The bench press and why it drives me mad
I love the bench press, don’t get me wrong but it’s just… Every idiot out there does it and does it incorrectly.
I always tell the story about a client I was asked to train years ago.
He was brought in by his parents to improve his rugby skills. His weight training routine? It revolved around benching 6 days per week with some curls, yes, ridiculous.
I fixed this having him do more endurance exercises, Squats, deadlifts, Tire pushes, Sprints, Pull ups, over head presses, and he’d bench once every 5 days, and only once with a barbell the next time he’d use dumbbells.
He took his bench press up from a lousy 40kg to 65kg in a matter of 5 weeks, and was progressing, he decided he could do a routine on his own and did not want to renew it.
A few months later I went to a gym I was asked to help out and I saw him training, he was now benching just 30kg, I was shocked as the guy told me he now came in 7 days a week and did the bench press for 10 sets of 10 over and over, but he got emotional and upset that he “Lost” his strength.
Despite seeing tremendous results and looking better before he was now as fat as he was stupid.
It was gob smacking to me that he’d go back to such a terrible routine.
But let’s talk a bit about the bench press.
The exercise known as the bench press is performed as you would expect on a workout bench. Walk into any gym and the first exercise you are most likely to see being performed will be the bench press The bench press is a great exercise which when done the correct way can work the chest, triceps, shoulders, biceps, stomach muscles etc.
The main muscles worked are the pectoralis major, the fronts of the shoulders, and the triceps, or backs of the arms. That’s the front of the upper body pretty much covered, and most gym-goers, male or female, will regularly do three to five sets of 8-12 reps. Five reasons exist for the bench press’s popularity: it’s easy to learn and practise; beginners make quick gains
The last thing on your bench press is your legs and core. Your legs are still needed on during a bench exercise to stabilize the weight. If you didn’t need your legs to have a big bench than you would be able to lift the same weight with your legs on the floor as you do if you put your feet on the bench and take them away. A big bench is about total body strength, if you focus only on the bench so results will always suffer.
Again this is just basic tips and advice if you need any more help then be sure to check out my other article on how to “set new records for your bench press” and how I can make you get stronger and stronger every single workout day by following these techniques.
Until next time thank you for reading and be sure to join in comments directly below!
