The Best Bench Press Routine For Power Only

To improve your bench press you must improve your technique and strengthen all of the muscles you use when benching. You must train with lighter weights to increase your ability to quickly generate force and train with very heavy weights to improve your ability to recruit more muscle fibers. Training twice a week allows you to dedicate one day to developing force and technique, and a second day to exerting maximal effort. Consult a health care practitioner before beginning any strength training program.

Program Basics

Your program is based around two training days, and it requires you to know your one-repetition maximum in the bench press. Your training percentages are based off of this number. Each day is followed by specific assistance work for your triceps, which are the most active muscles in the bench press, according to a 1995 study in the "Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research." Additional exercises for your shoulders and back complete your training.

Dynamic Effort

Your dynamic effort requires that you train with 50 to 70 percent of your one-repetition maximum. This allows you to apply maximal force to the bar and push through your sticking points, according to Louie Simmons, coach of Westside Barbell Club. Perform 8 to 10 sets of three repetitions, and when you push the bar off of your chest, shove it as fast as you can. Rest no more than 45 seconds in-between sets. Follow this with higher volume work for your triceps, such as barbell or dumbbell extensions, or overhead extensions. Perform four to six sets of eight to 10 repetitions for your triceps, followed by chinups and rows. Use any grip for chinups and whatever type of rows you like to train your back, but do at least six to eight sets of eight to 12 repetitions of total back work.

Maximal Effort

On your maximal effort day, which should follow your dynamic effort workout by three days, perform at least three single repetitions with at least 90 percent of your one-repetition maximum on a pressing exercise. This should not be the flat bench press, but can be the close-grip bench press, incline press, or the floor press. Follow this with heavy triceps work such as close-grip bench pressing or dips, and additional back work similar to your dynamic effort workout. Pick different grips on chinups and select a different type of row, but keep the volume similar. Switch from a palms-up grip to a palms-down grip when chinning, and change from barbell to dumbbell rows.

Special Exercises

Struggling to continually move heavy weights on pressing exercises puts a strain on your rotator cuff, or half of it. Pressing works the internal rotators, and while the back work you are doing strengthens the other half of your rotator cuff, you need to train with caution. Perform extra work such as external rotations using a dumbbell or cable stack to maintain the health of your rotator cuff. Perform extra work for your elbow flexors and forearms to keep your elbow joints strong and stable. A few sets of hammer curls or reverse curls and a few sets of external rotations will prolong your lifting career and keep your joints healthy.