This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 at 12:50 am and is filed under Strength Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
If developing big, oval-shaped pectorals is your goal, then having proper bench pressing technique is crucial to your workouts. The barbell bench, is one of the most paramount exercises for building size and strength in the chest, deltoids (shoulders), and triceps. Building size or strength of your chest will be dictated by your technique and form. Building size is all about training the muscles to become bigger, symmetrical, and more aesthetically appealing.
You must strive to have complete control of the movement and control the tempo. The tempo being – lifting the barbell off the bench, and going down for 3 seconds, holding for 1 second, and pushing up for 2 seconds for 8-10 repetitions. Make sure to go full range of motion (ROM) but never locking out the elbows nor touching your chest. As soon as you feel your shoulder take over, that is your limit on the range of motion, and you should press back up from their.
Another key point to bench pressing is keeping your elbows out to your sides, roughly 90 degree’s from your wrist to your elbow, and your elbow to your shoulder. This will maintain tension on your pectorals and it will help minimize tricep involvement. Remember, you can never isolate a muscle, you can only emphasize it. Ideally you want to perform 4-5 sets, 8-10 repetitions. If you can do 8 repetitions easily, go up in weight, if your struggling, then your fine. Increase your weight by 15% every 3-4 weeks to decrease the chance of adapting to the exercise. The hazard of adapting to an exercise is – not seeing anymore growth. The illustrations below represent proper technique and form to the barbell bench press.
