How to Increase Your Bench Press

As a personal trainer, one of the most common questions I am asked is how one can increase their bench press. I never understood where the fascination for the bench press came from, how much do you bench bro? How much can you lift? But it seems as long as time the age-old weightlifting question is always going to be and always has been how much do you bench press. So let's talk about the bench press. How can we increase our bench press? And how should we train to increase overall bench press strength? Let's dive into this topic.

When considering bench press, we must first think about the muscles that are going to be used to perform this exercise. Yes, everybody knows that the bench press is primarily a chest building exercise. So of course the chest is going to be the main mover. However, what people neglect is the fact that the bench press is heavily dependent on front deltoid strength and triceps strength. Without strong triceps you will not be able to lock out the top of the movement and without sufficient shoulder strength it will be virtually impossible to bare the load.  So what are my recommendations to improve the bench press?

First of course, you're going to want to strengthen and increase the musculature of your chest. Work the chest from a variety of angles, incline flat and decline. Utilize flies and presses and try to stimulate each fiber of the chest. During chest workouts make sure you're performing the barbell bench press to keep your mind muscle connection sufficient for that movement.

However, as mentioned shoulders are important in the bench press as well. More specifically the front part of the shoulder or deltoid is going to be very important when performing the bench press. Exercises such as a front raise, military press, push press, Etc. will be great to help transfer shoulder strength to the bench press.

Next up is the triceps. The triceps are responsible for locking out the end part of the bench press movement. It is my recommendation that close-grip bench pressing coupled with triceps press downs and lying triceps extensions translate best to the bench press. Train those triceps heavy and try to incorporate muscle hypertrophy.

So in summation, to increase your bench press, you are going to need to increase muscular strength and size in the deltoids, triceps and the chest. Additionally, as with everything in bodybuilding or weight training, make sure you are getting sufficient rest for recovery and that your diet is in check. And as always, if you have any questions always feel free to contact us at Every body's personal trainer.