Bench press is thought to be the king of all exercises targeting pectoral muscles but sometimes people struggle to increase the weight on the bar and may feel stuck. So this article will cover a few of the common reasons why one may be struggling to increase the strength of the Bench Press.
- Lagging Triceps strength
Triceps strength can be the limiting factor when it comes to bench press. Mainly triceps strength plays a huge role during the arm’s locking out phase. So here are some of the ways to deal with the issue
- Performing triceps exercise in isolation. Some exercises can be Cable Triceps Extension, Skull Crusher, Dumbbell Overhead Triceps Extension and Triceps Kickbacks
- If there is uneven triceps strength then unilateral (dumbbell) movements should be preferred
- Inappropriate frequency Training too often or too little can be an issue. Bench pressing daily may lead to overtraining which will ultimately affect hypertrophy and strength. One must place the next training session once recovered from the previous session. Usually, 48 hours is enough with proper diet and sleep so the next training session can be done after 48 hours but recovery may vary from person to person. If it takes more than 48 hours then one must place the next session after an appropriate number of days.
- Not enough Intensity Studies( Peterson et al., 2004, 2005 ) show that load more than 85% of 1RM is beneficial for strength adaptations. So if one is always performing less than 85% of 1 RM then strength adaptation may not be optimal.
- Inefficient exercise order If the bench press is placed after a few exercises in the training routine then shifting it earlier should be considered. For example,
| Case 1 | Case 2 |
|---|---|
| Chest fly | Bench Press |
| Bench Dips | Chest Fly |
| Skull Crusher | Skull Crusher |
| Bench Press | Bench Dips |
In case 1, one may feel exhausted after all those exercises and when finally it’s time to bench press then performance will suffer. In case 2, one will be more energetic during the start of the session and hence may see better performance in Bench Press.
- Inefficient technique The technique of bench press is very important to safely lift the weight while activating the right set of muscles and generating the force efficiently. The bench press technique is discussed in detail under the topic “ How to Bench Press ”.
