How to add weight to your bench press

Whether you are an accomplished athlete or just looking to add some muscle and strength to your chest and shoulders, a strong bench press is important. Many new weightlifters make the mistake of always performing the same reps with the same weight and never confusing their body enough to force it to grow. Think of it this way, if a jogger never decided to run an extra mile his conditioning would stay about the same, it’s that extra mile that he forces himself to go that makes the difference. While deciding on a bench routine you want to focus on these main points to gain the most amounts of strength and muscle.

SET A GOAL

First you need to set a goal, do not go overboard and set your goal too high, or you could risk injury or disappointment. A pretty safe bet would be adding 20-30 pounds of weight to your max in 2 months.

CONFUSE YOUR MUSCLES

Muscle confusion is the best way to get the most out of your workouts. What I mean by muscle confusion is lifting with high weights and low reps as well as training with low weight and high reps. Now how you chose to do this is entirely up to do, you can do it all at once by lifting with a pyramid like rep scale

· 10 reps of small weight

· Add weight 8 reps

· Add weight 5 reps

· Add weight 2 reps

· Takeoff weight 7 reps

· Takeoff weight 12 reps

· Just a 45 on each side until burnout

ABOVE is a great pyramid workout that is sure to confuse your muscles to really get the most out of your workout.

However if you would like to instead confuse them by starting out with light weight and high reps and adding weight every week, that will do the trick as well.

· First week 4 sets of 12 low weights

· Second week add five pounds sets of 10

· Third week add five pounds sets of 8

· Fourth week add five pounds sets of 6

· Fifth week add five pounds sets of 4

· Sixth week add five pounds sets of 2

· Seventh week 4 sets of 12 with a higher weight than you started with the first week

· And so on.

ABOVE is another example of a great workout that will always show you great results.

ALWAYS HAVE A SPOTTER

If you really want to gain mass you need to be fighting for every rep you have in you, and then you need to get another one. Which means a spotter should be the only reason you got the last rep up. Without a good spotter you risk injury, if you don’t have nearby friends with a gym membership don’t hesitate on asking someone around you. Serious weightlifters have all asked at some point in your life and it is truly not a big deal.

TRAIN OTHER AREAS OF YOUR CHEST

Your Bench Press can also be greatly increased if you compliment the exercise with other exercises such as incline press, decline press, and dumbbell flies. These other exercises will strengthen other parts of the chest that also play their part in the Bench Press Process. You can use the same type of workout outline as the above one used for Bench Press but remember to use less weight.

WORKOUTS THAT NATURALLY INCREASE TESTOSTERNOME

If you really want to gain muscle and get stronger as quick as possible. You need to focus on the science behind gaining strength and muscle. Everybody has heard about testosterone levels and what they can do, but not many people are educated on ways you can increase the amount of testosterone your body produces.

- Weight lifting increases testosterone levels but concentrating on the big core muscles of your body such as your back, legs and chest will really help increase your test levels.

- Excess body fat elevates your estrogen levels which can cause your test levels to fall, the more body fat the less testosterone you produce.

- If you need a nighttime snack- eat nuts for some reason diets rich with the fats in nuts increase testosterone levels

- Small reps with heavier weight produces a much higher boost in test levels than many reps with lighter weight

- If you do not allow your body to rest after working out your test levels will lower, overtraining is not good and make sure you get at least eight hours of sleep a night.

- CUT DOWN THE DRINKING- if you are a heavy drinker your test levels will lower, alcohol affects the endocrine system causing your testes to stop producing test.

Those are just a few ways to naturally increase your testosterone; hopefully by applying a few of them to your daily life you will see drastic changes in your weight, strength and lifestyle.

DIET RIGHT

80% of achieving your goals for whether it is increasing your bench, losing weight or just becoming stronger in general depends on your diet.

- Make sure you eat a diet high in protein, by supplementing a protein shake in between meals and before you go to sleep.

- Keeps your metabolism running throughout the day in night by having small meals every three hours instead of large meals three times a day. If you don’t give your body the energy it needs, it will not be able to repair its tissue and work with you to achieve your goals.

- KEEP HYDRATED, ever wonder why you bloat up after a long night of drinking? Alcohol dehydrates your body, and once your body is dehydrated it starts storing water under your skin. Now you know why bodybuilders carry around a jug of water everywhere they go, if you keep your body supplied with water it will not feel the need to have a reserve of water stored up.

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