How to Increase Your Bench-Press and Gain More Muscle
The bench-press is a very traditional weight lifting exercise that has been around for a long time. An effective bench-press routine has long been the standard for chest exercises.
However, just doing bench-presses to get that exercise for your chest muscles can be uninteresting, to say the least. Also, many people reach what is considered their “plateau” when over doing one exercise.
In order to keep from hitting this plateau, you should mix up your routine and switch between exercises. This will also keep your fitness routine more interesting. When switching up your chest workout, there are many simple exercises you can do to maximize your bench press.
Remember all those pushups you had to do for football practice? Well, you were in great shape during football season, and there’s no reason you can’t use those same techniques now. Start out by doing 3 sets of pushups until you can’t do anymore. Make sure that you are using proper form. Tighten your core, and glutes and push away from the ground , keeping your entire body in a straight line. This exercise is a great warm-up also because it gradually prepares your rotator cuffs for heavier loads.
The next step is to keep doing pushups but add another element to your workout. For this exercise you will need to get the barbell from your weight bench. You can start by grasping the bar firmly with an overhand grip and than lifting it off of the bench. Next you will want to lay directly flat on the floor with it. Make sure that your hands are positioned a little wider then shoulder length apart; and then lower the bar to your chest right below your nipples. Now, raise the bar again as if you were doing a bench-press. You will want to do 3 sets of this exercise also until failure.
The last thing you will want to add to your routine is the dumbell press. This exercise requires that you have two dumbells of your selected weight. All you will want to do is lye flat on the bench, with a dumbell in each hand, and push straight up. Then, lower the dumbells down in the same fashion that you raised them. By this point you should be doing 3 sets of dumbell presses, along with 3 sets of barbell press, and 3 sets of pushups.
Do this for about 3 weeks. Start your first week slowly and gradually incorporate all 3 of these exercises into your routine. After you have incorporated this into your workout efficiently, you should notice a definite change of at least 5 pounds to your maximum bench press. This is because your body is not used to working muscles involved with infamiliar routines.
Pushups, Barbell Press, and Dumbell Press
