Written by Travis Halena | ACSM CPT
Fact checked by Kirsten Yovino, CPT Brookbush Institute
FACT CHECKED
When it comes to measuring upper body strength, the bench press is the king of the push exercises. A big bench press means big muscles, including giant pecs, sculpted shoulders, and horseshoe triceps. Not only is it the most common lift to measure your strength, but it's also a source of pride for any lifter.
The bench press can be challenging when breaking through plateaus and building chest strength. Just lying down and trying to throw some weight around with no plan isn't going to cut it. It takes intelligent programming, appropriate assistance exercises, and understanding some crucial principles.
Table of Contents:
- What Is The Bench Press?
- What Is A Bench Press Program, And Why Do You Need It?
- How To Increase Your Bench Press
- The Best Bench Press Program For Strength
- 9 Best Exercises For A Bench Press Program
- Muscles Worked In A Bench Press Program
- Benefits Of A Stronger Bench Press
- Programming Tips For Improving Your Bench Press
- FAQs
What Is The Bench Press?
The flat bench press is a compound horizontal pressing exercise. It is performed by lying on a bench, lowering a bar (with weight) down to your chest, and then pressing it back up. This can be done with different variations and equipment, but the barbell bench press will build the most strength for a one-rep max and engage the most muscle mass for your upper body.
Because of how many muscles it targets, the bench press is one of the most popular lifts for bodybuilding. Along with the deadlift and squat, it is one of the big three exercises performed in powerlifting competitions.
What Is A Bench Press Program & Why Do You Need It?
If you have already enjoyed the beginner gains portion of your lifting career, you likely have experienced frustrating plateaus in your strength. When it comes to your bench press training, a bench press program will help you break through to new personal records.
A bench press program is a more sophisticated approach that gives you a strategic plan of attack to increase your one rep max and build your chest strength. A program will be for a specific time, commonly between 8-16 weeks.
During this time, the program will progressively overload your muscles by increasing either weight or reps each week. This principle is important because to grow and build strength, you must increase the training stimulus in a controlled fashion from week to week.
A good program will target your weak points, and in today's case, it will provide the appropriate assistance exercises that will help strengthen the bottom portion of your bench press. This means you will build stronger chest muscles to help you explode out of the most challenging portion of the lift, the bottom.
If everyone could go to the gym and add 5 pounds every week forever, we would see everyone benching over 1000 pounds. But this isn't the case. Using a bench press program gives you a road map to putting up big bench press numbers you have never done before. As we said, the strength gains will be harder to come by after you've been lifting for a good period.
How To Increase Your Bench Press
Here are some training tips and ways to structure your program to ensure you add weight on the bar.
1) Progressive Overload:
Progressive overload is essential for improving muscular strength in any exercise, and the bench press is no exception. You can overload by increasing weight, reps or sets, range of motion, and time under tension. This means gradually increasing the stimulus and stress you place your muscles under.
Doing higher reps in the 15-20 range may be great for chasing the pump, but it won't be as helpful for building strength, so save this for the end of your workout after your heavy training. For the most part, you'll want to live in the 3-8 rep range for this task. Most of your sets should be done at 80% of your one rep max or higher.
A proper bench press program will lay out your sets, reps, and goal weights over the specified period. That will ensure you are progressively overloading weekly with the end goal in mind.
2) Prioritize Heavy Compound Lifts:
Building and sculpting muscle is excellent, but if you want to increase your bench press and chest strength, compound lifts, like the bench press and standing shoulder press, need more priority than chest machines and pec flies.
These assistance or isolation exercises should follow the compound lifts like a bench press. Bench presses work the most upper body muscles and build the most strength, so they need the bulk of your focus and energy at the start of your workout.
3) Pick Appropriate Assistance Exercises:
After you finish your pressing portion of the workout, it's crucial to hit your weak points with assistance exercises. Assistance exercises are meant to help build strength for a compound exercise.
For a bench press, the weak points would either be at the top of the lift during the lockout portion or the bottom of the lift as you push the bar off your chest. Picking the correct assistance exercises to help that weak point of the lift will ensure your chest is strong enough to power through that sticking point and help increase your one rep max.
3) Develop The Chest As A Whole:
If you only perform a flat bench press, you will miss out on developing the upper chest. We are talking about building your entire chest's strength, so you don't want to exclude a portion of the chest muscles when they could be helping out. Sometimes, this in itself can increase your bench one rep max.
4) Bench Press More Often:
The bench press is a skill you need to practice just like a golf swing, and you can also progressively overload that. The more you bench press, the better your form and the more effective your movement. Assistance exercises will help increase your bench, but they will never replace the lift. If you don't train the movement, it's like trying to become better at violin by playing the guitar.
5) Improve Your Bench Press Form:
To increase the effectiveness of your bench press, you need to improve your form. A few quick tips are to bring your chest to the bar, screw your feet into the floor, and break the bar in half. This will enhance the force transfer from your muscles to the bar and help move the bar in the shortest, most effective distance. Proper form also prevents injuries that slow down your progress.
6) Fewer Reps, More Rest:
You will need more rest to recover between sets when performing reps in the power/strength rep range. Resting 2-3 minutes between sets is a great start, and once you are considered an advanced lifter, you may need as many as 5 minutes between sets.
Think of your energy as a progress bar that depletes after you finish your set. Waiting longer will fill it back up to make you stronger. Your entire workout doesn't have to go like this, but it's the right move for compound exercises like a bench press.
7) Be Patient and Manage Expectations:
If you are trying to break through a bench press plateau, you must leave your ego at home. If a program calls for 16 weeks of progression, you need to accept that you may not see a considerable increase in strength as fast as you'd like.
The most common mistake people make is ditching their program too early because they are frustrated. Give it time to work and accept that even a 5-pound increase is enormous progress.
The Best Bench Press Program
This program is going to be built around two upper body pressing days within your training week. Each day will have the same bench press programming but slightly different assistance exercises.
It will require you to know or find out your one rep max bench so you can use the indicated percentages to learn what weight to use. If you need help with determining your 1RM, enlist the help of a certified personal trainer or even a knowledgeable gym buddy. Over eight weeks, the sets, reps, and percentages will change. Make sure to have at least two days between these workouts for ample muscle recovery.
Use this for your bench press sets and reps scheme throughout the program:
|
Week |
Sets x Reps |
% of 1RM |
|
1 |
3 x 12 |
65% |
|
2 |
3 x 10 |
70% |
|
3 |
3 x 8 |
75% |
|
4 |
3 x 6 |
80% |
|
5 |
3 x 5 |
85% |
|
6 |
3 x 3 |
90% |
|
7 |
3 x 1 |
92.5% |
|
8 |
2 x 1 |
95% |
While our program encompasses a broad spectrum of 1RM percentages and rep schemes, it's worth noting that research indicates a sweet spot for eliciting maximal strength gains in advanced trainees is achieved by targeting the chest muscle with 85% of 1RM, two days per week, and aiming for 8 sets1.
Bench Press Program Session A:
|
Exercises |
sets |
reps |
|
Flat Barbell Bench Press |
See chart above |
|
|
Close Grip Bench Press |
2 |
6 |
|
Flat Dumbbell Bench Press |
2 |
10 |
|
DB Pullover |
2 |
10 |
|
Close grip push-ups |
2 |
Fail |
Bench Press Program Session B:
|
Exercises |
sets |
reps |
|
Flat Barbell Bench Press |
See chart above |
|
|
Incline Bench Press |
2 |
8 |
|
Weighted Dips |
2 |
6 |
|
Cable flies high to low |
2 |
12 |
|
Explosive push-ups |
2 |
Fail |
9 Best Exercises For A Bench Press Program
To get the most out of your bench training, make sure to include these exercises in your program.
1) Flat Bench Press:
The original barbell bench press, primarily targeting the chest, shoulders, and triceps, the flat bench is a vital component of strength programs. It offers the advantage of allowing heavy lifting and a broad range of motion.
The flat bench press also holds a pivotal role in weightlifting, bodybuilding, and powerlifting, serving as one of the essential compound exercises. In competitive powerlifting, it is part of the prestigious "Big Three" along with squats and deadlifts, symbolizing comprehensive total body strength.
How to do it:
- Lie on a flat bench and reach up to grab the bar slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. As you lower the bar, your forearms should be vertical.
- Make sure your feet are anchored into the floor, lift the bar off the power rack, and center it above your chest.
- Bring the bar slowly down to tap your shirt, and then exhale and push the bar up to the starting position.
For more on how to properly do the flat bench, check out our article on the Barbell Bench Press Grip 101: Standard, Wide, Close, And Reverse.
2) Close Grip Bench Press:
The close grip bench press is a variation of the classic bench press. As the name suggests, your hands are simply positioned closer together, but this small change has a significant impact on the muscles worked.
Despite the altered grip, it remains an elite compound exercise for the upper body and still allows for heavier weights. The closer hand placement shifts the focus in various upper body muscles, including the triceps, so this variation is often used for strengthening the lockout portion of your bench press. It's also great for athletes, providing a sport-specific transfer to things like football, basketball, rugby, and more.
Strong triceps are vital not only for aesthetics but also for improving performance in pushing exercises like the bench press. Don't let weak triceps hinder your bench press progress.
How to do it:
- Lie on a flat bench and grab the bar with your hands shoulder-width apart.
- Lift the bar off the rack and center it above your chest.
- Lower the bar to your lower sternum, and ensure your elbows are close to your body for the entire movement.
- Exhale and press the bar up, ensuring you use the triceps to lock out the arms at the top.
3) Incline Bench Press:
The incline barbell bench press is performed at a 30-45˚ angle. It emphasizes the shoulders and upper chest, specifically targeting the clavicular head of the pectoralis major, while still engaging the triceps to a similar extent as a flat bench press.
This movement can be done with a barbell, dumbbells, or even kettlebells, but for simplicity, we'll focus on the barbell incline press.
How to do it:
- Lie down on an incline bench set to 45 degrees or under and reach up to grab the bar slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
- Make sure your feet are anchored into the floor, lift the bar off the rack, and center it above your chest.
- Bring the bar slowly down to tap your shirt, and then exhale and push the bar up to the starting position.
4) Flat Dumbbell Bench Press:
Similar to the flat barbell bench, the dumbbell bench press targets the chest, shoulders, and triceps.
However, using dumbbells allows for a slightly different range of motion and elbow position, as your arms are free to move and press individually. Further, this variation challenges each arm to work individually, highlighting weak points and offering a novel challenge to the muscles with the same weight.
How to do it:
- Grab a pair of dumbbells and sit down on a flat bench. Use your knees to help kick up the dumbbells as you press them over your chest and lay back on the bench.
- Keep your back flat on the bench and lower the dumbbells like you are holding a bar until your arms are at 90-degree angles and in line with your shoulders.
- Exhale and press the weights back overhead.
5) Cable Flies:
While most chest exercises involve pushing movements where the weight is moved away from the chest, the cable fly exercise stands out by offering resistance both during the pushing (concentric) and returning (eccentric) phases of the movement.
It's a highly effective exercise for chest muscle development because it maintains consistent tension throughout the entire range of motion. Therefore, it's a great addition to any bench press program.
How to do it:
- Set the cables at the highest setting and pick an appropriate weight.
- Grab the cables and step away from the towers to increase tension. Lean your body forward slightly.
- With a slight bend in your arms and palms facing each other, bring your hands down towards the ground as if hugging a beach ball.
- Pause at the bottom and slowly resist on the way back up to feel the stretch in the chest.
6) Close Grip Push-Ups:
Like the close grip bench press, this push-up variation requires bringing the hands closer together, altering the upper body joint angles to target the triceps and shoulder muscles. However, unlike other pressing variations we've covered, the close-grip push up is a closed chain exercise.
Closed-chain movements lock your extremities in place while the rest of your body moves, such as what occurs with a squat, pull ups, or any push-up variation. As such, they often challenge the entire core, and are especially beneficial to groove proximal joint function. When done correctly, these push-ups can improve the health of your shoulder blades, chisel your core, and increase tricep pressing strength.
How to do it:
- Get into the plank position on your hands. Your hands should be closer than shoulder width apart and can be as close as making a diamond with your hands.
- Slowly lower yourself down until your chest almost touches the floor, and ensure your arms are tucked into your sides.
- Press up and repeat.
7) Explosive Push-Ups:
Among the various push-up variations, the explosive push-up, also known as the plyo push-up, is the most challenging. This plyometric exercise is a ballistic movement designed to enhance your explosive power and strength, even with light weights.
The dynamic contractions involved in this exercise provide unique muscle stress, contributing to increased muscle growth. Add these into your bench press program to improve power for sports, gain explosive pressing power, or just to give yourself a new challenge.
How to do it:
- Set up in a standard high plank with hands just outside shoulder width apart like a bench press set up.
- Lower yourself in the push-up until your chest almost touches the ground.
- From there, drive your hands into the ground and explode up as fast as possible while releasing your hands to get your upper body as far off the ground as possible.
- Let your hands softly land back on the floor as you absorb this force and immediately lower down into the next rep without pausing.
8) Weighted Dips:
Traditional dips involve lowering your body downward while your hands grip two parallel bars, and your feet are off the ground. Weighted dips, on the other hand, involve adding extra resistance to increase the exercise's intensity.
The most common method is using a dip belt, which consists of a soft waist strap with a chain and metal loop for attaching weight plates. Alternatively, if you don't have a dip belt, you can use your feet to hold onto a dumbbell, which is a more challenging but effective workaround.
How to do it:
- Attach a dip belt with a chain around your waist and add the appropriate weight.
- Grab the parallel bars and extend your arms, so they are straight, and you hover between them.
- Lean your upper body forward to no more than a 45-degree angle. Begin to lower down until your arms are at a 90-degree angle.
- Exhale and press back to the starting position without letting your legs swing.
9) Dumbbell Pullovers:
The dumbbell pullover, typically performed on a weight bench, offers substantial upper body benefits by targeting the chest and lats. As such, it's become popular among bodybuilders for its dual chest and back advantages.
Importantly, minor form adjustments can shift the focus from the back to the chest. The lying dumbbell pullover is a versatile exercise for both chest and lat development, making it a valuable addition to a bench press routine.
How to do it:
- Grab a dumbbell and start lying perpendicular on a bench with only your upper back and shoulders across the bench. Place your feet on the floor and raise your hips until they are slightly lower than the bench height.
- Grab the upper head of the dumbbell and hold it with both hands while straightening your arms, taking it over your chest.
- Keeping your arms straight, lower the weight in an arc behind your head until it's in line with your body. Make sure to keep your core engaged and back flat on the bench.
- Slowly bring the dumbbell back to the starting position, keeping your arms extended.
Muscles Worked In A Bench Press Program
Most people start training the bench press to grow a bigger chest. This exercise works your pecs through a big range of motion and sends them into a deep stretch at the very bottom of the rep. Chest strength is the limiting factor at this portion of the lift.
The bench press is also great for your shoulders and, mainly, your anterior deltoids. These shoulder muscles help your chest press the weight up. This is often a problem for people as they struggle to activate their chest and end up overworking their anterior delts. Bench press also works your triceps, as they are the most important muscle for the lockout portion of the lift. The close-grip bench press is a fantastic option for assisting this muscle group.
The chest, delts, and triceps are the show's stars when it comes to the bench press, but some other muscles are also involved. You need strong trapezius and lattisimus dorsi muscles so your back can handle the weight as you lower it. These muscle groups work synergistically, so don't forget if you want a big bench, you need a big, strong back. Think of the back muscles as the breaks that slow down your sports car, so training them is key to your workout routine.
Benefits Of A Stronger Bench Press
Getting a bigger bench press isn't just about impressing social media or winning powerlifting comps, although those are great reasons to do so. Here are some more benefits of a stronger bench:
- Increased Upper Body Strength And Size: To get stronger, you must build more muscle. The bench press does an excellent job of killing two birds with one stone here. Not only will this newfound strength transfer to other upper body exercises, but you'll also be brimming with confidence when you see all that muscle you have packed on in the mirror. You can expect bigger pecs, shoulders, and triceps. This muscle gain will increase force production and provide more cushion for joints.
- Increased Joint Stability: The ultimate test of stability is absolute strength. Your body needs to work extremely hard to stabilize when lifting as heavy as possible. By increasing the weight you can lift, you are increasing your body stability and likely preventing injuries in the future. You will get stronger if you can stabilize your entire body and make this a full-body lift.
- Stronger Bones: Any time you use a weight-bearing exercise, you force your body to hold more weight or pressure your bones. The more exercises you do and the heavier the load you use, the more your bones will be forced to create new bone mass to handle it. Bigger and stronger bones are especially coveted as you get older, and try to fight osteoporosis as you age.
- Bragging Rights: Let's be honest. Talking about your gym triumphs with anyone willing to listen feels good. The next time someone asks how much you bench, you'll be excited to share your new record. If you have been lifting for a while, PRs are few and far between, which is why using a specific bench press program is essential.
Programming Tips For Improving Your Bench Press
If you are new to bench pressing, 10-12 sets of chest training a week should be plenty of bench press volume. However, if you are in an advanced stage of training, you will likely hit a plateau and need to add more to your training program.
Aim for around 16-20 sets of chest training per week. We find it best to split this over two sessions so you hit the muscle group twice a week.
Make sure you prioritize the bench press and use 60-95% of your one rep max for most sets. Don't forget to train the back muscles as well in a training session! Make sure to give yourself at least 48 hours between sessions to recover and avoid injury.
FAQs
Let's answer some more of your frequently asked questions about benching.
What is the best bench press program?
The best program prioritizes the bench press while using progressive overload and correct assistance exercises to target your weak points. The program I just laid out today is a fantastic option.
Is 5x5 for bench press effective?
5x5 training programs can be highly effective as long as you are progressing from week to week.
Is 225 bench press strong?
The first milestone for bench pressing is benching your body weight. Most people weigh less than 225, so this is a great starting point to aim for.
How do I get my bench to 315?
If you are in the high 200s, you are knocking on the door for a 315 bench. Follow a bench press program that focuses on percentage and progressive overload, as well as assistance exercises for weak points.
What workouts help improve bench?
All upper body sessions have some carryover to bench press, but the main workouts are bench pressing, assistance exercises for the chest, shoulders, and triceps, and building a strong back.
Bench Press Strength Program: Final Thoughts
Great bench press programs provide a strategic, time-bound approach designed to progressively overload your muscles each week. Moreover, an effective program targets your weak points, focusing on strengthening specific areas to help you overcome the most challenging phase of the lift.
In contrast to the ideal scenario of adding 5 pounds every week to our lifts indefinitely, the reality is that strength gains become more elusive over time. A strong bench press program offers a structured roadmap for achieving impressive numbers and hitting your goal, especially as you advance in your lifting journey.
To learn more about bench press training, read our Bench Press Guide: How To, Benefits, Muscles Worked & Best Variations. And for more great chest-training exercises, check out our articles on the Best Cable Chest Exercises and the Best Dumbbell Chest Exercises.
Prepare to maximize your strength with our exclusive 13-week strength training program. 3, 4, and 5 day per week programming options.
References:
- Peterson MD, Rhea MR, Alvar BA. Maximizing strength development in athletes: a meta-analysis to determine the dose-response relationship. Journal of strength and conditioning research. 2004;18(2). doi:https://doi.org/10.1519/R-12842.1
Travis Halena
Author