“How much ya bench?” any guy who’s been in the iron game for any amount of time has been asked this question. Many males base their strength on how much they can bench. While the bench press isn’t nearly an accurate of indicator of strength as say the deadlift or squat nevertheless it is the average male’s go to. With that being said the bench press is a great exercise and one everyone should include in their lifting routine. Most want to know how to increase their bench press if only to impress their friends.
Other than simply benching more there are a number of things a person can do to increase their bench press and three exercises in particular that stand out to me. Depending on how you do your workout these exercises can be included on your chest day if you’re a bodybuilder, bench press day if you’re a powerlifter, or put in the push section if you do full body workouts, or simply used as an assistance lift. Alright now for the exercises.
Exercise #1 – The JM Press
I first heard about the JM press from Westside barbell and the first time I saw it I thought it was some weird powerlifitng way of bench pressing. I later learned that it is an assistance exercise to really build up the triceps and to help push up bench press numbers. The JM press is very similar to the bench press. You set up just like you would for a bench press (though the weight will be lighter) lift the bar off the rack just like you would for a bench press.
How you lower it is where things change. Instead of going straight down with your elbows flaring out to the side at least a little. Your elbows are going to stay tucked in by your sides the entire time. You lower the bar to your neck and then press back up. Imagine a skull crusher bench press hybrid and that is essentially what the JM press is. Do these for moderate amount of reps. Wouldn’t go too heavy and wouldn’t go to light either. Try 3-5 sets of 6-10 reps depending of what the rest of your workout looks like. Here’s a video if your a visual learner.
Exercise #2 – Dips
Dips are a great all around exercise. Dips are great tricep and chest builders (which makes them great assistance exercises for the bench press). I much prefer dipping on a dip bar as opposed to the bench/chair dip (where you pull up a chair and put your feet on another chair and dip) I never feel like those do much. They sort of remind me of girl pushups. Anyways if you have a dip bar then you should be including dips into your routine. I use dips as a finisher exercise and go for high reps. You can do otherwise but that’s what I find effective.
I generally shoot for an overall number of dips that I want to do. Depending on the day that can vary anywhere from 30 to 50 depending on what else I’ve done the day and my overall goal. For example when I did the 5/3/1 routine I would use dips as one of my assistance exercises for the bench press day and would shoot for 50 overall. I’ve also used dips with a dip belt and gone for heavier weight. You have to find what works for you. Some people’s elbows can’t handle heavy dips and hey if it hurts then you’d be stupid to continue it. However most people have no problem with regular dips and they do a great job building up the benching muscles.
Exercise #3 – Overhead Press
Is this cheating? I don’t think it’s cheating. Alright so using another main lift as an assistance lift might not be right for everyone but I’d be a fool to not mention the correlation between these two lifts. Benching big numbers has more to do with tricep strength than any other muscle. Bench pressing (unless you’re doing the Gironda version) is predominantly a tricep exercise, not a chest one like most mistakenly believe. Hell if all you wanted with chest development you’d be better off doing one hundred pushups a day then you would benching big numbers.
But anyways that’s a topic for another time. Now for adding in overhead pressing to get your bench numbers up. How you include overhead pressing to get your bench numbers up is going to depend a lot on what you’re already doing. I’d recommend using it as an assistance exercise at the end of your bench press workout. And using a different variation from your overhead press day if you have one. So for example you could 3-4 x 10-12 with DB overhead press after benching to add in shoulder and tricep strength. And then have another day dedicated to heavy overhead pressing as well.
Summary
Getting those bench press numbers up is something that everyone has wanted (or wants) to do. Adding in these three assistance exercises (though wouldn’t recommend all of them at once) are guaranteed to get your bench press up. You can cycle them in every three weeks changing each one at the end of every third week. Or you can change them every six weeks if they keep working for you. Keep doing it while it works and then switch it out when it doesn’t.
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-Charles Sledge
