of:
Board
benching: Pick a board. They come in different sizes.
To get the most out of this exercise, dig the weight into the
board, and then press it back up. Go for 3 rep maxes, doubles
and singles. Low reps are the way to go if you want maximum strength
and aren ot training for an endurance contest.
Triceps:
For any kind of tricep extension try 2 sets of 20-40 reps and
just torture them into getting stronger. This is an exercise where
you can work with high reps. Focus on quality for these. You can
do your heavy skulls, but this is something different which will
really help your benching.
Close grip
bench board benches: Same as close grip but use a board. Great
exercise.
Power
rack lockouts: This is where you lay under a power rack
(the one you squat and shrug inside.) Set the pin to the 8 holes.
Or the lockout pin that your rack has. When you do Rack Lockouts,
you will be able to use a lot of real scary weight, possibly 250lbs
over your raw bench. Some people can lockout insane weights but
can't benchanything and vice versa.This gives you confidence to
handle big weights and strengthens your tendons and lockout. Other
options: you can set the rack from the 7 pins or 6 pin or 5 and
strengthen your tendons and weak links from lower pins.
Floor
presses: Lay on the floor and arch your lower back while
keeping your butt on the floor and bring the weight down until
your elbows hit the floor and then drive it back up.
Chains:
When you use chains, let's say with 225 lbs. You bring the weight
down and press it up. You're benching 225 lbs from the first half
of the lift but the chains weigh 45lbs each (90 lbs total) so
your locking out 315 at the top. (Also depends on the chains you
are using) Chains are very popular to use with strength coaches
and athletes on all different kinds of lifts.
Speed
Benching: Moving a light weight fast. Popular to do for
speed strength on days you're not lifting heavy. This has done
wonders for some people but what does wonders for some does nothing
for others.
Negative/Forced
Reps: This is a way of overloading the muscles where
you take a weight over your max and you bring it down slowly!
So youre basically trying to prevent the weight from crushing
you. Then you will have spotters force the weight up.
Assisted
Reps: These can help make you work harder if used properly.
When you do these your workout then has a lot to do with your
spotter and whether he is helping you or your ego...Beware if
they are misused, you won't get stronger because you aren't controlling
the weight and you will have a false sense of your strength.
Bands:
Bands add resistance to the weight you are using similar to chains.
They help you train your lockouts and explosiveness. Try bands
for a completely different bench press experience.
20.
TRAINING TO GET PRETTY WON'T MAKE YOU THE KING OF THE BENCH PRESS-
If you take
two guys with similar genetics... First we have guy A- This guy
keeps his diet totally clean, does lots of cardio, and trains
hard with reps. Then there is guy B- This guy doesn't do cardio,
and he eats everything! When he trains he is always doing the
basics not lots of bodybuilder lifts and training with low reps
always pushing himself to the limits. I will tell you right now
that guy B is gonna be much stronger than guy A even if he doesn't
flex as well and look as pretty. Training to get stronger vs training
to get prettier is a completely different game. You will need
to become a beast and have the attitude of a beast, rather than
that of a pretty boy.
21.
MIND-
This is the
biggest factor of them all. This is where the WANT, The intensity,
the routine, the attitude, the sacrifice, the eating, your choices,
how far you go and your whole life starts. Just remember, it is
your mindset thatd etermines who you are and what you will become.
22.
BEING THE STRONGEST-
So
this is what it takes to get a bigger bench press.... TIME,
CONSISTENCY, SACRIFICE, LOTS OF GOOD FOOD,GUTS, GOOD FORM, PLENTY
OF REST, MAKING WHATS WEAK STRONG, MUSCLE CONFUSION, FINDING WHAT
WORKS FOR YOU, BACK WORK, HEAVY SQUATS, MUSCLE OVERLOAD, GOOD
PARTNERS and TRAINERS, ATTITUDE,HARD WORK,LOW REPS AND HUGE WEIGHTS,
INTENSITY, and a MIND OF NO LIMITS.
---These rules will apply to both drug and non drug users, gear
users and non, and everyone because to be the next big thing and
to be the best you can be, you are going to need these attitudes
to get a bigger bench press no matter who you are. Just remember
how far you go is in your hands!
Related
Information
Incorporate these 22 steps while you train with
the Critical Bench Program. A customized bench press program that
has helped thousands of lifters conquer a personal best. CriticalBench.com
