A little while back we posted a blog detailing some accessory exercises you can use to improve your performance on the bench press.
And in this post, we're going to add three more exercises to that list that you can incorporate to start stacking weight on your bench press.
So let’s get into it!
Pause Bench Press
The pause bench press will give us a few benefits that’ll transfer very well over to our traditional bench press.
One of those benefits is that increased time under tension that we’ll be putting on our chest and our shoulders. That increased time under tension is going to lead to higher levels of muscle activation and hypertrophy.
By holding this isometric position at the bottom of the bench press, this’ll lead to much higher levels of muscle recruitment.
This pause at the bottom will also help us with our technique. This hold under heavy loads will assist us in maintaining proper positioning and form, which is a great way to prevent injury.
All of these factors will lead to a bigger chest and shoulders, and will make your traditional bench press much stronger.
JM Press
Now we know that the triceps are a big part of the traditional bench press. The triceps play a big role in the second half of the bar path from halfway to the lockout position.
That halfway position on the bench press is a real sticking point for most lifters. This is because the triceps aren’t strong enough to complete the lockout.
The JM press is going to take the triceps through a range of motion that is similar to the range of motion they’ll be taken through on the regular bench press.
We can also load JM presses fairly heavy so this will allow us to place a high level of muscle activation and progressively more tension on the triceps to stimulate growth.
Plyo Push Ups
This version of the push up is a great way to activate our fast-twitch muscle fibers and stimulate growth.
By doing this, plyo push ups will help us break through the common trouble areas in the bench press, which is the bottom position and the halfway position.
And by incorporating this move regularly, we’ll see great improvements in our pushing power because this is fast paced movement that requires us to land and push off the ground as fast as possible.
Plyo push-ups are also a great exercise to build shoulder stability, which comes into play when we’re trying to keep proper positioning while bench pressing. Shoulder stability allows us to keep our shoulders back and down and locked into place.
The way plyo push ups will improve this is because they’ll teach us to land and stabilize using our upper body.
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