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Obviously, not everyone has the genetic raw
material to bench press 600 pounds. However, if anyone can teach you
to increase your bench, it's Dave Tate. Dave's been assisting and
training under Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell fame for over 10
years. He's also the co-owner of Elite Fitness Systems and has
consulted thousands of athletes throughout the world. When an
athlete wants to get stronger and gain an edge in the world of
elite, world class competition, the name Dave Tate is often on the
short list of strength coaches who can get the job done. As you'll
see, Dave "walks the walk" as well as "talks the talk" when it comes
to getting bigger and stronger. We're proud to welcome him as a
Testosterone contributor.
I spend most of my weekends in transit these days. In fact, I'm
writing this article on a plane headed to yet another seminar I'm
conducting. This travel time gives me the chance to think, relax,
and reflect on many issues dealing with training and life. I also
use the time to prepare for my upcoming seminar or consulting
session. I normally sit here going over what topics I'll be
presenting and how I can better relate them to my audience. But
today there's a problem. No there's not a creature on the wing
throwing monkey wrenches into the plane's engines, but it's almost
that bad. The problem is all I can think about is my bench press!
You see, I train at Westside Barbell, which is
renowned for producing world-caliber strength athletes. I've been a
part of this group since 1990. Before that, I had spent five years
stuck at a 1955 pound total in powerlifting. Then I tore my right
pectoralis major tendon while trying to bench 500 at a bench press
competition. I figured that was the end of competition days and
thought about retiring from the sport. Then I thought to myself,
retire from what? I haven't done anything
yet!
I knew I had two options: I could keep training
the way I always had and totally fall apart, or I could move to
Columbus to train under the watchful eye of Louie Simmons. It wasn't
that difficult of a decision. After the surgery I packed the car and
moved to Columbus. That was over 10 years ago. Since then, my lifts
have increased to a 935-pound squat, 585-pound bench and a 740-pound
deadlift. This was after my surgeon told me I'd never bench over 400
again!
Although my bench press has increased 85 pounds,
it's still a far cry from where it should be. At Westside we have 34
guys benching over 500 pounds and eight benching over 600. (In fact,
six of those eight guys press over 650!) My bench pretty much sucks
when compared to the others in the gym. When people ask me for bench
advice, I cringe because I'm still chasing 600. I've missed that
mark five times in competition at the time of this writing.
I kept telling myself that once I push up 600
pounds I'd write a definitive article on benching. Well, I haven't
hit that mark yet, but I do have the biggest bench out of everyone
on my flight, so I'm feeling like an authority on benching at the
moment. Who knows, maybe writing this article I'll teach myself
something, or remember something I've forgotten? I also feel the
need to write this because of the vast amount of misinformation out
there on this subject. I feel there're 12 components to a great
bench press. If we apply these 12 steps, then perhaps you and I both
will reach our bench press goals.
12 Steps to a Bigger Bench
1 ? Train the Triceps
Years ago, if you had asked Larry Pacifico how
to get a big bench, he'd have told you to train the triceps. This
same advice applies today. This doesn't mean doing set after set of
pushdowns, kickbacks, and other so-called "shaping" exercises.
Training your triceps for a big bench has to involve heavy
extensions and close-grip pressing movements such as close-grip flat
and incline bench presses, close-grip board presses, and JM presses.
Various barbell and dumbbell extensions should
also be staples of your training program. Don't let anyone try to
tell you the bench press is about pec strength. These people don't
know the correct way to bench and are setting you up for a short
pressing career with sub-par weights. I just read an article in one
of the major muscle magazines by one of these authors on how to
increase your bench press. The advice given was to train your pecs
with crossovers and flies and your bench will go up! This, along
with many other points, made me wonder how this article ever got
published or better yet, how much the author himself could bench.
I believe articles should go under a peer review
board before they get printed. I'd like many of my peers to review
these authors in the gym or better yet on the bench to see how much
they really know. Bottom line: Train the triceps!
2 ? Keep your shoulder blades
pulled together and tight.
This is a very important and often overlooked
aspect of great bench pressing. While pressing you have to create
the most stable environment possible. This can't be done if most of
your shoulder blades are off the bench. The bench is only so wide
and we can't change this, but we can change how we position
ourselves on the bench.
When you pull your shoulder blades together
you're creating a tighter, more stable surface from which to press.
This is because more of your body is in contact with the bench. The
tightness of your upper back also contributes. These techniques also
change the distance the bar will have to travel. The key to pressing
big weight is to press the shortest distance possible.
3 ? Keep the pressure on your
upper back and traps.
This is another misunderstood aspect of
pressing. You want the pressure around the supporting muscles. This
is accomplished by driving your feet into the floor, thereby driving
your body into the bench. Try this: Lie on the bench and line up so
your eyes are four inches in front of the bar (toward your feet).
Now using your legs, drive yourself into the bench to put pressure
on the upper back and traps. Your eyes should now be even with the
bar. This is the same pressure that needs to be applied while
pushing the barbell.
4 ? Push the bar in a straight
line.
Try to push the bar toward your feet. The
shortest distance between two points is a straight line, right? Then
why in the world would some coaches advocate pressing in a "J" line
toward the rack? If I were to bench the way most trainers are
advocating (with my elbows out, bringing the bar down to the chest
and pressing toward the rack) my barbell travel distance would be 16
inches. Now, if I pull my shoulder blades together, tuck my chin and
elbows, and bring the bar to my upper abdominals or lower chest,
then my pressing distance is only 6.5 inches. Now which would you
prefer? If you want to push up a bar-bending load of plates, you'd
choose the shorter distance.
Here's another important aspect of pressing in
this style. By keeping your shoulder blades together and your chin
and elbows tucked, you'll have less shoulder rotation when compared
to the J-line method of pressing. This is easy to see by watching
how low the elbows drop in the bottom part of the press when the
barbell is on the chest. With the elbows out, most everyone's elbows
are far lower than the bench. This creates a tremendous amount of
shoulder rotation and strain.
Now try the same thing with the elbows tucked
and shoulder blades together while bringing the barbell to your
upper abdominals. For most people, the elbows are usually no lower
than the bench. Less shoulder rotation equals less strain on the
shoulder joint. This means pressing bigger weights for many more
years. I've always been amazed at trainers that suggest only doing
the top half of the bench press, i.e. stopping when the upper arms
are parallel to the floor. This is done to avoid the excess shoulder
rotation. All they have to do is teach their clients the proper way
to bench in the first place!
5 ? Keep the elbows tucked and
the bar directly over the wrists and elbows.
This is probably the most important aspect of
great pressing technique. The elbows must remain tucked to keep the
bar in a straight line as explained above. Keeping the elbows tucked
will also allow lifters to use their lats to drive the bar off the
chest. Football players are taught to drive their opponents with
their elbows tucked, then explode through. This is the same for
bench pressing. Bench pressing is all about generating force. You
can generate far more force with your elbows in a tucked position
compared to an "elbows out" position.
The most important aspect of this is to keep the
barbell in a direct line with the elbow. If the barbell is behind
the elbow toward the head, then the arm position becomes similar to
an extension, not a press.
6 ? Bring the bar low on your
chest or upper abdominals.
This is the only way you can maintain the
"barbell to elbow" position as described above. You may have heard
the advice, "Bring it low" at almost every powerlifting competition.
This is the reason why. Once again, the barbell must travel in a
straight line.
7 ? Fill your belly with air
and hold it.
For maximum attempts and sets under three reps,
you must try to hold your air. Everyone must learn to breathe from
their bellies and not their chests. If you stand in front of the
mirror and take a deep breath, your shoulders shouldn't rise. If
they do you're breathing the air into your chest, not your belly.
Greater stability can be achieved in all the lifts when you learn
how to pull air into the belly. Try to expand and fill the belly
with as much air as possible and hold it. If you breathe out during
a maximum attempt, the body structure will change slightly, thus
changing the groove in which the barbell is traveling.
8 ? Train with compensatory
acceleration.
Push the bar with maximal force. Whatever weight
you're trying to push, be it 40% or 100% of your max, you must learn
to apply 100% of the force to the barbell. If you can bench 500
pounds and are training with 300 pounds, you must then apply 500
pounds of force to the 300-pound barbell. This is known as
compensatory acceleration and it can help you break through sticking
points.
These sticking points are known as your "mini
maxes," or the points at which you miss the lift or the barbell
begins to slip out of the groove. Many times I'm asked what to do if
the barbell gets stuck four to five inches off the chest. Everybody
wants to know what exercise will help them strengthen this area or
what body part is holding them back. Many times it isn't what you do
to strengthen the area where it sticks, but what you can do to build
more acceleration in the area before the
mini max. If you can get the bar moving with more force then there
won't be a sticking point. Instead, you'll blast right through it.
Compensatory acceleration will help you do this.
9 ? Squeeze the barbell and
try to pull the bar apart!
Regardless of the lift, you have to keep your
body as tight as Monica Brant's behind. You'll never lift big
weights if you're in a relaxed physical state while under the
barbell. The best way to get the body tight is by squeezing the bar.
We've also found that if you try to pull the bar apart or "break the
bar," the triceps seem to become more activated.
10 ? Devote one day per week
to dynamic-effort training.
According to Vladimir Zatsiorsinsky in his text
Science and Practice of Strength Training,
there are three ways to increase muscle tension. These three methods
include the dynamic-effort method, the maximal-effort method, and
the repetition method. Most training programs being practiced in the
US today only utilize one or two of these methods. It's important,
however, to use all three.
The bench press should be trained using the
dynamic-effort method. This method is best defined as training with
sub-maximal weights (45 to 60%) at maximal velocities. The key to
this method is bar speed. Percentage training can be very deceiving.
The reason for this is because lifters at higher levels have better
motor control and recruit more muscle than a less experienced
lifter.
For example, the maximal amount of muscle you
could possibility recruit is 100%. Now, the advanced lifter ? after
years of teaching his nervous system to be efficient ? may be able
to recruit 70 to 80% of muscle fibers, while the intermediate might
be able to recruit only 50%. Thus, the advanced lifter would need
less percent weight than the intermediate. This is one of the
reasons why an advanced lifter squatting 80% of his max for 10 reps
would kill himself while a beginner could do it all day long.
If you base the training on bar speed, then the
percentages are no longer an issue, only a guideline. So how do you
know where to start? If you're an intermediate lifter, I suggest you
start at 50% of maximal and see how fast you can make it move for
three reps. If you can move 20 more pounds with the same speed then
use the heavier weight.
Based on years of experience and Primlin's
charts for optimal percent training, we've found the best range to
be eight sets of three reps. Based on Primlin's research, the
optimal range for 70% and less is 12 to 24 repetitions.
We've also found it very beneficial to train the
bench using three different grips, all of which are performed within
the rings. This may break down into two sets with the pinky fingers
on the rings, three sets with three fingers from the smooth area of
the bar and three sets with one finger from the smooth area.
11 ? Devote one day per week
to maximal-effort training.
For the second bench day of the week (72 hours
after the dynamic day) you should concentrate on the maximal-effort
method. This is best defined as lifting maximal weights (90% to
100%) for one to three reps. This is one of the best methods to
develop maximal strength. The key here is to strain. The downfall is
you can't train above 90% for longer than three weeks without having
adverse effects.
Try performing a max bench press every week for
four or five weeks. You'll see you may progress for the first two,
maybe three weeks, then your progress will halt and begin to work
its way backward. We've combated this by switching up the
maximal-effort exercises. We rotate maximal-effort movements such as
the close-grip incline press, board press, floor press, and
close-grip flat press. These exercises are all specific to bench
pressing and all have a very high carryover value.
12 ? Train the lats on the
same plane as the bench.
I'm talking about the horizontal plane here. In
other words, you must perform rows, rows, and more rows. "If you
want to bench big then you need to train the lats." I've heard both
George Hilbert and Kenny Patterson say this for years when asked
about increasing the bench press. When you bench you're on a
horizontal plane. So would it make sense from a balance perspective
to train the lats with pulldowns, which are on a vertical plane?
Nope. Stick to the barbell row if you want a big bench.
Now that my trip is over and I'm back in Columbus, I no longer feel
like an authority on bench pressing. My 585 pound bench press is
considered sort of "puny" by Westside standards, after all. By
writing this article, however, I've realized a few things I need to
change about my bench pressing. I bet you have too. Hopefully, I've
helped you correct a few problems that might've been keeping you
from breaking your own personal record. Remember, the smallest
things often bring the biggest results.
If you'd like to get more info from Dave Tate or set up a
consultation, you can contact him at Elite Fitness Systems at
888-854-8806.
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