Weight lifting is a great way to increase your strength, mbuild muscle mass, shed fat and boost your metabolism. To receive maximum benefits from your workouts you must increase the amount of weight you are lifting over time. This is not always as easy as it seems, since most people reach a plateau that is difficult to break through. One way to increase your bench press weight, is to implement progressive overload. This means that you will be increasing the amount of weight you bench press in small increments each week.
Before you attempt to increase your bench press, have a spotter on hand that can help you if you struggle with the increase in weight. If a spotter is not available, you can bench press using a Smith machine which is a staple in most gyms. This machine enables you to place the bar on a rack before you drop it, making it the safest way to lift heavy weights when working out alone. While attempting to increase the amount of weight you are lifting, you should decrease the weight a bit when you begin. This will give you some room to improve and will place less stress on your joints than starting out at your max weight. In order to increase your bench press weight and gain strength, you must perform the exercise correctly. While this seems like a basic principle, many people fail to maintain proper form throughout their bench press. When you bench press, place the bar a few inches above your eyes and squeeze your shoulder blades together during the move. Keep your feet flat on the floor, arch your back slightly and keep your chest high. During your bench press, slowly bring the bar down until it touches your chest lightly. When lifting the weight, explode through the motion with power.
Using a progressive overload system when working out, means you should attempt to increase the weight by 5 lbs each week if possible. Because this style of workout is taxing, you should only bench press once a week. To build strength and size, keep your rep range around 5 reps for 3 to 4 sets. After some time, you will again reach a plateau in regards to weight, but by then you should be bench pressing much more weight than you ever could before. Switch up your workout routine every month or so, to avoid the dreaded plateau.
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