Improving Your Bench Press
The bench press is one of the most renowned and practiced exercises around the world. I will discuss various exercises to strengthen your bench press. Three muscle groups that have a large involvement in benching are the chest, tricep, and back muscle groups. Each of these muscle groups has a large role in having a strong bench press, so it is advantageous to strengthen each group on their own. Training other muscles, such as legs or biceps, will help your physique but they are not very beneficial to increasing your bench press.
The bench press movement has been around for a long time. The bench press has been called “floor press” and “belly toss” in the past, but in 1946 there was a weightlifting competition referring to the movement as the “bench press”. The necessary equipment is a bench, for the user to lie on top of, and either a barbell or two dumbbells. There are also variations in the bench angle, as you can have a flat, incline, or decline bench that will target different areas of the pectoral muscles. The pressing movement comes down to three main parts: preparation, the descent, and the ascent. For the preparation, center yourself on the bench in a supine position with your eyes under the bar rack. Use a closed overhand position to grip the bar with an appropriate grip width. On the descent, inhale to expand your chest and the bar should descend to right below your nipple-line. For the ascent, once the bar touches your chest, thrust the bar back up to a locked elbow position. Â
Three fundamental chest exercises are bench press, dumbbell flys, and pushups. Building your chest muscles are important due to your chest being the main muscle group activated when benching. The bench press is a compound movement, which means it works two joints or muscles groups at one time. The bench movement mainly works the pectoralis major muscle, which originates at the sternum, clavicle, ribs, and it inserts at the humerus bone. To perform a dumbbell fly, lay in a supine position on a bench with two dumbbells, held in a neutral position above your chest and with a small bend at your elbow, lower the dumbbells to your side parallel to the floor, and then squeeze your chest and arms back together. When squeezing the dumbbells back together, the movement is like hugging a big tree. This movement primarily hits the inner portion of the pectoralis major muscle. Pushups are a great beginner’s exercise due to its simplicity, versatility, and great activation of the pectoralis major.
“Tricep brachii” means three heads, which is representative of the medial, lateral, and long heads of the tricep. The medial and lateral heads originate at the humerus and the long head at the scapula. All three heads insert at on the ulna. Three critical exercises for triceps are lying barbell press, cable pushdowns, and overhead tricep extensions. Lay in a supine position on a bench with a barbell extended up toward the ceiling when performing lying barbell tricep extensions. Then lower the bar towards your head, bending only at your elbows, and once the bar is about an inch from your head extend the bar back up to the starting position. This exercise targets the lateral and long heads of the tricep. For cable pushdowns, stand in front of a cable machine with the cable above your head. Stand in an athletic stance holding the cable, and then push down, keeping the elbow stable. This exercise emphasizes the use of the lateral and medial heads of the tricep. In the overhead tricep extension, sit on a chair or stand with a dumbbell raised above your head with your elbows locked, then lower the weight by bending your elbows until the weight is behind your head, and finally extend your arms back up. This movement focuses on the long head of the tricep. The triceps are important to the bench press because they are in charge of the straightening of your arms at the upper portion of the bench movement.
Courtesy of Get Body Smart
Three central back exercises are lat pull downs, seated cable rows, and deadlifts. The lat pull down exercise stimulates the activation of the latissimus dorsi muscle. The latissimus dorsi spans most of the back, originating at the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae, sacrum, ilium, and ribs. It then inserts onto the humerus. To perform this exercise, sit at the machine using your legs to anchor your body, grab the bar over head using a pronated grip, and then pull the bar down to your chest. The seated row utilizes many muscles in your body but mainly activates the latissimus dorsi and trapezius muscles. The trapezius muscles originate from the occipital bone, lumbar, and thoracic vertebrae and it inserts at the clavicle, scapula, and acromion. When performing a seated row, sit at the machine with your back straight and legs planted for stabilization, then with your arms extended forward with the weight, pull it back to your bellybutton. The deadlift is a vital exercise for increasing the strength of your gluteus maximus and erectae spinor, which are your butt and lower back muscles respectively. The erector spinae originates at the ilium, sacrum, ribs, and thoracic vertebrae and it inserts on the ribs, most vertebrae, and the skull. It is crucial to have strong back muscles for benching because they aid in stability during the movement and your latissimus dorsi muscles aid in pressing the barbell off of your chest at the bottom of the movement.
Courtesy of shikaku-j.info
The bench press is an integral exercise for weight lifting that provides many benefits. It incorporates many muscle groups such as your chest, tricep, and back muscles in the movement. By developing each of these muscle groups individually, you will be able to boost the strength of your bench press.
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