If you’re taking all the necessary steps to develop a stronger bench press but your weight isn’t increasing, what gives? It’s incredibly frustrating, and there’s a good chance you’ve reached a plateau. Even if you’ve increased the number of times you bench each week, your weight is probably not significantly rising.
You need to have a solid foundation in bench press technique and adhere to a training regimen that will allow you to make steady gains if you want to increase your bench press by 50 pounds. Additionally, you must make sure that your way of life maximizes training recovery.
In this article, I’ll discuss how to manage your training program to give you the best rate of improvement, whether it’s possible to increase your bench press by 50 pounds, what influences your bench press progress, and whether it’s possible to increase your bench press by 50 pounds.
Table of Contents
What Muscle Works With Bench Press?
Prior to beginning a bench press routine, it’s critical to understand which muscles you hope to develop. Let’s discuss the anatomy and a small portion of the chest muscle. The sternal head, which is the bulk of the chest, and the clavicular head, which is the outer portion close to the shoulders, are the two main muscle heads that make up the pectoral region.
Why are they significant? The shoulder joint, which is essential for the overall growth of your chest, is moved by the two muscle heads working together. The shoulder joints, ligaments, elbows, and triceps (to name a few) all support the chest muscles in some way.
The growth and maintenance of these additional supporting muscle groups are crucial as you work to increase your barbell bench press. As you navigate through this guide going forward, keep that in mind.
How To Increase Your Bench Press
Tip 1: Eyes Under The Bar
Possibly your setup is the most crucial aspect of bench pressing. Always position your eyes directly under the bar when lying back on the bench. Two factors make this beneficial. First, it’ll allow you to pull the bar forward, setting your shoulders and back in the proper “shelf” position (see Second, it keeps the bar from contacting the pins as you approach lockout, which would disrupt your set.
Tip 2: Don’t Forget About Your Feet
When it comes to the foot position when benching, there are basically two schools of thought. Some people prefer to maintain a flat foot position because it makes them feel as though they can exert more leg force. Another option is to pull your feet back (toward your hips) and only keep the balls of your feet on the ground, as powerlifters do. In addition to giving your back a nice arch, this position still allows you to generate leg drive. Just make sure to keep your head, shoulders, and bottom on the bench at all times, and don’t lift your feet off the ground with your toes.
Tip 3: Get The Right Grip
While you should probably avoid the “false” or thumbless grip (aka the “suicide grip”) during benching for safety reasons, you should place the bar in the heel of your hand (directly above your wrist). You’ll notice that your wrist bends back if you position the bar more in your palm or at the base of your fingers. However, you can maintain a straighter wrist position and your forearm will line up exactly under the bar, giving you more stability and strength, if the bar rests toward the heel of your hand. It’s also worthwhile trying a grip that is just outside of shoulder width, which is narrower than most people are used to. By doing this, you’ll be able to use more triceps to kick in the movement.
Tip 4: Create A Shelf
Although it’s simple to think of the bench press as a chest, shoulder, and triceps exercise, you should start thinking of it as a full-body exercise if you want to lift heavier weights. Contraction of the lats and upper back should be done while keeping your abs tight. By activating these antagonist and synergist muscles, you’ll establish a rock-solid “shelf” to press from. (It’s important to use proper pre-lift form, which is why we’re already at Tip 4 of our list of tips for increasing your bench press without even having the bar unracked.)
Tip 5: Make Sure Your Arms Are At The Right Angle
Ideal assistance would be from a spotter as you unrack and position the bar. You’ll be able to maintain your strong starting position by doing this. The majority of the tension is kept on your pecs and anterior (front) deltoids when you bench press in the traditional bodybuilding manner, which involves lowering the bar with your elbows flared out to 90 degrees. This is terrible for the health of the shoulders but excellent for isolating those muscles. Put your elbows in a tuck position so that they are at a 45-degree angle, or in the middle of your ribs and shoulders.
Tip 6: Find The Perfect Spot
Finding a groove when bench pressing is crucial. Each rep’s eccentric (downward) and concentric (upward) movements should be performed with the bar moving in the same direction. Press up and backwards while raising the bar until it is above your collarbones at the top. Lower the bar to mid-chest or nipple level. And if you are performing full range-of-motion presses, the bar should indeed touch your chest.
Tip 7: Keep Driving
Almost everyone’s bench press has a weak spot. When your elbows are at 90 degrees, it’s usually either one or two inches off the chest or roughly in the middle. When you reach this stage, you will either be experiencing rep-related fatigue or be getting close to your maximum load (or both). When they reach this point, many people have a tendency to give up quickly. Don’t be one of them. Take a shot at navigating around that obstruction. You may need to perform the exercise slowly and patiently, and you should definitely have a spotter to ensure your safety, but if you don’t train your body to move past those obstacles, they will always impede your progress. Keep pushing as long as the bar isn’t moving in the wrong direction.
Tip 8: Stop Benching
You’re probably wondering how you can improve your bench press if we’re telling you not to bench. Your bench press will be improved by a variety of additional or alternative exercises. If you want to keep your shoulders healthy and structurally balanced, use a variety of external rotation exercises and rotator cuff strengthening exercises. Make sure pullups and military presses are included in your program because research has shown that they both transfer well to a larger bench. Dumbbell presses can also aid in improving shoulder stability and range of motion, and triceps exercises will aid in a stronger lockout. Finally, the bench press is a fairly demanding exercise on your shoulders, one of the most complicated and injury-prone joints in your body. Don’t be afraid to focus on some supplemental and injury-prevention exercises during a phase when bench pressing is prohibited.
How Lifestyle Affects How Quickly You Can Increase Your Bench Press
Although training stimulates the growth of muscle mass and strength, the adaptation takes place outside of the gym. How much adaptation takes place will be greatly influenced by your lifestyle.
Your lifestyle includes elements like diet, stress from work and home, sleeping habits, and supplementation. These all contribute to this fictitious bubble or capacity that is your capacity to advance, also known as your adaptive reserve.
Micronutrients, which are all of the vitamins and minerals in food, as well as macronutrients, which are all essential for your body’s survival and health, include protein, fats, and carbohydrates. They’re essential for figuring out how well-equipped your body is to gain muscle and strength.
How Upper Body Mass Affects Influences Your Bench Press Improvement Rate
Your bench press performance and improvement are both positively impacted by upper body mass. Adding weight to the torso, which limits range of motion, can boost performance. Stronger muscles tend to be bigger muscles.
The strength of your bench press will depend on how much muscle you have, especially in your upper body. Powerlifting performance is positively correlated with more lean muscle mass.
Conclusion
It may be difficult at first to learn how to perform the ideal bench press. Once you master it, it comes naturally. A safe and highly efficient lift will be produced by learning how to engage and stabilize all of the involved muscles! You will notice a significant difference in the amount of weight lifted if you invest some time in learning and mastering the step-by-step procedure.