18 Exercise Upgrades for More Muscle (article)

YassSpartan
YassSpartan Posts: 1,195 Member
edited November 11 in Fitness and Exercise
Bench Press

What You're Doing Wrong
You're thinking only about pushing the bar up from your chest.

Perfect Your Form
1. "Every time you lower the weight, squeeze your shoulder blades together and pull the bar to your chest," says Craig Rasmussen, C.S.C.S., a fitness coach at Results Fitness in Santa Clarita, California. This will help you build up energy in your upper body so that you can press the bar up with more force.

2. "As you pull the weight down, lift your chest to meet the barbell," Rasmussen says. "This will aid your efforts to create a springlike effect when you start to push the bar back up."

3. "When you press the weight, try to bend the bar with your hands," says Pavel Tsatsouline, a fitness expert and the author of Enter the Kettlebell! The benefit: You'll activate more muscle fibers in your lats and move the bar in a stronger and safer path for your shoulders.

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Read more: http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/muscle-building-exercise-upgrades/bench-press-exercise-tips.php

Replies

  • thefuzz1290
    thefuzz1290 Posts: 777 Member
    If you want to get stronger on bench, do the "power lifter pause" at your chest. Instead of bouncing it off your chest, which is really cheating (hey, I'm guilty of it too), pause for a brief second at your chest, then explode up.
  • kirstyg1980
    kirstyg1980 Posts: 302
    Bench Press

    What You're Doing Wrong
    You're thinking only about pushing the bar up from your chest.


    Not when you have your body pump instructor screaming at you to squeeze those shoulder muscles together lol
  • kirstyg1980
    kirstyg1980 Posts: 302
    If you want to get stronger on bench, do the "power lifter pause" at your chest. Instead of bouncing it off your chest, which is really cheating (hey, I'm guilty of it too), pause for a brief second at your chest, then explode up.

    the bar should NEVER touch your chest
  • thefuzz1290
    thefuzz1290 Posts: 777 Member
    According to your body pump instructor, but it can touch your chest.
  • kirstyg1980
    kirstyg1980 Posts: 302
    also small 2x for 3 then 4x for 2 pulses just above your chest are good
  • brismom070897
    brismom070897 Posts: 178 Member
    BUMP
  • YassSpartan
    YassSpartan Posts: 1,195 Member
    The way I do it and it has work for me is, I do let it touch my chest, but I don't drop it on it. and I don't try to push the bar up, my focus and goal is to pull my arms towards the center of my body, meaning, making my pecs pull the arms in, and at the end of the motion I squeeze my pecs, that way the pecs do most of the work and the shoulders and triceps help instead of doing most of the job.
  • byukid
    byukid Posts: 55
    Don't just squeeze your shoulder blades together, draw them down to your butt. Helps with stability and will help prevent shoulder issues.
  • Marks281172
    Marks281172 Posts: 127 Member
    I touch and pause at my chest out of habit, i still bench PL style (with much less arch of course :) ) which probably isnt the best for chesticle prettyness but for me its more of a compound move than just pec development anyway.

    Another 'left over' from my PL days is my shoulder blades are together anyway as i set up pinching my shoulders in, traps driven in to the bench, tucking my elbows and pulling the bar apart.
  • trmecham
    trmecham Posts: 53
    What Marks said. It drives me crazy to watch these half reps that are now apparently all the rage. (pulling my hair out)
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