How To Instantly Increase Your Strength On The Bench Press
Want a method that guarantees you'll be able to instantly add
weight to all lifts in your weight lifting routines?
Learn how to warm up correctly.
I don't mean just warming up before you begin your weight
lifting routines, but warming up correctly all the way to your
heavy sets.
In my opinion, most people do not warm up correctly before
beginning their heavy sets in their weight lifting routines.
This could have a significant and negative impact on their
ability to lift maximum weight and overload the muscles
sufficiently.
If you don't achieve proper overload, there will be no new
muscle fiber stimulation and no new muscle growth.
Not only will a proper warm-up lessen your chances of becoming
injured, it will increase your strength the very first day you
put this principle into practice.
Every single time you put your hands on those weights, it should
be to either get stronger or more muscular. Not just for the act
of bringing a weight up from a rack and to your chest.
Lifting weights do not have a direct impact on fat burning. It
does have an indirect effect.
After all, the more lean muscle you have, the more calories
you'll burn.
Weight training is anaerobic, not aerobic; so don't try to
perform an aerobic workout by lifting weights. So, how does this
relate to warming up correctly?
Simple.
Most people spend way too much time and energy warming up in
their weight lifting routines to the point when it's time to
perform their heavy sets, they're too wiped out from their
warm-ups.
This has defeated the purpose of weight training. Lighter
weights lifted, less muscle stimulation.
This means less muscle growth as a result.
Take the bench press for example. Just the other day, I
witnessed someone do the following in their bench routine.
This person started with the bar, which in most gyms is 45
pounds. They busted out a quick, easy set of 10 reps. They then
put on 45-pound plates (135 pounds) and did another set of 10.
Then they went up to 155 pounds and did another 10 reps. Here's
where they're starting to go wrong. They're beginning to use way
too much energy on these warm-ups.
They then did another set with 175 pounds for 10 more reps, then
200 for a set of 8 reps. So far, 5 sets and this person hasn't
even started their "heavy and intense" sets yet! They've wasted
time, energy, and intensity all before it really even counted.
On the 6th set, they noticed they were starting to tire quickly
and could only handle 210 for 5 reps. So this is where they stop
the bench press portion of their workout figuring that since
they are fatigued, they have worked the muscles sufficiently.
After talking briefly with this person, I realized they had been
at this weight and unable to break past this plateau for months.
They just assumed it's where they were meant to be, that they
couldn't get any stronger.
If the only way a muscle will grow is through increased overload
(weight) why expend so much needed energy on the warm-up sets in
your weight lifting routines?
You need to save it for the productive sets, the last one or two
of the set where the weight being used is the most you can
handle for four to six repetitions.
I explained to him that in order to keep gaining muscle and
strength, he would have to lower the number of warm up sets and
instead, focus on improving his last few.
There you have a quick and easy way to increase the amount of
weight you lift on your bench press. Lower the number of reps
you do and you'll immediately be able to increase the amount of
weight you lift.