Alright if its squats for athletes, then its guaranteed to be bench for the gym rats. The most commonly available equipment in the free weights, the bench press has been slammed in the past for being the dreaded ‘non-functional’, however pushing is pushing, whether that’s horizontal or vertical. The bench press is also a must when looking to pack on sheer size, why? Because it is the upper body pressing movement you can lift the most with! When it comes to assistance exercises with the bench, it seems to be a lot more personal than squats or deadlifts. This really is a case of trial and error. I’ll list the most common exercises that have worked for me.
Heavy Weighted Dips : The majority of the pressing power comes from the triceps and on weighted dips, you can really load that belt up and fight all the way through to lock out. The key is the word ‘heavy’. Doing reps for reps will only take you so far, you need to hang a dumbell inbetween your legs, or were a dipping belt, to really get the benefits of this legendary exercise. Keep the reps low and aim to increase weight every time.
Heavy Weighted Pull Ups : Yes I know the bench is an anterior movement, but don’t forget the agonist and antagonist as well as the stabilizers. A strong back is key to a big bench, why? When benching properly you un rack the bar and control the descent entirely with the lats, once the bar has touched the bottom of the chest it is the lats that need to contract violently to ensure that explosive drive up. Nothing will target the lats more than adding weight to those already feared pull ups. There hard for a reason. They work!
Bench Variations : Exactly the same as with the squat, we need to avoid the law of accommodation. Just like the squat again we can vary hand placement, closer in will hit the triceps more while wider will target the pecs. We can also manipulate the range of movement and the angles by adding incline and decline benches. Rotating these variations in is the key to progress and avoiding becoming stale.
The Press : This is very simple. Once your standing overhead press goes up, your bench will go up. Period. Like I said, pushing is pushing, regardless whether that is lying down or standing up. The two exercises share exactly the same muscle groups, with the press being more orientated to the pec major (Upper chest). The delts and triceps are worked even harder through a longer range of motion, since arching your back wont help you as much and is a hell of a lot more dangerous. If your sceptical, try it and see for yourself. Once your press goes up, so will your bench press.
Delt and Tricep Work : Lastly I’ll quickly brush over delt and tricep work. Don’t over think it, it really doesn’t matter. Lateral dumbell raises, Front raises, Rear delt raises, Isometric holds, Tricep extensions, Skullcrushers you name it the list goes on. Select a small group to build hypertrophy in these areas as we all know, a bigger muscle moves more weight. The deltoid muscle group is essential for stability, while the power house that is the triceps is responsible for the drive!