Sounds like fun. But alongside those unwritten bro rules that everyone knows but no one speaks about is the unwritten fact that no one’s bench has actually increased for as long as any of you muscle heads can remember.

Here are six tips to up your max bench and put the wind up your bench buddies.

Related: The Best Chest Workouts for Muscle Mass, Strength, and More

1. Be Spotted

“Do you need a spot for that?”

“Nah man, I’m cool.”

Asking if you need a spot is almost a loaded question right? Spotting is a sign of weakness. A sign you might not be able to handle this weight. Actually, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Not having a spotter is a sign you might not be able to handle this weight, at least to your brain.

There is nothing wrong with using a spotter – in fact, it is the ideal way to train the bench.

Considering it’s your brain that allows you to move well and access your strength, you better keep it happy. Use spotters even at lower weights. When your brain is not as worried about basic safety, it can focus on good movement and shifting weight in a powerful manner.

2. Use Purposeful Partial Range of Motion

We’ve all heard of bro-reps before. Those less-than-full-range-of-motion lifts that enable us to shift more weight than we could by doing full and legit reps. But there’s a legit reason to do less-than-full-range, too – as long as you are doing it with purpose.

I’m sure you know what it feels like when you take a close-to-max bench press attempt out of the rack. It feels as heavy as hell, because, well, it is heavy and you’re not used to it. So get used to it. Add on a little more than you can lift. Then, with the help of a spotter, take the bar out of the rack and just hold it there. All you, bro.

“There’s a legit reason to do less-than-full-range, too – as long as you are doing it with purpose.”

This process gets your body used to handling heavier weights in more ways than one:

• You get used to the feel of this weight – so it’s not so much of a shock next time.
• This kind of isometric hold primes your tendons and ligaments for heavier loads.
• You automatically get tighter in order to handle the weights. It’s important for your body to understand how to get tighter, and for you to understand what this feels like so you can replicate it.

3. Work Your Triceps

If you’ve been bro-benching for years with your elbows flared out, then your bench press numbers will probably go down by getting into a tight-and-tucked position. But don’t panic. Your body is not used to benching this way, even though it’s infinitely better in the long term, and some of the major muscle players involved will need to play catch up. Your triceps are now big players in your lift, so suggest to your mates that you all do some triceps isolation work at the end of the session. It won’t be long until your numbers are climbing back up again.

What’s more, when your friends are on the substitution bench with shoulder injuries due to their flared positions, you’ll still be on the gym bench making gains with your balanced style and new-found balanced strength to go with it.

The Tate Press is one of many excellent triceps isolation exercises that can help bring up your bench.

4. Drive Through the Floor

As you can see, the bench press is not just a chest exercise. And it’s not just an upper-body exercise either. Don’t believe me? Stick a fork into your friend’s leg as he is bench pressing and see if it affects his lift. (Please don’t really do this. But you get the idea).

What you do with your lower body makes a difference to this lift. So plant your feet to the ground. They shouldn’t move at all during the lift. And drive through them. Actively push through the floor as you drive that barbell up. I’m betting you know at least one person who benches with his feet up in the air. But this works the same as spotting – in order to get stronger, you first need to convince your CNS you’re safe and stable. Grounding yourself hard against the floor gives your brain the feedback it needs to let you unleash the beast.

5. Incremental Increases

Bro rules dictate that nothing less than a ten-pound plate is allowed. Which means minimum jumps of twenty pounds. Fine, I guess, if you’re working sub-maximal sets of multiple reps. But you’re not, are you? You’re working to maxes every time you bench.

If I can’t get you to consider a more sustainable approach, then just do me this one favor – get off the ego-train and use the incremental plates. And don’t pay attention if your mates make fun of you – because you’ll have the last laugh when all those incremental increases add up.

Setting up for a competition max is one thing, but your training should involve moving in small increments.

6. Negatives and Assisted Reps

These relate to another variation of bro-reps – the “it’s all you, bro” reps. Usually these reps go something like this:

1. The bar is loaded up beyond the lifter’s capabilities.
2. The bar is taken off the rack and plummets to the lifter’s chest.
3. The spotter bicep curls the bar up, while motivating the lifter with, “It’s all you, bro!”
4. Afterward, it’s determined the spotter barely touched the bar, so the rep is as good as clean.

Once again, this can be a legitimate technique when used appropriately. We are much stronger in the eccentric part of the movement than we are in the concentric. If we lower the bar under control and with intent, we can make use of this fact to get us stronger.

“Even the assisted (concentric) part can be used effectively, as long as the lifter is putting in the majority of the effort.”

The key is to be in control of the bar – you are pulling the bar down to your chest on your terms rather than letting it drop due to the weight. Even the assisted (concentric) part can be used effectively, as long as the lifter is putting in the majority of the effort, only helped as required by the spotter. This gets you used to handling heavy weights across a full range of motion.

Be the Bro With the Biggest Bench

So there you have it. Getting a bigger bench doesn’t have to mean giving up your Monday evening bro sessions or your Friday evening pump day, and it doesn’t have to mean not lifting heavy. In fact, many of these tips are about purposely lifting heavier than you are used to.

Be the bro with the biggest bench and you won’t have to bother with the bravado.

Check out these related articles:

• 12 Simple Strategies to Boost Your Bench Press
• You’re Not Actually Strong Enough to Bench
• Be a Debbie Downer – Using Negatives in the Bench Press
• What’s New On Breaking Muscle Today

Photo 1 courtesy of Shutterstock.

Photo 2 courtesy of Breaking Muscle.

The post 6 Steps to Becoming the Bro With the Biggest Bench appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

But what if there’s more to bench pressing than the age-old bro science? And what if taking a negative attitude regarding this move is actually the most productive way to go? Let’s take a closer look at some new research on this classic movement.

The Biomechanics of Benching

A 2015 study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research compared concentric and eccentric repetitions to volitional muscle fatigue in the bench press. Reps were performed while the barbell was pressed upward-only (concentric) and then downward-only (eccentric). Both tests were performed to volitional muscle fatigue (VMF).

Eccentric muscle action entails muscle lengthening. In the barbell bench press, this would mean lowering the resistance from complete arm extension and bending the arms as the bar lowers to the chest. Believe it or not, all other factors being equal, the muscles involved in the bench press are stronger in the eccentric phase than when compared to the concentric, or raising, phase. In other words, you can lower “X” amount of resistance better than raising the same amount of resistance.

“The number of repetitions performed with 90% of a 1RM in the eccentric mode was significantly greater when compared to concentric (7.67 versus 4.57 reps).”

The underlying factors of concentric versus eccentric contraction get mechanical. These factors relate to the finer details involving the cross bridging of actin and myosin filaments within the muscle fiber-myofibril-sarcomere complexes. That is beyond the scope of this study and another discussion.

Testing the Bench Press

All technical science aside, this study aimed to determine two things:

1. Relative to a 1RM, does eccentric (lowering-only) bench pressing result in greater strength improvements as compared to the concentric (raising-only) action?
2. Also examined were the differences in the number of reps to failure at different relative percentages of a 1RM.

The subjects used in the study were healthy men of an average age of 24 years. They tested for a 1RM in both the concentric and eccentric phases of the bench press. They also tested for the maximum number of reps they could perform with 60%, 70%, 80%, and 90% of their 1RM.

In the concentric test, the resistance was mechanically lowered to the chest. The subjects then pressed the resistance to full-arm extension. It was then mechanically lowered and repeated. In the eccentric test, the resistance on the barbell was lowered from full-arm extension to the chest in a controlled manner for three seconds (:03). It was then mechanically raised to full-arm extension and repeated.

Study Results

• The eccentric (lowering) 1RM average of 255lb/116kg was significantly greater than the concentric (raising) 1RM average of 206lb/94kg.
• The number of repetitions performed with 90% of a 1RM in the eccentric mode was significantly greater when compared to concentric (7.67 versus 4.57 reps).
• No significant differences resulted in the number of repetitions completed when bench pressing 60%, 70%, and 80% of the 1RM.

“[A]ll other factors being equal, the muscles involved in the bench press are stronger in the eccentric phase than when compared to the concentric.”

What can be gleaned from this study?

• Eccentric (lowering) work results in increased force-output potential
• Eccentric bench pressing creates less fatigue compared with concentric-only work, particularly at higher intensities.

Therefore, if you are into bench pressing, do your regular routine but consider the following:

• Include negative-only barbell bench workouts provided you have a competent spotter.
• You can also perform negative-only work on any plate-loading or selectorized chest press machine, assuming again you have a competent spotter.
• Eccentric-only work may take longer to recover from. Plan your workouts accordingly.

Check out these related articles:

• The Bench Press Is a Pull: 5 Cues You Might Be Missing
• I Got 99 Problems But the Bench Ain’t One
• The RAIL System: Shoulder Mobility for the Bench Press
• What’s New On Breaking Muscle Today

References:

1. Kelly, S., Brown, L., Hooker, S., Swan, P., Buman, M., Alvar, B., and L. Black, Comparison of Concentric and Eccentric Bench Press Repetitions to Failure. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2015, 29: 4, pp. 1027–1032.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Be a Debbie Downer: Using Negatives in the Bench Press appeared first on Breaking Muscle.