Immediately I need to have a critical dialog with you about one thing a lot of you is perhaps doing flawed in your coaching: bench urgent three days per week. Should you’re critical about enhancing your bench press, it’s time to rethink your method.
Now, I get it. You’ve heard that the extra you bench, the higher you’ll get. And for freshmen of their first yr of lifting, this would possibly maintain true. Early on, repetition helps you nail down approach and construct the foundational power you want.
However as soon as you progress into intermediate and superior territory—urgent within the 300s, 400s, or past—benching 3 times per week can do extra hurt than good.
Why Benching 3 Days a Week Is Counterproductive
The issue isn’t the hassle; it’s the redundancy. Once you repeatedly bench, you’re reinforcing effectivity in that motion. Whereas that sounds nice, it has a draw back: effectivity reduces muscle recruitment.
Over time, you’ll discover that benching stops stimulating your muscle groups successfully, and your progress stalls and also you face that dreaded bench press plateau.
Consider it this fashion: The higher you get at a talent, the much less vitality it takes to carry out. That is nice for issues like operating a marathon, however when your objective is muscle progress and power, diminished vitality expenditure means fewer beneficial properties.
And be aware that numerous this comes from my video on the Powerlifting Approach YouTube channel.
The answer: Press, do not simply bench.
Should you’re itching to press a number of days per week, you don’t must cease urgent fully. The trick is to diversify your urgent actions. As an alternative of benching 3 times per week, do that:
- Day 1: Conventional Bench Press. Stick to the traditional motion to work your chest, shoulders, and triceps.
- Day 2: Shoulder Press. Deal with constructing stronger shoulders, that are important for a giant bench press. A dumbbell or barbell shoulder press is a good choice.
- Day 3: Shut-Grip Bench Press. This variation places extra emphasis in your triceps, a vital muscle group for locking out heavy weights.
By alternating the kind of press, you’re concentrating on totally different muscle groups and angles, selling progress and power throughout your whole urgent anatomy.
And there are many bench press alternate options if you wish to broaden your focus.
Why Altering Stimulus Issues
Take into consideration the final time you tried a brand new train. Keep in mind how sore you have been afterward? That’s as a result of your muscle groups weren’t used to the brand new motion, they usually have been compelled to adapt. The identical precept applies right here. Should you at all times bench the identical manner, your physique adapts, and the stimulus turns into much less efficient.
Switching to variations like shoulder presses or close-grip presses shakes issues up. It challenges your muscle groups in new methods, encouraging progress and serving to you break by way of plateaus.
In case your bench press progress has hit a wall, it’s time to cease benching three days per week and begin urgent smarter. Incorporating totally different urgent actions can unlock your potential and assist you obtain the beneficial properties you’ve been chasing.
Monitoring your coaching may be a simple strategy to see gaps in your coaching applications. It can be a great way to evaluate what has labored up to now and what hasn’t. It may be so simple as saying “I felt robust throughout these weeks”, after which taking a look at what you have been doing main as much as that cut-off date.
Overcoming Bench Plateaus, PLT
So if you happen to’re questioning why you hit a restrict on the bench press, the reply may very well be easy. You would possibly simply need to rethink how typically you are doing that particular movement. Deal with associated muscle groups, and you may push by way of to new ranges of power.
Till subsequent time, maintain lifting, continue to learn, and let’s smash these PRs collectively.
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