How You Can Add 20, 30, Or Even 40 Pounds To Your Bench Press -
The Real Secret To Building A Big Bench Press

Yes, you can add some serious poundage to your bench press, provided you do it right. Now, this tip is a very important one for those of you who want to really improve your bench press or incline press.

Now, when I go to the gym, it is very rare that I see someone do the bench press in a manner that is conducive to growth. I mean, really, it takes time to develop a solid bench press and patience is the key, as well as the knowledge it takes to really blast your bench press. However, when I go to the gym, I see impatient young trainers wanting to bench press 500 pounds over night. I see incorrect form, bad technique, wrong positioning, and most of all, poor exercise choices. It is the choice of exercises that ultimately leads to a poor bench press.

Now, when I do see someone who really understands the movement of the bench press, they are usually pressing some very impressive weight. Usually, their form and technique is down to a science with nice, fluid movements. However, you know what I notice the most? it’s not only the persons form and technique that is impressive, it is their choice of exercises.

You see, a big bencher’s weight lifting program is very structured. It may seem very simple but the truth is, they always have a system in place with very specific exercises. These exercises are the staple of a strong bencher and the real strength lies within those very exercises. Actually, it’s not really the bench press itself that generates the power of the bench, it is the supporting exercises that build overall, upper torso power.

Ok, before you toss this idea out the door and hit the back button, hear me out. All big bench pressers’ will rely on core exercises that generate a tremendous amount of power. The bench press alone is not the actual exercise that generates the power, it is the strength exercises for the shoulders and triceps that build the core power. I mean, the pectoral muscles are the targeted muscles in the bench press, but not the only muscles involved.

Now, there are some core exercises that I’ve tried that have a direct tie to a big bench press. And it’s these exercises that will actually help generate a big bench press. These exercises are the real secret to building a big bench press. Yes, it is the core exercises that will generate a huge bench press.

Now, I’ve personally experienced this phenomenon. I’ve done numerous experiments to see how core exercises affect my bench press. I’ve come to the conclusion that without these exercises, your bench press will not be as effective if you had these exercises included in your weight lifting program. If you can do these core exercises, at the right times, and in the right manner, your bench press will dramatically increase.

The core exercises to help build a large bench press are the front shoulder press and close grip bench press. Yup, simple right? Well, it’s not that simple because most aspiring trainers do this all wrong. Here’s where they screw up. It’s the lack of understanding that these exercises must be done in a manner that allows for the maximum recovery between exercise sessions. This is the only way to get strong. And it’s this impatience that is directly responsible for a poor bench press. By bench pressing 2, or even 3 times per week, you are sabotaging your efforts and you won’t get anywhere.

I’ve seen it and I’ve done it and this type of training doesn’t work. I’ve often been asked how many times a person should be bench pressing in a given week and they are astonished by my reply. Remember this, if you want a big bench press, you should only be doing it once per week. Actually, you should only be training one body part per week. And if you do it right, your bench press will explode.

Alright, here’s what you want to do if you want to really gain on your bench press. You should be training each body part once per week, putting priority on the front shoulder press, close grip bench presses, and the bench press. All of your efforts are going to be aimed at getting stronger in each of these 3 exercises. Cut out all isolation exercise such as cable cross overs, bent over cable laterals, triceps kick backs or anything else that doesn’t involve two or more muscles. All you want to do is concentrate on three exercises:

• Bench Press;
  
• Front Shoulder Press;
  
• Close Grip Bench Press.

The bench press should be done first and foremost in your weight lifting routine. Shoulder presses should be done about 3 to 4 days after training chest. I usually train triceps with chest. So, I do the bench press, followed by triceps and biceps. I take a days rest following chest and arms, train legs, than hit my shoulders and back. Here’s a sample routine:

Monday:

Chest and arms;

Tuesday:

Rest

Wednesday:

Legs;

Thursday:

Shoulders and back;

Friday:

Rest;

Saturday:

Rest

Sunday:

Rest

Monday:

Repeat

Remember, this is what I do and you can play around with the weight lifting routine. Such as:

Monday:

Chest and triceps;

Tuesday:

Rest

Wednesday:

Legs;

Thursday:

Shoulders;

Friday:

Back and biceps;

Saturday:

Rest

Sunday:

Rest

Monday:

Repeat

The important thing to remember is the recovery times. You want to allow 3 to 4 days recovery between front shoulder presses and the bench press. This is the key. Exercise choice is vital to a big bench press.

For chest, you want to do the bench press first and foremost. I would recommend doing no more than 3 exercises for chest. Here’s a sample:

• Bench press; followed by
  
• Incline bench press; followed by
  
• Flat bench fly of dips.

Your exercise progression for the bench press should be:

Warm up: 1 x 20 reps
Set one: 1 x 8 reps
Set two: 1 x 8 reps
Set three: 1 x 6 reps
Set four: 1 x 6 reps

To see the bench press illustration and description, see critical bench's bench press video here

This is it. Do not do any more. I wouldn’t suggest doing negatives because I find it places too much stress on the ligaments and joints. You want to build a big chest and to do that, you need a rep range of 6. Now, let’s say you can bench press 205 pounds. Here’s what you progression will look like:

Warm up: 1 x 20 reps : 60 pounds or 30% of your max;
Set one: 1 x 8 reps: 95 pounds or 45% of your max;
Set two: 1 x 8 reps: 125 pounds or 60% of your max;
Set three: 1 x 6 reps: 145 pounds or 70% of your max;
Set four: 1 x 6 reps: 165 pounds or 80% of your max;

This is it. Now, when do you know it’s time to increase the weight? You should be increasing your weight when you can do the last set for 8 reps. So, in this case, if this person can do 165 pounds for 8 reps, they should increase the weight by 10%. Let’s say, this person does 8 reps with 165 pounds this week, next week, they will be using roughly 180 pounds for a target of 6 reps. Once they do 6 reps with 180 pounds, they will target 8 reps the following week, and so on.

If your one rep max is not 180 pounds but another weight, simply take that weight and multiply it by the percentage associated with the set (As with the above progression).

This is very important. Do not do any single repetitions. Only do a single repetition after 10 to 12 weeks of doing this kind of program. And after 12 weeks of this kind of regiment, take a two week break. This is vitally important. No body builder or power lifter in their right mind goes 100% intensity, 12 months out of the year. They do this in cycles and it’s what you going to do, so take a two week break from the gym after training 12 weeks.

As for the other exercises, try the following progression:

Incline press:

Set one: 1 x 8 reps - 50% of your max
Set two: 1 x 8 reps - 60% of your max
Set three: 1 x 6 to 8 reps - 70% of your max
Set four: 1 x 6 reps - 80% of your max

As with the bench press, your weight progression will be similar.

Flat bench fly:

3 x 12 reps - moderate weight

Make sure that you don’t go super heavy on this exercise. Feel the stretch and really pump the muscle up.

On Thursday when shoulders come around, you will want to make sure you do front barbell shoulder presses first. At this point, your upper body should be well rested so you can really start to move some serious weight. As with the bench press, you will want to pyramid the weight up to 80% to 85% of your max. As you will notice, the actual rep range does not go over 8. I think that by doing anymore than 8 reps, your wasting your energy. This is another major mistake I see in the gym when people are trying to gain muscle and get strong on certain exercises. They simply do not pyramid properly. Every workout has to be productive and your energy cannot be wasted. Your one goal is to get strong on the bench press, shoulder press, and close grip bench presses.

In this case, you will be training shoulders and you want to devote all of your mental and physical energy to the front shoulder press. Once you start getting stronger on this particular movement, you will get stronger on the bench press. Ths is one of the keys to pressing a lot of weight on the bench press.

So, you don’t want to waste time and energy by doing unnecessary repetitions. What you want to do is aim for getting stronger on your last two working sets of this exercise - Each and every shoulder workout.

I suggest you do the shoulder press first and foremost in your routine. Here’s a sample shoulder weight lifting routine:

• Seated front shoulder press; followed by
  
• Seated dumbbell presses; followed by
  
• Side laterals.

Your exercise progression for the seated front shoulder press is very similar to the bench press and should look something like this:

Warm up: 1 x 20 reps
Set one: 1 x 8 reps
Set two: 1 x 8 reps
Set three: 1 x 6 reps
Set four: 1 x 6 reps

This is it. Do not do any more. As I said before, if you can get strong on this exercise you will add pounds to your bench press. Now, let’s take a look at your weight progression. Let’s say your max on the seated front shoulder press is 185 pounds. Here’s what you progression will look like:

Warm up: 1 x 20 reps : 55 pounds or 30% of your max;
Set one: 1 x 8 reps: 85 pounds or 45% of your max;
Set two: 1 x 8 reps: 110 pounds or 60% of your max;
Set three: 1 x 6 reps: 130 pounds or 70% of your max;
Set four: 1 x 6 reps: 145 pounds or 80% of your max;

I hate to repeat myself, but this is very important. Your main work sets are sets three and four. All of your energy is going to be spent trying to get 6 reps with 70% to 80% of your max. Now, as with the bench press, you will increase your weight when you can get 8 reps on set four. That is your goal. The prescribed rep range is 6 on the last set and once you can get this with your last set, you want to get at least 8 before you can increase the weight by 10%. Why? It’s been my experience that before you can get another 6 reps with a higher weight, you need to get at least 8 reps with 10% less weight.

Ok, let me explain. Let’s say on your last set, you get 6 reps with 185 pounds in week one. Now, on week two, you get 8 reps with that same weight. What does this mean? You’ve gotten stronger and can handle more weight - 10% more weight. By increasing your weight by 10%, you are back at aiming for 6 reps - Which is the rep range you want to be at for adding size and power. Now, let’s say you manage to get 6 reps with 10% more weight than you started with in week three. This means you have gotten stronger - 10% stronger to be exact. For the following week, you will be aiming at getting 8 reps in order for you to add 10% more weight.

This is the progression of getting strong. Trust me, once you get this progression going, the cycle of getting stronger will become clear.

As for the close grip bench press, your progression will be very similar.

Here’s a sample triceps weight lifting routine:

• Close grip bench presses; followed by
  
• Standing cable push downs; followed by
  
• Seated barbell extensions..

Your exercise progression for the seated front shoulder press is very similar to the bench press and should look something like this:

Warm up: 1 x 15 reps
Set one: 1 x 8 reps
Set two: 1 x 8 reps
Set three: 1 x 6 reps
Set four: 1 x 6 reps

Now, let’s take a look at your weight progression. Let’s say your max on the close grip bench press is 175 pounds. Here’s what you progression will look like:

Warm up: 1 x 15 reps : 50 pounds or 30% of your max;
Set one: 1 x 8 reps: 75 pounds or 45% of your max;
Set two: 1 x 8 reps: 105 pounds or 60% of your max;
Set three: 1 x 6 reps: 125 pounds or 70% of your max;
Set four: 1 x 6 reps: 140 pounds or 80% of your max;

To see a video and description, see critical bench's close grip bench press vid here

As with the bench press and shoulder press, you will want to pyramid the weight up to 80% to 85% of your max.

Alright, if your looking to really improve your bench press, try using the seated front shoulder press and close grip bench press in your routine. I can say with 100% certainty that as you get stronger in these two exercises, your bench press will dramatically improve.

Here are some other tips to help you with your routine:

• Add an extra 500 calories to your diet. If you want to burn fat and get really defined, forget about getting strong on the bench press. The only way to get really strong on the bench press is to eat a lot of quality nutrients. You should be eating at a minimum, 6 meals per day.
  
  
• Eat at least 1 to 2 grams of protein per pound of body weight. If you weight a 175 pounds, you should be eating at least 175 grams of protein.
  
  
• Drink at least 10 cups of water per day. Very important.
  
  
• In terms of supplements, here’s what I suggest. In the morning, drink two glasses of water immediately and one with 5 grams of glutamine. Once you have finished your breakfast, take one multi vitamin/mineral. 40 minutes prior to training, have a serving of creatine such as NOZ supercharged or Dymatize Xpand. Immediately after training, take in at least 40 grams of protein and 80 grams of carbs. I suggest Cytogainer or Dorian Yates MBF. 20 minutes later, take in one more serving of NOZ supercharged or Dymatize Xpand. Before going to bed, take 5 grams of glutamine.
  
  
• This is very important and one I have to mention again. You must, as soon as you’ve finished your workout, take in at least 40 grams of protein and 80 grams of carbs. So, before you head to the gym, make yourself a power drink. I’m currently using Dorian Yates MBF and it is doing a fantastic job.
  
  
• All of your workout energy should be aimed at getting stronger on the shoulder press, close grip bench presses and bench press.
  
  
• Remember, the key here is not the quantity of exercise, it’s the quality. You might think that training one body part per week is not enough but trust me, it is. Remember this and remember it well. You don’t get big and strong in the gym, you get it while you are resting. If you can understand this concept, than you have a chance at getting really huge.
  
  
• Always get plenty of rest.
  
  
• Always use proper form. That means, no bending the waist and please, keep your head on the bench at all times.
  
  
• There are going to be times when you don’t feel strong in the gym. This is normal and it’s your body trying to tell you it’s tired. If you find that your totally drained in the gym, go home and rest. Stop what your doing, go home, have something to eat and rest.
  
  
• After 10 weeks or so of the strength cycle, try and do a singe rep in the bench press. If you have done things right, you will have at least added 20 pounds to your bench. Remember, no single reps until after the 10th or 12th week.
  
  
• After the 12th week, take a two week break. The only exception to this rule is if you are on an absolute roll. That is, if your bench press is absolutely busting out and your getting very strong, keep on doing what your doing. However, the threshold is soon approaching and I would say, your pushing it at 14 or 15 weeks of heavy training. Stop and take a break because you will venture into injury territory and if you don’t stop, injuries will happen. So, take a 2 week break, show off your newly earned muscles and don’t even think about stepping into the gym until your body is fully recovered- Generally two weeks.

The real key to a big bench press is to have a strong foundation of supporting muscles. That means, the shoulders and triceps. Once this happens, your going to have a huge bench press.

I certainly hope you have enjoyed this tip. It can mean the difference between 10, 20, or even 30 pounds on your bench press.

All the best,

Blake

Related Bench Press Information

Critical Bench Program
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