There are three major problems which prove to be stumbling blocks to people who are looking to learn how to increase your bench press fast. It's an issue which affects many people around the world, seemingly stuck at a weight which they cannot get past no matter how hard they push.
The good news is you're going to learn three tried and tested methods of breaking your plateau today.
We must begin by assessing what your actual problem is. Most guys don't take the time to do this, but it is vital if you ever want to correct the problem at hand. It's usually one of three things:
1. Poor assisting muscles.
2. Poor grip.
3. Simply not enough strength in the muscle you are trying to lift the weight with, i.e. you are shooting above your weight.
You can usually figure out what the problem is by simply looking for these issues the next time you are doing the exercise in the gym. Do your shoulders and triceps give out long before your chest? Does your poor grip let you down or does your chest simply not have the strength it needs to reach the next level?
Usually people find that they have a combination of more than one issue. Either way, it is good to know what you need to work at to reach further progress. Once you have identified the area which needs more work, you can begin sorting it out.
If you can identify the issue first, correcting it is really rather easy. For those who are affected by their shoulders and triceps giving way too easily, it would be wise to spend some time strengthening those muscle groups in your routine before you attempt to pack on more weight to your chest-based exercises. No matter how big or powerful your pecs might be, they won't perform at maximum ability if the smaller muscles in the exercise are underdeveloped. This is a sign of someone who is undertaking an unbalanced training program and you should move fast to correct it before it reflects in your physique.
Those who underestimate the importance of grip strength also have a tough time when it comes to the three biggest compound exercises - bench, squat and deadlift. Coincidence? Absolutely not! Grip plays a huge role in your biggest lifts in the gym. If yours is holding you back it is probably because you are doing little or zero forearm work and you need to correct this issue if you are going to push heavier weights on those lifts in the future.
Reverse curls and handshake curls are prime examples of great grip strengthening exercises.
Finally, those who simply cannot lift a weight because the muscle has reached a sticking point also have a solution. If your chest simply cannot take any more weight and you don't have either of the other two issues mentioned above, you need to vary your chest training to spur new strength gains and muscle growth. There are numerous isolation exercises which can be used in that situation.
Moves such as incline dumbbell press, flat cable flyes and push-ups are great for isolating the area in question.
Learning how to increase your bench press fast can often become a game of opinion, with everybody using their own techniques to get themselves out of a hole from time to time. However, the 3 techniques shown to you today will work for the vast majority of individuals and offer the added benefit of yielding quick, consistent results.
The good news is you're going to learn three tried and tested methods of breaking your plateau today.
We must begin by assessing what your actual problem is. Most guys don't take the time to do this, but it is vital if you ever want to correct the problem at hand. It's usually one of three things:
1. Poor assisting muscles.
2. Poor grip.
3. Simply not enough strength in the muscle you are trying to lift the weight with, i.e. you are shooting above your weight.
You can usually figure out what the problem is by simply looking for these issues the next time you are doing the exercise in the gym. Do your shoulders and triceps give out long before your chest? Does your poor grip let you down or does your chest simply not have the strength it needs to reach the next level?
Usually people find that they have a combination of more than one issue. Either way, it is good to know what you need to work at to reach further progress. Once you have identified the area which needs more work, you can begin sorting it out.
If you can identify the issue first, correcting it is really rather easy. For those who are affected by their shoulders and triceps giving way too easily, it would be wise to spend some time strengthening those muscle groups in your routine before you attempt to pack on more weight to your chest-based exercises. No matter how big or powerful your pecs might be, they won't perform at maximum ability if the smaller muscles in the exercise are underdeveloped. This is a sign of someone who is undertaking an unbalanced training program and you should move fast to correct it before it reflects in your physique.
Those who underestimate the importance of grip strength also have a tough time when it comes to the three biggest compound exercises - bench, squat and deadlift. Coincidence? Absolutely not! Grip plays a huge role in your biggest lifts in the gym. If yours is holding you back it is probably because you are doing little or zero forearm work and you need to correct this issue if you are going to push heavier weights on those lifts in the future.
Reverse curls and handshake curls are prime examples of great grip strengthening exercises.
Finally, those who simply cannot lift a weight because the muscle has reached a sticking point also have a solution. If your chest simply cannot take any more weight and you don't have either of the other two issues mentioned above, you need to vary your chest training to spur new strength gains and muscle growth. There are numerous isolation exercises which can be used in that situation.
Moves such as incline dumbbell press, flat cable flyes and push-ups are great for isolating the area in question.
Learning how to increase your bench press fast can often become a game of opinion, with everybody using their own techniques to get themselves out of a hole from time to time. However, the 3 techniques shown to you today will work for the vast majority of individuals and offer the added benefit of yielding quick, consistent results.
About the Author:
Provided by: Top south shields personal trainer Russ Howe PTI teaches athletes and celebrities every week in the gym. His detailed post on how to increase your bench press fast will shed more light on this topic.