Thursday, November 20, 2008

Build A Bigger Chest With The Bench Press Through These 7 Tips

By Caleb Lee

The Bench Press is one of the best exercises to build your chest, bar none. And you can lift more poundage per workout than with other isolation exercises-so you'll build strength and size with this exercise.

This article believes that you are familiar with the nuts and bolts of how to bench...

But to get the best results, aka to build a massive chest you can rest your beer can on, you need to know these 9 tips

Tip #1: Plant Your Feet And Puff Out Your Chest

Lie down on the bench and plant your feet like you mean it. Then force your chest out to the max. To achieve this you want to grab the uprights of the bench as you're laying down and perform a pullover of sorts so there is an arch in your lower back.

Force your shoulder blades simultaneously as hard as you can. Think you're pinching a quarter together with them. And at the same time force your shoulder down in the direction of your feet.

Tip #2: Hold Your Breath and Brace Yourself For Tension

Inhale deeply and get ready like you're about to take a punch to the stomach. This gives surety that you're keeping your whole body strong and forcing your muscles to have utmost pressure. Furthermore, the intraabdominal pressure will give you additional strength and protect your back. Moreover, it's worthless to try to breath when there's a loaded barbell lying on your chest.

Great Tip #3: Drag the Bar Down With Your Lats

Tighten your pecs hard at the start of the movement and focus on pulling the bar down to your sternum with your LATS. This will check you're keeping your shoulder blades together and making your pecs execute most of the work.

Tip Number 4 -- Try To Cross The Bar With Your Chest

Keep expanding your chest and assume you are attempting to cross the bar, meet it halfway with your chest as you're pulling it down with your lats. Prolong pulling down until the bar touches your chest. Break off briefly in this position

Tip #5: Do NOT Relax, Stay Tight and Blast Off

Sustain the tension in your body, stay tight, and prepare yourself to push. What you do is force the bar off your chest, trying to to move it as fast as you can while maintaining full-body tension for supreme strength. Push the bar like you're doing a decline press down towards your feet to protect your shoulders. Imagine you are pushing yourself away from the bar, you'll know you're doing it properly when you sense that your upper back is tight.

Tip #6: Use Max Tension Techniques At Your Sticking Point

When the rep gets hard and you're hitting your sticking point, here's what you do:

1. Grip the bar as hard as you can

2. Flex your Abs and glutes and grun simultaneously

3. Assume you're sending power from your core, your abdomen into your arms

And POUND it, keep pushing away from the bar, keeping extreme pressure.

Tip #7: Before Your Next Rep, Re-check Your Form

Before you continue for your next rep, recheck to ensure:

* Your feet are still planted

* Your shoulder blades are still pinched together

* Take a breath and then hold it again to get your intra-abdominal pressure up again

If you miss some of these things, re-reack the bar and get yourself into suitable position once again before your next rep. Proper shape is more important than doing all your reps at the same time.

There you have it, those were the 7 tips to ensure you build a monstrous chest with the Bench Press. Apply them now and witness your chest grow! - 15343

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