7 Ways to Get a Bigger Bench Press

The bench press is more than just a chest exercise. To build a bigger bench press, all the muscles involved must work together. Your triceps play a critical role in big benching. They aid in the lock out portion of a bench press. If you often fail at the top of the lift, that is a sign of weak triceps.

Train Your Lats

Like triceps, your lats play a big role in the bench. They provide the stability at the bottom of the bench. They also help you control the negative portion of the press. If you want to press big numbers, you need to train the muscles you can't see in the mirror.

Press Fast

This probably goes against what you've been taught about lifting. If you want to push big weight, you need to push with force. "Feeling the pecs burn" or "isolating the pecs" don't apply here. When that bar hits the chest, you need to lock it out fast.

Vary Your Rep Ranges

Low reps build strength is what we were told. This is true but spending some time working with higher reps will help build strength and muscle. Instead of just hitting singles and triples, add some sets of five or eight to help build that pressing power.

Use Your Legs

All big benchers use some leg drive to hoist big weights. As mentioned earlier, bench pressing is just not a chest exercise. Driving the heels through the floor provides that initial boost off of your chest. This takes practice to master because you must do this without your butt coming off the bench.

Squeeze Shoulders

In order to press big weights, you need a stable base. The best way to create this stable base is to dig your traps and shoulder blades into the bench. Most benches are too narrow for you to get both shoulder blades on the bench. We can't make the bench wider but we can make our shoulders narrower by squeezing the shoulder blades.

Gain Weight

This is probably the easiest way to boost your bench. When you lose weight, the bench is the lift that suffers the most. However, the opposite is also true. Gain weight and watch your bench go up. Unless you are naturally gifted in benching, you are not going to press 400 lbs weighing 165 lbs. This advice might not be feasible for guys who need to be in a certain weight class for sports.

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