Looking for that 1, special movement that will break through your latest plateau on the flat barbell bench press? Look no further. This is the tried and tested exercise that will produce rapid, groundbreaking changes.

Question: Is it really a necessity to include the flat bench press in your training program?

First, you have to consider the motive behind this question and then use deductive reasoning to answer your question.

If you're struggling on the big three - that is, squat, deadlift, and bench press - then these three, simple movements may be all you need to push you past that plateau.

I remember reading an article by a renowned author when he commented on his squat and deadlift being relatively easy to increase the poundage on in comparison to his bench press. I think for many of us, this rings true.

The bench press has a tendancy to go stagnant after a while, and we have to

www.bodyrecomposition.com

A while back I got the following email:

It’s safe to say that, in the US at least, the bench press is one of the favorite exercises of most trainees (especially males). Let’s face it, if someone finds out if you lift, their first question is invariably “How much do you bench?”.

www.bodyrecomposition.com

After my article on Benching with the Pecs, I got a follow-up question on a forum about pec activation, someone had mentioned looking for tips before and come across the old Vince Gironda bench press to the neck. This type of bench is often used by bodybuilders to ‘isolate’ the pecs. It’s also a great way to ruin your shoulders forever.

In any case, I wanted to do a brief piece on the different ’styles’ of bench pressing that are most commonly used; my lovely assistant Sarah (who is apparently also IronMan, don’t tell anybody) will be demonstrating once again.

There are a lot of problems people have in the gym but one of the more common is the complaint of “I can’t feel my pecs when I bench”. In the majority of cases, this is simply because the person was never taught to bench press and use the pecs.

Some gurus even go so far as to say that the bench press sucks for chest development, which usually means that

1. They never learned how to use the pecs while benching.
2. They never figured out how to teach anybody to use the pecs while benching.