Posted on November 10, 2015 by Jenny Cromack
Improving the amount you bench can be frustrating for anyone, but have you ever considered that the bench press may not be the answer in how to improve your bench press?
There’s a great saying I’ve come across somewhere…..stupidity is doing the same things over and over and expecting a different result. So my suggestion to you is to follow these suggestions for 8 weeks, return to your bench press and see whether or not your bench press improves. I can bet my bottom dollar you see a significant improvement in how much you can lift.
Suggestion 1: Lighten the load.
One of the most common reasons individuals don’t improve their bench press is because they are not getting enough low intensity load in. Long term progress can be made in the bench press by cycling the intensity week by week. I have seen amazing results from working in 4 week cycles of 75, 80, 85% for 5 reps. With a recovery week of no benching after the third week. You don’t need to lift your 1 rep max every week to improve your total, in fact this will most likely lead to over training and a weaker bench press. So, cycle the intensity at which you work.
Suggestion 2: Press at different angles.
The reason your bench press might not be improving could be due to the number of motor units you’re able to activate. If you want to activate more of those pec and tricep fibers change the angle you press through. The conjugate method is a great example of this principal in progress, pick 5 different pressing exercises, week 1 do the easiest and swap for progressively harder exercises over the coming weeks. This in turn will help develop fibers that may have previously not been fully developed. Here is a sample 5 cycle pressing rotation:
- Cycle 1: Dips
- Cycle 2: Behind Neck Shoulder Press
- Cycle 3: Incline Bench Press
- Cycle 4: Strict Military Press
- Cycle 5: Flat Bench Press
Suggestion 3: Spend time working on the foundations:
By this I mean the supporting musculature of the shoulder. A big bench press, means healthy rotator cuffs, balanced deltoid development and relatively strong lats. You’re going to have to press to build bench press strength but equally you must pull and rotate. Muscles to focus on will be the posterior bundle of fibers in the shoulder, the rhomboids, the lower trapezius, rotator cuffs and the lats.
Suggestion 4: Experiment with grip width.
Odds are you won’t have changed your grip width from a narrow position during triceps work to the standard grip you use during bench pressing. Use a wider or narrower grip than normal and play around with varying grips, this will help tap into new motor pools and potentially help stimulate some greater development down the line. Prepare to be humbled by the weight you can press particularly if you’ve not changed bench press grip width in a while.
Suggestion 5: Speed may hold the key:
Reducing the bench press load significantly to around 30-60% 1 RM sounds like a bad idea. However when we consider that velocity plays a huge part in power development it make more sense. If we can train the musculature of the bench press to contract faster and to develop greater peak velocity we potentially build the capability to bench press more. Try to include speed press work at least once a week every week for up-to 8 weeks.
Suggestion 6: Vary bench press depth:
Power lifters can often be seen using blocks of wood, this simple strategy changes the depth of the load. Exercises such as the bench press have what is known as strength curves, different portions of the lift are stronger than others. In the bench press the movement becomes progressively harder as we lower the bar further. This means that your bench press 1RM is actually the load your able to lift at the level of the chest, not 2 inches from the chest, and definitely not 4 inches from the chest. These ranges can be trained with significantly heavier loads and once again stimulate further strength development
So give the following suggestions a go there is definitely another 3 years of development mixing up and playing with the above strategies. Enjoy the gains, let me know your new PB’s!