For men who want to learn how to increase their bench presses, it is very important to observe an effective and proper regimen, with the specific goal of strengthening the pectorals, triceps, biceps and the muscles of the shoulders and the upper back.
The best way to accomplish this goal is by following the principle of "muscle confusion".
In muscle confusion, you perform reps of varying amounts per set or you perform more or less sets in a workout.
You can also very your exercises per day or lift heavy weights one day and then light weights on other days.
The reason for this is that you want to prevent your body from reaching a plateau with a rigid workout.
Because you vary the styles and weights that you perform or use respectively in your workouts, the muscles become stronger and the training regimen as a whole becomes more efficient, enabling you to bench press more.
Let us take a look at a sample regimen that utilizes the principle of muscle confusion.
If you are doing it only once a week, vary your reps, sets and weights every week.
For Week 1, bench a barbell with a weight of 140 pounds 12 times for 3 sets.
For Week 2, bench 160 pounds 6 times for 5 sets.
For Week 3, drop the weight down to 150 pounds, but do 10 reps for 3 sets.
As part of your muscle confusion regime, you should perform a "Maxing Out" (or more formally known as "Train To Failure") workout at least once a month.
The way to do this workout is by starting out with a weight that is heavier than what you are accustomed to lifting.
After 1 to 2 reps, take a short rest of 30 seconds to 1½ minutes.
Add 10 pounds for every successive repetition until you reach the point when you cannot lift the weight anymore.
When doing a maxing out regime, make sure that you have a gym buddy or a spotter who can grab the weight when you can no longer push it up.
For individuals who do bench presses twice or more a week, you can plan your regimen in a different way.
Let us say you bench on Tuesdays and Thursdays, you can do maxing out training on Tuesday and do speed repetitions on Thursdays.
Or you can speed rep on Weeks 1 and 3 and then max out on Weeks 2 and 4.
Make sure that you squeeze in a day of traditional bench presses in your schedule.
To explain what speed repetitions are, these are exercises that are commonly known as "explosive bench presses".
To do this, use a weight that is 40 to 45 percent lesser than the heaviest (or the maximum) weight that you are capable of lifting.
The proper way to do speed reps is by slowly lowering the weight to just a few inches above your chest and then pushing it upward explosively as hard and as fast as you can possibly can.
Do 10 to 12 reps for 3 sets.
Speed reps help stimulate fast twitch muscle fiber growth so that you are able to bench more.
No matter how great a bench press regimen is, don't forget to allot days of rest so that your body can recover.
Remember that it is during sleep and rest that new muscle growth occurs.
If you grow more stronger muscle tissues, you are sure to increase your bench press in no time at all.