TeenBodybuilding.com - Alton Hare - Principles Of Bench From The Trench!

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Generally, about 40% of your body is muscle (the percentage is greater for bodybuilders).

Follow these principles to get the most out of your bench press training. Learn about grip, posture, supplements, number of reps, and other exercises that help increase your bench.

Principles of Bench From the Trench

By: Alton Hare

Grip:
It was a pretty big accomplishment when I benched more than a hundred pounds more than my bodyweight, at 16 years old, after training only 4 months, in a contest (form must be to the "t"). But the truth is, it wasn't genetics, a super supplement, or a bench shirt (did it raw). I learned to bench better than any of my peers because of my partner for my first several months, Jason Heady, who is a fantastic bencher himself, a specialist actually. At 167 pounds he has completed a 360 press, without a spot, and without bouncing or humping, and if you saw the guy's chest and triceps, you'd never doubt it. He picked up everything he knows in the past 10 years through trial and error, and taught it all to me, which I incorporated with things I tried, which I will now give to you.

The truth is, if I'd never met Jason so early, I'd probably still be fumbling around with grip, sets and reps, auxiliary exercises, etc. After this article, you will fumble no longer, as I believe in writing solely from my own experience, and try to give information that works in the real world, not what has been proven in studies with "controlled conditions" unless I have proven it to MYSELF. Life is not a controlled situation, so I prefer to give info from "the trench" rather than bore and befuddle you with scientific jargon and a plethora of clinical trials and studies. When I do utilize a principle from a study myself, and it works, I know it works in the real world. Only then, do I pass it on to you. So, without further introduction, here is all that Jason and I have learned, in no particular order, since you should follow all of these guidelines.

Posture:
Laying your back as flat as it will go to get a "full range of motion" is wrong, making your upper arms stretch back further at the bottom only places greater stress on your front deltoids and those tie-ins. Take at least a natural arc in your back, but it's better to place your shoulders and ass as close together as comfortably possible, so that you reduce front delt stress at the bottom.

Grip:
When your just starting out a good rule of "thumb" is to place the tips of your thumbs at the inner place where the rough part of an Olympic bar stops, and stretch them out as long as they will go, and grip the bar there. Where your grip goes from there depends on your anatomy. Keeping your hands closer together brings in your triceps more, and your triceps are actually much weaker. You will NEVER get very far benching narrow, I know it "feels strange" going wider, but you will become much stronger after you practice this. Putting your hands wider brings your front delts to assist more, be careful about going too wide, since that'll injure your shoulder.

Form:
Always keep your feet planted firmly on the ground, but don't move them from the position you place them in, or you'll lose stability. With your feet planted firmly, the chances of losing control of the weight are much lower. You should also keep your elbows out as you bench, rather than in like most people start out doing. I know that again it "feels strange" when you go wide and keep your elbows out, but its the way to properly target your chest, which is the muscle the exercise is designed for, and the muscle with the greatest potential to increase its strength and ultimately increase your bench.

Rep Speed:
I never actually timed my reps, I'm usually concentrating on working the muscle and focusing on getting my target rep. But, I have lately examined it and I go at a moderate, natural speed. I come down slower than I go up, so that I don't bounce or hump at the bottom, and come back up explosively, but under control. You should not bench "ballistically" unless you are highly advanced because it is extremely difficult to maintain the correct form when benching this way. On the other end, going slower than you feel is natural is stupid because it fatigues your auxiliary muscles faster.

Number of reps:
I am a strong advocate of the instinctive training principle. If you hit failure, that's all that matters, and all that has ever mattered, to me. Still, I have stayed in a 6-15 rep range except when I was preparing for my bench press contest, when I was doing regularly sets of 2 and 3 and sometimes singles. During this time I gained ZERO size on my chest, but I gained more strength than on a bodybuilding routine, so I don't recommend low reps except once in a while as a variance or to see just how "strong" you are.

Auxiliary exercises:
Most people train chest with triceps, but you don't HAVE to. What happens when you do, though, is your triceps don't get a 100% intense workout because they are pre fatigued from chest. So after a while on my program detailed in "Chest Training" you will plateau, then I suggest you try training chest and triceps on separate days for a while, and you will probably come back stronger. Most of the best auxiliary exercises for increasing your bench, chest size, and triceps are in that old article.

Supplements:
The only supplement I can in perfect conscience recommend for increasing your bench and chest size, is creatine. Creatine has worked wonders for my recuperation, motivation, and strength. In about a month I'm trying some new supplements, as part of my 8 month program to get as big as possible, along with my best friend Derek, we both want to compete next August. I'll tell you if they are worth your buck or not, but creatine definitely is.

Besides these, I can tell you to take a week off if your shoulders start bothering you, or if your progress stops or goes backwards. Taking a week off will usually bring you back stronger. If, after a week, you still feel run down, overtrained, or your shoulder is still bothering you, you should see a doctor or just take some permanent down time and come back slower. That's about it, e-mail me with any specific questions on increasing the bench and chest thickness, I'll respond as soon as possible.

Alton

beautifuldisaster420@yahoo.com