Posts Tagged ‘chest’

How to Bench Press

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

How to Bench Press

Your Questions
Your Questions

I get plenty of questions in various comments throughout the website, but I also get comments and questions via the Project Swole Contact Form.

Generally I address those questions through e-mail, but often I do not have the time to reply to each and every question personally.

From now on I want to take a more proactive approach to answering Your Health Questions by posting them separately in the blog. This way we can be sure that everyone benefits from the Q & A.

Kyle wrote:

“Hey Steve, OK me and a friend got into an argument about how to bench. I said you should touch your chest and he said you shouldn’t because it can injure your shoulder you should stop like 1 inch away from your chest? What is the right way to bench?”

Response:

So, you want to know how to bench press properly?

How to Bench Press
How to Bench Press

The bench press is the most popular exercise in the gym among men. It is the strongest upper body exercise for most people, and has been a social gauge (and wrongly so, in my opinion) of male strength and fitness for more than a century. Fortunately, bench presses are the #1 best exercise for building upper body strength and size, and so should be included in nearly all strength training routines.

On the down side, benching is responsible for many weight lifting injuries, especially in the shoulder area. Hopefully this post will educate you as to how you should be bench pressing to avoid injury.

How to Bench Press

A bench press is simple.

Start by laying down on a bench. Place your hands on the barbell with your palms facing away from you (this is a pronated grip). Unrack the barbell and hold it straight up over your upper chest. Bend at the elbows to lower the barbell until it touches your mid chest. Press it back up over your upper chest. That’s a rep.

Now, to answer your questions…

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How to Bench Press More Weight Instantly?

Friday, March 26th, 2010
Swole Fitness Tips

I haven’t verified this tip yet, but Charles Staley once said that you can lift more weight if you look at your dominant hand when benching. Although you are not supposed to turn your head at all.

Really, I have no idea if this works, but if you give it a try please let us know what happens. It doesn’t sound like anything I would ever tell anyone to do, but maybe it has a place in max effort training?

I remain skeptical.

The Top 5 Best Chest Exercises

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009
Arnold Bench Press
Arnold Benching

Bench presses and curls are two of the first exercises that are learned by new weight lifters. For men, the chest or “pecs” (short for pectorals) are second only to biceps as the top show muscles in teenagers and young adults.

For women, the chest is even more important. Keeping well built, toned pecs can be useful in maintaining a solid, perky appearance of the breasts.

More importantly, the pecs are involved in one of the main powerlifting exercises, the bench press. The bench press is one of three exercises, including squats and deadlifts, in a standard big 3 powerlifting competition. For this reason, it is always important for powerlifters to increase their chest strength.

Therefore it seems to me that everyone has a reason to train their chest, including men, women, athletes, bodybuilders, powerlifters, strongmen… everyone; and here are the top 5 best chest exercises you should use.

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