Hello all, my friends call me Willy the Squid and what this site is for is exactly as it says. I am here to try and help give out tips and pointers which led to me being able to increase my bench press from barely being able to one rep max 115 lbs, to being able to rep 315 lbs.
This took time, BUT, on the way I hit what most of us eventually get to . . . A PLATEAU. I did not know what to do so I started screwing around with different ideas I had in order to get past this nasty situation I was in. I was one rep maxing 225, 230 on a good day. Soon after doing many different things, staying dedicated and being smart, I am now actually happy with where I am standing currently.
First... In order to get stronger people always go right to the assumption that to get a better bench press you of course need to bench... NOT necessarily. YES you should keep benching and putting yourself to failure through forced reps and negative type work, but a couple things I will share here on the first post is different VARIATIONS of the bench.
This I was not aware of when I was younger, I could have been benching much more weight at such a younger age if I was aware that there are other movements you can do after you have fatigued and fail on the bench press. Using a smith machine you can lay flat on the floor and do floor presses. These help strengthen the stage from when you rest the bar on your chest to when you push back up to complete the motion and there is no core or legs involved since you are laying flat which makes it harder, but does prepare you VERY well for regular flat bench pressing.
Another thing I came to find out during my plateau stage was that I would take a couple weeks to even a month off of bench pressing and just strictly flat bench with dumbbells. You use more muscles to stabilize and it is a total different feel. Once I went back to bench press I was astonished and actually couldn't believe that I had to have gone up at least 25 - 30lbs on my 1RM. Of course there are many factors in to how much you can bench press. For me and I know many others, you simply cannot just bench your ass off on any given day. There is preparation, a mood, and feel that is present when you hit certain PR's.
Next is to realize something that not even me as a kid knew, which was that shoulders, back, and most certainly triceps play big roles in how much you bench.
Triceps are the main factor because of the way the motion is executed, and people think that doing skull crushers and kickbacks like hell are going to prepare your triceps for a more heavy workload on the bench. This is partially wrong. Sure it can help... a little, but doing close grip bench and the floor press will without a doubt prepare your triceps because your letting your body know what it feels like to actually carry that much more weight in the same exact motion that you would when you bench normally.
Next post I will go in depth and possibly post a video on a workout routine for those who want to increase their bench as well as explain the usage of some tools that you may or may not want to incorporate into your routine, and even alternatives if you do not feel like dishing out money.
