Are you bench pressing the same weight you were a month ago? Or perhaps you are benching the same amount you were in high school? Might sound silly but a lot of my friends rave about the bench press while never really pushing it beyond the “testosterone teen” levels. This article will show you how I take my bench press to all new weights quickly and safely with a few simple techniques.

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1. Go from flat to incline

The thing about the flat bench press is that it works a lot of your shoulders. I know a lot of you “pure” bench press lovers out there are going to disagree with me but the incline bench is a better option if you want to hit more of your pectoral muscles. While you might not be able to handle as much weight as you did on the flat bench, the incline will work areas of your chest you have long neglected with your addiction to the flat bench.

Once you spend a few weeks pumping out incline bench presses you will find you are able to handle more weight on the flat bench.

2. Drop the weight and do 100 reps

The 100 repetition set is something I like to do every now and then. I remember talking to a strong man in India when I was on holiday and he told me that uses 100 rep sets quite often as a secret to boosting his strength levels.

I took that secret home and applied it to the bench press. All you need to do is get a weight small enough to pump out 100 reps and see if you can do it.

I bet 99% of you can’t.

Many strength trainers are limited in that they think strength does not include endurance. It does. Put your muscles to the test with the 100 rep set and see how you strength improves on the low rep sets.

3. Stop using a barbell, dummy

If you are still using the old barbell for the bench press you are living in the past. Get over your nostalgic habit and switch to a couple of dumbbells.

The reason I find dumbbells to be superior is that they allow a deeper stretch and more mobility. The mobility means you will be working more stabilizer muscles and you will have to put more work into keeping your technique pure. These are all things you will need to push your bench press weight upwards.

4. Add weight every single time

If you go to the gym and whack the same plates on your bench press for more than one week then you are going to stagnate. Make sure you are adding weight every single time you do the bench press.

People do not get this idea very well. They have a general concept of “Oh yeah, I should increase my weight often” but if they actual kept track of those increases they would realize it just isn’t happening.

Do not worry if you can only pump out three or four reps with your new weight. It is important that you do it. After a week or two you will be up to five reps and then you can add more weight and keep on going.

5. Dip out of the bench press race

If you are a real strength trainer you will know about the weighted dip. This killer exercise is one of the best ways to build upper body strength and has a real emphasis on the pecs, shoulders and triceps.

And they are murder when done with a heavy weight attached to your weight belt.

Take a month off of bench press and hit the dips instead. When you go back to the bench you will notice a strength you never had before.

6. Get negative with your partner

If you don’t have a training partner, get one. You need one to be able to go to the next level.

Perform your set as normal but when you get to the point of failure get your partner to help you lift the weight up and then do the negative by yourself. Do this as many times as you can even if you end up chucking up at the end of it. You will only need to do it once to really power up that strength.

7. Decline like you are a sloth

Now when I say sloth I don’t mean a lazy animal. I mean one that moves in slow motion.

Many strength trainers pump out the decline part of the rep like it doesn’t matter, like it is something just procedural.

Wrong.

The decline is the most important part of the rep and if you are forgetting about it you may as well forget about leveling up on the bench press. Each time you do a decline it should be for no less that five seconds. Count them. Don’t cheat. Take your time and really feel those muscles.

8. Get serious and exhaust those pecs

If you really want to add more weight to the bench press then you need to get serious about pumping those pecs like chest training is going out of fashion.

One way to do this is to pump out a set on the bench press and then head over to the dip station without any rest. Pair up two of your favorite exercises and work them one after the other without rest.

9. Get your food right

Something that a lot of strength trainers fail to realize is that what they eat makes a huge difference to how you lift weights. Everyone knows that protein is important for growing muscles and recovering, but how many of you plan your pre-lifting meal so that you can lift with maximum energy?

Not many people I know do.

Start thinking about what you eat one hour before your weight lifting session. What food should you eat? What drink should you have? Should it be low gi or a sugar rush? It is important to get that right.

10. Rest, properly

When I say rest I mean really rest. Take a whole month off of weight training at the end of the year. You have been thrashing your body for 11 months and it needs a rest. Muscles grow in this time. The immune system and recovery processes re-ignite themselves and you will come back to weight lifting a much better (and stronger) person.

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