Bench Pressing Tips

[SF1900]

The other day, I did 100 pound dumbbell presses for a clean 9 reps on the flat bench. I believe the most I ever pressed were the 115's on flat for a few reps.

The thing is, my barbell bench press sucks. I've never barbell benched more than 185 on the flat (45 and 25 on each side + 45 pound Olympic barbell). I could do like 185 for 2-3 reps.  I have tried everything to increase my barbell bench. Low reps, high reps, fast reps, slow reps, different hand positions, smith machine, hammer strength, benching like a power lifter, arms flailed out, elbows tucked in--you name it, I have tried it.

How is possible to be strong with the dumbbells, but so substantially weak with the barbell? 

And, is there a way to overcome this deficit?

[calfzilla]

Are you trying to tear the bar in half?

[SF1900]

Are you trying to tear the bar in half?

What? 

[Hypertrophy]

The other day, I did 100 pound dumbbell presses for a clean 9 reps on the flat bench. I believe the most I ever pressed were the 115's on flat for a few reps.

The thing is, my barbell bench press sucks. I've never barbell benched more than 185 on the flat (45 and 25 on each side + 45 pound Olympic barbell). I could do like 185 for 2-3 reps.  I have tried everything to increase my barbell bench. Low reps, high reps, fast reps, slow reps, different hand positions, smith machine, hammer strength, benching like a power lifter, arms flailed out, elbows tucked in--you name it, I have tried it.

How is possible to be strong with the dumbbells, but so substantially weak with the barbell? 

And, is there a way to overcome this deficit?

My guess is you have strong pecs but weaker triceps. The dumbbells allow you to utilize your pectoral strength more.

[Dan-O]

What? 

He means, when you grab the bar, you are trying to bend it away from you (or break it) in an upside-down "U" shape.  I've read this tip over the years but never got it and it never seemed to work for me.  Just seems like a waste of energy that could be focused on lifting the weight.

[SF1900]

My guess is you have strong pecs but weaker triceps. The dumbbells allow you to utilize your pectoral strength more.

Actually, visibly speaking, pecs are my weakest bodypart. They may be my strongest, but they are under-developed when compared to other body parts in terms of size. Is this possible? Can they be my smallest bodypart, but strongest?  

[calfzilla]

He means, when you grab the bar, you are trying to bend it away from you (or break it) in an upside-down "U" shape.  I've read this tip over the years but never got it and it never seemed to work for me.  Just seems like a waste of energy that could be focused on lifting the weight.

Correct. However it never really worked for me either. I'm in the same boat as SF1900, ok with dumbells but weak on bench. I attribute it partly to almost never training with a partner so I don't have a spotter. But even when I did train with a partner I never went up much on the bench. 

[Nether Animal]

[dj181]

Bahahahhahahhah

Look at  that fucking tooooaaaaddddddd

[calfzilla]

Chest looks strong and thick there.

[robcguns]

What?  

They say to act as if you are trying to bend the bar in half when pressing,supposedly it helps with pressing.All I can say to get a stronger bench is dip,dip and dip and I mean dip down as low as you can possibly stretch think chin in armpit level with weight and pause the bottom.I did this for many years starting with body weight and progressing to 2 100 lb plates hanging between legs and it brought my bench all the way to 500 lbs.Make the tris as strong as possible and focus on benching more than anything else.Stick with military press with dumbbells deep with pauses,dips,chins,heavy incline press,and a big one is do high reps on bench press,people laugh when I say this but when I was repping 225-275 and worked up to lots of reps is when I was my strongest.

I am a tricep bencher so I focused more and more on triceps.Also I benched flat back feet in air or on bench with no leg drive whatsoever so my benching was all upper body no leg drive.As I don’t care much for legs more than keeping them tight and lean never liked big legs but if you have big strong legs then get that leg drive working.

Pause all presses military,bench,narrow grips,reverse grips etc...also do presses from bottom position on smith or in power rack.Pause pause and pause.

I’m no champion bencher but I got pretty damn strong.

And honestly dB benching will build a bigger chest so keep going the way your going as listto ning to me will wreck your shoulders.

[ChevChelios]

Benching 330 lbs for few reps  on barbell, 121 lbs dumbbell however in a good day i caught 12 reps out of them. A few of guys i know in the gym  however are better on barbell than me by a bit but worser on dumbbell for some reason.  

You shoudl't be sad, barbell does not build pecs that's for sure, dumbbells will !

[Dave D]

Have you tried any negatives with a heavier weight than you can handle?

[SF1900]

They say to act as if you are trying to bend the bar in half when pressing,supposedly it helps with pressing.All I can say to get a stronger bench is dip,dip and dip and I mean dip down as low as you can possibly stretch think chin in armpit level with weight and pause the bottom.I did this for many years starting with body weight and progressing to 2 100 lb plates hanging between legs and it brought my bench all the way to 500 lbs.Make the tris as strong as possible and focus on benching more than anything else.Stick with military press with dumbbells deep with pauses,dips,chins,heavy incline press,and a big one is do high reps on bench press,people laugh when I say this but when I was repping 225-275 and worked up to lots of reps is when I was my strongest.

I am a tricep bencher so I focused more and more on triceps.Also I benched flat back feet in air or on bench with no leg drive whatsoever so my benching was all upper body no leg drive.As I don’t care much for legs more than keeping them tight and lean never liked big legs but if you have big strong legs then get that leg drive working.

Pause all presses military,bench,narrow grips,reverse grips etc...also do presses from bottom position on smith or in power rack.Pause pause and pause.

I’m no champion bencher but I got pretty damn strong.

And honestly dB benching will build a bigger chest so keep going the way your going as listto ning to me will wreck your shoulders.

Thanks for the input. Ive actually tried the pausing technique for bench press. Didn't work. I do dips every work out. 

As you said, maybe I should just stick to the dumbbells.

[SF1900]

Correct. However it never really worked for me either. I'm in the same boat as SF1900, ok with dumbells but weak on bench. I attribute it partly to almost never training with a partner so I don't have a spotter. But even when I did train with a partner I never went up much on the bench. 

Maybe Ill just stick with dumbbells and give up on bench press.

[SF1900]

Benching 330 lbs for few reps  on barbell, 121 lbs dumbbell however in a good day i caught 12 reps out of them. A few of guys i know in the gym  however are better on barbell than me by a bit but worser on dumbbell for some reason.  

You shoudl't be sad, barbell does not build pecs that's for sure, dumbbells will !

Yeah, I have heard that dumbbells are superior to barbells. I think the barbell bench press has maintained its stronghold because Arnold had a huge chest and he benched a lot with the barbell.

[Henda]

I’m not a great bencher by any means but if I had to say one thing that helped bring mine up was pausing all bench press reps on the chest and same for military press pausing on the upper chest and close grip bench again on the chest

[SF1900]

Have you tried any negatives with a heavier weight than you can handle?

Nope, never tried this. I train alone, so I often don't have a partner to help me lift through the positive part of the movement.

[SF1900]

I’m not a great bencher by any means but if I had to say one thing that helped bring mine up was pausing all bench press reps on the chest and same for military press pausing on the upper chest and close grip bench again on the chest

As stated above, I have tried the pausing at the bottom of the movement--but still didn't work. Thanks for the advice anyway!

I am looking forward to the day that you, Vince, Fitness Frenzy and myself all move in together in Vince's new home. 

[OneMoreRep]

I stopped bench pressing over 10 years ago. That said, my best bench numbers were 315lbs for 10 reps and a 1RM of 450lbs. After having shoulder surgery a number of years back, I swore to never fuck around with barbell bench presses and only stick to either dumbbells or machines presses. I have now truly fallen in love with machine presses (I know, what a faggot).

Anyway, in my early days, I always found that a way to increase reps on a weight range that you struggled with was to go heavier and work on getting good reps with the higher weight.

For instance, if I could only do 225lbs for 4-5 reps, I would instead stick to 235lbs for 2-3 reps and continuously work to improve the reps with the higher weight for about 2 months. By month 3, I would then fall back to the 225lbs and usually I would then be able to get 8-10 reps, assuming I improved my reps with the higher weight.

I know it sounds basic as fuck, but it did work.

Another trick was to change the grip on the barbell, don't tuck in your thumbs, use a false grip instead, but be careful, you can kill yourself.

"1"

[Obvious Gimmick]

Maybe Ill just stick with dumbbells and give up on bench press.

That's loser talk SF  

I bet you incorporate more muscles (from calves up) when you're doing DB because you need more stability with them.  Make sure you're just as tight on BB. Engage as many muscles as you can. You can do it!!

[ESFitness]

Correct. However it never really worked for me either. I'm in the same boat as SF1900, ok with dumbells but weak on bench. I attribute it partly to almost never training with a partner so I don't have a spotter. But even when I did train with a partner I never went up much on the bench. 

That was one of the techniques and I learned when I shifted my training from bodybuilding to powerlifting following an 8 months period in which I couldn't press even a 10 lb dumbbell without feeling like an ice pick was stabbing me in the right shoulder due to bursitis (/run-on sentence).

It was described to me as "break the bar". As in you're trying to "break the bar as if it were a stick". Doing so forces your elbows to come in or stay in and bring the triceps into the movement to a greater degree.

A big bench press is more of a tricep movement than it is a chest movement.

IMO, it's 50% triceps, 30-35%pec, & 15-20% anterior delt.

Also body-position is also crucial. If you look in the mirror when you flex your chest, note D position of your upper arms in relation to your torso (as well as hand position). Your hands are usually down by your belly button and your upper arms aren't perpendicular to the Torso as they are with a conventional bodybuilding Style bench press. This is what you want to mimic while performing a barbell bench press if maximum weight is the goal.

If you look at a musculature anatomy chart you'll notice the PEC fibers don't Thai in, or run perpendicular from the sternum to the shoulder joint. They run more at a 45 degree angle. So you want to mimic that plane of movement like I mentioned above in order to recruit as many pec fibers as possible (this is why when looking at EMG charts, the decline bench press recruits more total PEC fibers, including upper chest fibers, than either the flat or incline. Yes, the decline bench press recruits more "upper PEC" than incline bench press as per EMG studies)... The rest is triceps involvement.

[SF1900]

That's loser talk SF  

I bet you incorporate more muscles (from calves up) when you're doing DB because you need more stability with them.  Make sure you're just as tight on BB. Engage as many muscles as you can. You can do it!!

That's interesting. I never considered the fact that I may be utilizing more muscle groups when using DB's as opposed to barbell.

Thank you for the motivation!

[robcguns]

Thanks for the input. Ive actually tried the pausing technique for bench press. Didn't work. I do dips every work out. 

As you said, maybe I should just stick to the dumbbells.

Yeah my chest was it’s biggest when all I did was heavy flyes and heavy dB benches so fuck benching all it did was ruin my shoulders.rather look like I can bench 400 and bench 200 than bench 400 and look like I can do 200.

[Eric2]

Go into the power rack. Place a flat bench inside. Set bars to chest level. Start the pressing movement from the chest not the rack. Each rep you do come to a complete stop on the bars at your chest then press up again.  Leave your ego at the door. Watch just how fast you get powerful in this lift by doing it this way. It takes all the cheating and momentum out of the movement and forces all muscle needed to lift to perform at full intensity. Do not use a spotter. Repeat, do not use a spotter, all effort on you.