Improving Pressing Strength

Photo by Alora Griffiths on Unsplash

Few other exercises share the same level of popularity as the bench press, yet the majority of the time a proper diagnosis is necessary to keep improving the poundages.

The following is based on Charles Poliquin’s structural balance teachings .

Monday is international Bench Press day and thousands of meatheads pour into the gym to get their fix. Yet, despite its popularity, it continues to carry a reputation as being responsible for a number of pec tears and shoulder injuries.

However, whether you’re a bodybuilder, an athlete, or a weekend warrior who just wants to look better naked, the bench press can part in your routine. The focus of this article is to help you find your best assistance exercise to boost your performance in the bench press.

First, You Must Find the Weak Muscles

Louie Simmons, of Westside Barbell, along with Charles share an idea that sticking points in large compound lifts are due to one or more weak muscles in the chain that makes up that lift. If you want to get better at any give exercise and lift more? You must find the weak muscle first, then strengthen it using a few choice assistance exercises that recruit the most motor units.

To be fair, this knowledge is more applicable to the advanced lifter/athlete. For instance, if you only bench press at least 1½ times their body weight. You aren’t going to find a lot of value in the following information.

Let’s look at the most common pressing styles and their sticking points…

Pressing Style	Sticking Point	Target Muscle
Close Grip/Wide Grip	Start/Mid-Range	Serratus Anterior
Both	Start	Anterior Deltoid
Wide Grip	Start	Pectoralis Major, Clavicular portion; Subcapularis
Close Grip	Start	Pectoralis Major, Sternal portion
Wide Grip	Mid Range	Biceps Brachii, Long Head Coracobrachialis
Both	Lockout	Triceps

Target the Weak Link With the Right Exercises

The next step is to choose what exercises will be right for your unique issue. Don’t be a Chihuahua who does an exercise just for the fun or the change of pace. Real gains come from purposeful application of exercise selection. Now is the time for serious lifting with exercises that will recruit the largest motor unit pools possible to increase strength in the right muscles.

Have a look at table 2 to determine which exercises are right for you.

Target Muscle	Assistance Exercises
Serratus Anterior	Incline Front Cable Raises Front Cable Raises
Anterior Deltoid	Seated Press Behind the Neck Seated DB Press, Semi-Supinated Grip Seated Military Press
Pectoralis Major, Clavicular portion; Subscapularis	Wide-Grip Bench Press to Collarbone Bent-Arm Flys Flat Crossovers Partial Bench Press (Bottom Range) Functional Isometrics Incline Press Flat DB Press, Pronated Grip
Pectoralis Major, Sternal portion	Parallel Bar Dips Decline Press Decline Flys (Cables or DBs) Functional Isometrics Flat DB Press, Semi-Supinated Grip
Biceps Brachii, Long Head	Barbell Curls Incline Curls Standing Cable Curls w/ Elbows behind the body. Any type of curlswhere the upper arms are in line with the torso or behind it.
Triceps	Triceps Extensions to Neck Parallel Bar Dips Skull Crushers Lockouts in the Rack Close-Grip Bench Press Reverse Grip Bench Press Board Presses

Putting it Together

One thing that makes a major different in gaining strength or overcoming plateaus is knowing how to prioritize the exercises in a workout to make it more efficient at reaching a given goal. In this case, always start with the pressing exercise, and then do serratus/anterior delt work, followed by triceps and finally biceps. This will ensure that your nervous system is able to recruit the most motor units in each muscle group so you will get the most bang for your training buck.

Pearls of Wisdom

Pearls of Training Wisdom from Ed Coan, Charles R. Poliquin and Matt Wenning

Bench Press

Correct Grip Width

Grip width is a function of your biomechanics and needs to be set according to this. Biomechanics change from athlete to athlete due to shoulder width, length of the humerus and length of the forearms. A simple way to figure this out is to go into your natural push-up position, the body automatically selects the grip width you’re the strongest in and feels the best. That’s your competitive bench press grip. Just because you´re allowed to grip wider doesn´t mean it’s good for you.

Bench More with Structural Balance

Train your rotator cuff muscles and scapular retractors for a big bench and healthy shoulders. How are you supposed to bench big weights if you can´t even stabilize them? That’s like putting a Lamborghini engine into a Civic while still relying on the Civic’s breaking system. You´re just begging for an injury. 

Drive your head into the bench on the concentric phase of the lift

This activates your neck extensors and puts another 2-7 kg on your bench. Strong neck extensors potentiate every upper body lift.

Squat

Always keep your Sternum high

And pick a spot somewhere in front of you that’s slightly above to look at. This ensures that your head is high at all times. Your eyes dictate where the body goes. Look down and you’ll round forward.

Warm up your weak and/or inactive muscles before you train

Pick 3 exercises to address them and try to get those muscles working. Don’t smash yourself on the warm up, just potentiate those muscles. If you sit on your ass the whole day your glutes are most likely inactive and the lower back will take over a large portion of the work. I´m sure you experienced this at some point: your lower back is completely fatigued after squatting. That’s because your glutes are not firing.

60-70% of your total training volume should be traction based exercises for your spine

Heavy squatting and deadlifting always compress your spine so make sure you decompress it when doing your accessory work for more longevity.

Deadlift

The deadlift has a disadvantage to the bench press and the squat

This is because there´s no eccentric movement preceding the concentric phase. In the other two lifts it´s possible to correct your form on the way down but with deadlifts you can’t. That’s why the starting position is most important.

Deadlift cycles are the shortest due to their demand on the nervous system

Stretch your hip flexors statically before deadlifting

This will put another 5-15 kg on your deadlift. Tight hip flexors inhibit the strength of your hip extensors.