Tip#455 – Add 10% To Your Bench Press (or any other exercise)…

…by “remembering” the rest of your body.

Typically, when performing an exercise, you’re taught to focus only on the muscles that exercise purports to target. For example, in the bench press, the primary movers are the chest, shoulder, and triceps muscles. So it’s not incorrect to focus on using and feeling these muscle groups when you’re performing the exercise.

But that’s only one half of the equation. Your pushing or pulling force on an exercise will be dissipated by allowing the rest of your body to be loose while the target muscles are contracting. The tip: Focus on “plugging up the leaks” by optimizing joint position and by slightly contracting supporting muscles (particularly those that impact posture). By focusing on whole-body stability, you can increase the amount you’re able to lift on a given movement, and consequently, reap greater benefits from the exercise.

Let’s continue with the bench press as our example. When performing the bench press:

• Focus on pushing through the floor with your feet. There should be even, balanced pressure through both feet, and your legs should be slightly contracted. Doing this alone will improve your sense of strength significantly.

• Retract and depress your shoulder blades, i.e., keep your shoulders “tight.” This increases stability at the shoulder joint and decreases your chance of rotator cuff injury.

• Tighten your glutes. As Roy Harris says, “Contract your buttocks as if you’re pinching a quarter between the cheeks.” This significantly contributes to whole-body stability by preventing body sway on the bench.

• Contract your lats. Although the lats aren’t a prime mover in the bench press, they help to further shore up shoulder stability, helping you power out of the starting point.

• Finally, tighten your abs – it also helps prevent lateral swaying on the bench.

All these pointers are part of good bench press form (and should be mentioned by a competent coach), but the basic principle underlies all of them: Stay tight, plug up the leaks. Don’t focus solely on muscle isolation when you’re lifting a weight; you may be short-changing yourself.