5 Tips That Will Increase Any Lift
It's inevitable that a lifter will hit a plateau at some point or another. It's frustrating, I know. Trust me, I've been there. But after 10 years of powerlifting and 14 years of strength training before that, I think I've unlocked some of the secrets to making gains. Here are five things that helped me increase my lifts.
Two Crucial Components Your Training is Missing
Most intermediates that have come to me without ever working with a qualified coach before are lacking a few qualities in their technique, especially on big lifts. Lacking these qualities can potentially lead to injury at one point or another. These two qualities are tension and torque.
Six-Week Wave Bench Progression
This month's featured program should help build confidence by benching with low rep sets with lower percentage weights and practicing higher percentage singles. Feel free to toss in some assistance work while you're at it, too.
6 Lower Body Exercises to Back Up Your Bench
If you are a bench-only lifter, an older beat-up powerlifter, or just really need to get in some lower body training in, these six exercises will cover all three of those bases. These exercises are my workaround to hammer the lower and upper body while keeping a strong bench.
How Strong is Strong Enough?
To answer this question, we need to define strength. But there are many ways to define strength, so we all have to come up with our own method for defining strength. For me, it's the squat.
Big Back, Big Bench
While having a big back doesn't guarantee big bench PRs, the back and bench press go hand in hand. The back plays an enormous role in benching effectively — most lifters just don't know how to use their back in the lift!
WATCH: Bench Pad Height
The phrase "when in doubt, test it out" applies to a lot of things, including bench pads that may or may not be at regulation height. Although technically, "when in doubt, throw it out" also works, except you're repurposing a yoga mat — not tossing a protein shake that might have been sitting in the back of your fridge for
5 Exercises to Get Your Bench Press Moving Again
If your bench press is rusty and you need to take it easy, try some of these lifts out. (elitefts Power Rack and dip attachments are highly recommended but not included.)
2018 World's Strongest Man Totals 2,425 in Powerlifting Competition
Overall, Hafþór Björnsson fared pretty well in Thor's Powerlifting Challenge, which is the top strongman competitor's first-ever powerlifting competition.
Game of Thrones Actor Prepares for Thor's Powerlifting Challenge
Gregor "the Mountain" Clegane is coming... to a Dec. 15 powerlifting meet.
Learn to Train X: Bench Press Warm-Up with Joe Sullivan
You may start shaking, but don't worry. It’s just something that’s getting you ready to do what you went to the gym for — to press a bigger bench.
Build Your Bench Press with the Chest Supported Row
When Dr. John pulls his shoulder blades in while keeping his elbows out, there is a clear depression between his shoulder blades. What I want to see in a powerlifter is more like a hump.
You're Training Your Pecs Wrong
Most agree that you can’t train one part of the pectoralis without the whole pectoralis being activated. New evidence shows that you have been fooled!
WATCH: Breaking John Rusin — The Bench Press
From muscle isolation, to max effort work, to spotting technique, and sticking points, Tate customizes his coaching specifically for Rusin, thereby taking his bench press to the next level.
WATCH: Equipment Feature — elitefts Custom Bench
Whether you’re outfitting a branded company weight room or simply designing your dream home gym, Custom-Built Benches create a training environment that’s polished, professional, and personalized.
The Bench Press Comeback
Tear after tear, I was seriously never benching again—it’s just not for me, blah blah blah, excuses, excuses. I had injured myself so many times, but I couldn’t let that stop me.
WATCH: Learn to Train X — The Power of Bench Press Cues with Vincent Diz...
An impressive self-coached athlete himself, Dizenzo has benched 600 or more raw in three different weight classes and has a 900-pound equipped bench to his credit. With the precision and detail required to properly execute a press, it is no wonder that thoughtful cues from a seasoned elitefts coach can make all the difference.
College Football Off-Season Max Effort Variations: Programming and Compa...
Inspired by Joe Kenn, this is how Pace programs the conjugate method (the use of variations) over an eight-week off-season for our athletes.
Improve Your Bench Immediately Using These Training Cues
I’ve always said it only takes a single well-thought-out cue to change the way someone approaches a lift. I’m certain that one of these bench cues below are going to be that single cue that you’ve been waiting for.
What I Learned from Benching with Dave Tate
Based on Dave’s bench cues and progress made, I’m revising my bench goal for Reebok Record Breakers in November, from 200 kilos up to 210 — a huge jump, especially considering it’s by far my worst lift.
WATCH: Table Talk — Rotating Specialty Bars for the Bench Press
If you’re a beginner or intermediate lifter, this probably doesn’t apply to you. But for advanced lifters, knowing how to alter workload without changing volume might be a big help.
The Coach's Guide to Teaching the Bench Press
With beginners you need to follow a simple guide to get them going. Then once they’re ready, you need to focus on the three phases of the bench press. It’s all included in this article.
WATCH: Table Talk — Straight Line or Arched Bar Path in the Bench Press
No matter which style you use, there’s one rule with your wrists and elbows you always have to follow.
WATCH: Building Armor-Plated Pecs with Josh Bryant and Jonathan Irizarry
This workout uses a holistic approach in order to build strength, explosive power, and hypertrophy, utilizing a combination of light weight, heavy weight, tempos, isometric contractions, giant sets, bands, and the Juarez Valley finisher.
Foundations of Coaching Lifts — An NSCA Course for Teaching Lifting Tech...
This event offers step-by-step instruction on what a lift should look like, how to cue it, and how to use coaching progressions to take an athlete from never having done the lift to mastering it.
From the Judge’s Chair: The Bench Press
In the first article of this series, I explained the value of the judge’s perspective in relation to the squat. Now let’s look at the bench press and see what lifters can learn from considering the judge’s role.
Motivation Found in the Gains of Others
I have trained with three classes of people in the last few months, including young college men, 50-year-old women, and two very strong powerlifters. Each group has encouraged me in its own way.
Sick of Your Gym?
It took me about two weeks to figure out I uprooted myself right into HELL. I ran into many of the same issues many of you are still dealing with.
Surviving a Pec Tear
Seven years ago while benching 500 pounds, I experienced a partial pec tear to the muscle belly near the attachment to the pec tendon. These are the techniques I used to recover and the exercises I perform to safeguard my pec from ever tearing again.
How to Hit Your Biggest Bench at Your Next Meet
If you use this peaking plan and follow these tips, it’s not a question of whether or not you’ll PR at your next meet — it’s just a matter of by how much.
Got Shoulder Pain?
The shoulder is a complex joint but keeping it healthy can be simple. Many issues can be fixed or greatly improved with certain exercises and stretching.
WATCH: Blast from the Past — Five Biggest Bench Mistakes
The most common mistakes in the bench press haven’t changed much over the years.
How to Bench More
Seemingly simple questions are not simple at all if you understand strength. If you really want to bench more, you need more knowledge.
Meet Report: RPS Connecticut States — From SHW to 198
It’s been more than a year since I last competed (not counting the unsanctioned and unseasonable non-invitational last December) and announced that I would be taking a step back from chasing the biggest bench possible.
WATCH: Dr. Ken Kinakin SPS Presentation — Pain when Overhead Pressing
If shoulder pain is holding you back when pressing overhead, the infraspinatus and AC joint are two likely culprits you should examine.
Bench Pressing Secrets of the Pros
In this article, you will find multiple quotes from some of the best lifters past and present regarding what makes a good bench presser — Greg Panora, Jeremy Hoornstra, Ryan Kennelly, and Eric Spoto to name a few.
Upper Back for the Bench
So why do you want to build a strong, thick upper back? Isn’t the bench all pecs, shoulders, and triceps?
WATCH: The Strength Coach Development Center — Bench Progression
This four-step progression is used to help young athletes develop the proper form, stability, and strength required to use a barbell.
5 Coaching Rants to Reframe and Apply
Layering thousands of coaching hours on the floor with successes and failures, I think I know what works and what doesn’t work.
My Experience at the SWIS Exercise Muscle Testing Certification
The latest and greatest from Dr. Ken Kinakin includes specific muscle tests for upper and lower body exercises to determine if the muscles are functional and capable of handling the stress of weight.
Nine Weeks of Linear Progress To A Bigger Bench
Using these two cycles together is a great template that I guarantee will make you a stronger bencher.
225 Bench Press Repetitions Test — What Are We Really Testing?
The strength of the athlete determines what kind of preparation will produce the desired training effect: more reps. We need to stop and ask three questions.
5 Cues That Can Screw Up Your Lifting
Believe it or not, there is such a thing as “too much of a good thing”, and over-applying a cue when it’s not needed can really jack up a lifter’s technique.
34 Ways to Maximize Your Raw Bench
Here are some of the tried-and-tested methods that helped me finally break through the 400-pound barrier, which had been a monkey on my back for years.
Apply the 80/20 Principle to Powerlifting
Use this principle to analyze your training program, your technique, your diet, your recovery, and your time.
Bodybuilding Exercises for the Powerlifter — Rear Delts Rows
Get a bigger bench and boulder shoulders with this easy movement.
WATCH: Should You Arch Your Back When You Bench Press?
Bench-builder or back-breaker? Steve has the answer.
The elitefts Definitive Guide to Board Pressing
Dave believes the most important and widely used purpose for boards is to increase/correct the mini-max or sticking point.
How to Bench 5 Plates Raw: 400 to 500 at a Moderate and Sustained Pace
In this article, we are going to discuss the training of the bench press for someone approaching a press 1.8-2x their bodyweight.
Building the Bench, Piece by Piece
This article gives you the 12 best exercises to build mass in the necessary areas for a stronger bench press. Body-part by body-part, exercise by exercise, it’s all here.
Five Bench Pressing Basics You’re Overlooking
Don’t let the mass quantities of information fool you: the basics of the bench will never change. Follow them and you’ll get stronger.
Why I Love Powerlifting: 2016 RPS Lexen Dog Days
This was my first push/pull meet and I kept repeating to myself, “It’s time. Work is done. Make it happen.”
Ten Time-Proven, Big-Three Technique Tweaks for Happy Joints
Are you getting beat up from squatting, benching, and deadlifting? Here’s a handful of tips to help cure what ails you.
elitefts Classic: How to Set Up A Program — A New Look at Weak Points
I don’t know how many questions we’ve gotten about how to train certain weak points. Of course, almost every question is in regard to a weak muscle group or a certain portion of a lift.
Breaking the 600-Pound Bench Barrier
My road to 600 can be broken down into two phases of training: the Raw Strength Phase and The Equipped Peaking Phase. Here’s how I did it.
WATCH: Clint Darden Reviews Client Bench Press
From setup adjustments to training intensity, Clint’s coaching adjustments are all explained in this video.
How To Build A Bench Press with Trashy Triceps
If you train smart and put in the work, your nagging pains will not stop you from hitting a PR.
Setup Rules for the Bench Press
Regardless of what program you think works best for you, the form used to complete the lift is still the same.
