The bench press is one of the most popular strength training exercises and is a common source of bragging among men. However, making strength and fitness gains are more closely related to how you bench rather than how much you bench. When choosing a bench press workout, it is important to develop a well-rounded routine that will leave you injury-free and sporting a strong chest.
Technique
Regardless of the type of bench press workout you use, proper positioning on the bench and lifting technique are crucial. The proper position on a bench press is with your back flat on the bench and your legs straddling it. Your eyes should be just in front of the leading edge on the uprights holding the barbell, and your hands should grip the bar in a place that allows your forearms to be perfectly vertical during the lift. When you lift the bar, keep your palms under it and your shoulder blades compacted against each other so your chest is puffed out. The barbell should be lifted in controlled repetitions without breaking proper form.
Workout Composition
A common mistake among weight lifters is focusing heavily on lifting a standard flat bench only. This results in poorly shaped pectoral muscles that bulge in the middle, but look ill-defined at the top and bottom. To better shape your chest using a bench press, you must include sets of both the inclined and declined bench press. The inclined bench press is particularly important because your chest muscles originate at your sternum. Muscle and Strength writer Dustin Elliott notes that performing inclined bench press sets is the most effective way to target and develop your chest muscles.
Order of Exercises
There are essentially two different schools of thought when it comes to the order that you do your bench press exercises. The first is that you should target your upper pectorals first because once the muscle becomes tired, it becomes difficult to lift enough weight that you will build muscle in this area. The other approach to the bench press is that you should lift exercises that target the least developed portion of your chest first. This is likely to be your upper or lower chest since your mid-chest is commonly worked by push-ups and the flat bench press.
Lifting Frequency
If a bench press routine is part of your larger training regimen, you only need to use it once a week to achieve results. Each exercise should be performed with one or two sets of eight to 15 repetitions per set. Performing the bench press beyond this amount is not likely to give you additional strength or size gains and could result in injuries.
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