A 300, 400, or even 500-pound bench press is within your reach with some small alterations in your technique, a good measure of hard work and a little persistence.
Ensure you get a good warm-up and do some light stretching before you hit the weights. Have a spotter on standby to give you a helping hand when you need it for added protection and intensity. Use a bench where you can adjust the stops. Set them so that in case you drop the bar, the stops will catch it just above your chest. The closer to your chest you get the stops, the fuller range of motion you will have when working out. Then follow these simple techniques to boost your bench:

1. Position your body correctly on the bench. Your feet should be flat on the floor and your butt on the bench.
2. Get a solid grasp on the weights. While there’s an optimal bar circumference comparative to your hand size, it’s best to use a bar with a circumference of nine to nine plus centimeters, rather than one that’s over ten centimeters.
3. Make the most of your strengths and reduce your weaknesses with the appropriate grip width and arm position. The majority of Olympic-type bars have a circle grooved into them to give you a pointer about your hand positioning. Use a grip slightly beyond shoulder width.
4. A spotter can be invaluable, especially if you’re dedicating all your focus on getting the lift. Use one at all times, particularly for your heaviest sets and any sets that approach failure.
5. Inhale. Lower and press the bar through the optimal path.
6. Exhale on each rep, but hold your breath for a split second at the essential moment, until you’re just through the sticking point.
7. Select the most favorable lifting and lowering tempos.
8. Do the ideal quantity of sets and reps – not too many, not too few.
9. Warm up properly but don’t squander your energy.
10. Do singles – but don’t overdo them.
11. Use lockouts to get your body accustomed to heavy loads, to reinforce connective tissue and to break through sticking points.
12. Workout your chest once every five to seven days and train no more than two days in a row.
13. Apply the law of progressive resistance.
14. Apply your method with light to moderate weights until it is faultless.
15. Exploit the powers of your psyche.

Make sure you understand that even if you are able to boost your bench press by one rep it means that you ARE able to increase and are not stuck in a plateau. If you feel stuck in a rut, your problem might be your workout routine and that you are over training. Your problem might also be your diet and your weight. It could also be your triceps, which play a big part in benching. There’s an inverse link between the length of the forearm and the amount of weight that one can lift, so long-limbed guys have bench presses that suck.

You must make the chest the main focus of your training. You will also need to make progressive improvements as you train. The weights you bench press should become progressively heavier with each set as the reps decrease. A key to a big bench is good workout procedure. Competitive bench pressers focus on speed, momentum and a short range of motion.

One of the best exercises to boost your bench press is the dip on parallel bars. The first man to break the 600-lb. bench press barrier in the 1960s, Pat Casey, used this as his primary bench press assistance exercise, 3 sets of 5 reps.

Dumbbell Bench Presses

Dumbbell bench presses can be performed at three angles: flat bench, decline or incline. As opposed to barbell presses, the chief advantage of dumbbell presses is that they permit a better stretch at the bottom and more efficient peak contraction at the top. Dumbbell presses are more valuable for chest development than barbell presses as they develop chest mass in the middle and outer pectoral muscles.

Arm Placement Controls Muscle Use On The Bench Press

There are quite a few muscle groups involved in the bench press. The three main groups involved are the pectorals, triceps and deltoids. You must develop a good base of strength in the shoulder area. This will not only increase your bench press, it will also help to prevent injury. Proper form will also help to increase your bench. The lassimus dorsi and your legs can also play a role in increasing your bench, if you’re using proper form.

Where your elbows fall at the bottom of the bench press significantly influences the strain placed on the muscles and the joints involved. A change in elbow position during the bench press shifts the shoulder movement from flexion (lifting your arm down from the side upward) to horizontal adduction (bringing the arm from straight out to your side inward at shoulder level) and alters utilization of the three primary muscles.

Bench presses are powerful muscle building exercises, and they command your body to arrive at new levels of muscle development. Combine them astutely with squats, deadlifts and a strategic infusion of supersets and mega sets to multiply your physical power at an astoundingly rapid pace. Make sure you combine these tips with a healthful diet that includes egg whites, meat, pasta, rice, vegetables, pure protein, fibers and liquid based Creatine.