Anatomy of a Crushing Bench Press

Very few people become big benchers by accident. To be able to blast up truly impressive weights, it takes a well-rounded plan of training hard, eating quality food, and supplementing with only the best nutrition and supplements.

Before you even touch a weight with the thought of adding quality pounds to your bench press, it's important to know all of the muscles that are going to take you to the land of the big benchers. Yes, there's the pectoral muscles – commonly and often mistakenly trained exclusively with the hope of being able to one day slap a few more plates on the barbell. However, you'd be wrong in assuming that by simply strengthening your pecs, you'll make noticeable changes to the amount of weight you can bench.

First we have the triceps. The major function of the triceps is to extend the arm. As the name implies, each triceps muscle consists of three heads (long, lateral, and medial). The medial and lateral heads attach to the upper arm as well as the elbow, and perform the extension of the arm at the elbow joint.

Another key muscle group involved in the bench press are the deltoids. Each deltoid muscle attaches in three places, giving it three distinct heads (anterior, lateral, and posterior). The posterior and lateral heads are only used as stabilizers in the bench press; however, the anterior (or “front”) deltoids are responsible for moving the arm away from the body toward the front.

Surprisingly, there is another main muscle group involved in the bench press: the lats. Lats act by pushing the arm toward the middle of the body. Strong lats are important in the bottom phase of the bench-press movement.

Lastly, there is a small but important group of muscles that could make or break your bench-press dreams: the muscles of the rotator cuff. The supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, and subscapularis muscles are very important when it comes to stabilizing your shoulder and should not be overlooked when training for a big bench.

Follow This Plan of Training For Unheard of Gains in Strength!

One common mistake many lifters make when trying to improve their bench press strength is neglecting to train and strengthen all the muscles involved in the lift. Outlined below are important exercises that will help increase the strength of all the muscles involved in the bench press.

Triceps

Having strong triceps is a key to a big bench press. If your triceps are strong, your bench press will increase. These exercises should be done with a moderately heavy weight. Remember to use strict form in order to fully benefit from the exercises.

These exercises should be performed every other week in place of your normal arm routine.

Anterior Deltoids

Your front delts are also important muscles involved in bench pressing. Because the incline exercise for triceps will also work your front delts, you will not have to add as many exercises to bring up this body part.

These exercises should be incorporated into your shoulder routine.

Lats

Rows are important for increasing your strength in the bench press because they work your back in the same horizontal plane as the movement of the bench press. This is important for keeping your upper body balanced. With all rowing exercises, keep the motion through the upper part of your back.

These exercises should be incorporated into your back routine.

Rotator Cuff Muscles

Handling heavier weights involves more stress on your stabilizers. Pectorals have the ability to grow quite large and strong; however, this progress will not be seen if the external rotators are lacking. Strengthening the rotator cuff muscles will also lower your risk of overuse injuries that can occur in the gym. Because the rotator cuff muscles are small, lifting staggering amounts of weight with these exercises will not be possible. The key is to keep your weights manageable on these exercises and focus on form.

These exercises should be performed at the end of your chest routine.

Smashing Your Bench Press Barriers with Food and Supplements!
 
So let’s say you’ve nailed down your training and you’re hitting the gym and training with new intensity and desire. Even still there’s one obstacle left to overcome before you can truly call yourself a big bencher. Big benchers need to eat big and supplement big before they can move up the big weights. Food and supplements go hand in hand with success in the gym, so make sure you’ve got a plan laid out to ensure your body has the fuel it needs to power through weights you’re still just dreaming about moving.

Protein

Ensure you’re eating enough protein to help your body grow and recover. Foods like beef, chicken, and fish should be eaten regularly. In fact, you should aim to be eating 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight as a minimum. If you can eat more that’s even better. Supplementing with protein powder will not only can help you meet this goal, but also can help you jack up your bench press!

Carbohydrates

Carboohydrates are very important too as they provide crucial energy to hardworking muscles and can also be packed with vitamins, minerals, and fiber. An ideal amount of carbohydrate intake is between 40 and 50 percent of your daily energy needs. Check out our calorie calculator to determine how many grams of carbohydrates you should eat each day.

You don’t have to settle for mediocre results in the gym. Incorporate the exercises in this feature to help strengthen the muscles used on the bench, eat plenty of protein, the right carbs, and you’ll be on your way to smashing your bench-press 1-rep max. The sky’s the limit!

Click HERE for a full 8 week training routine! 

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