Guest Post by Gym Hut: Be one with the Bench

Check out this Guest Post on the benefits of Benching. They also have a great infographic on 55 exercises everyone should try.

bench

Four Proven Benefits of Bench Pressing

Are you looking to build yourself a physique to be well and truly proud of this summer? If you are, you’ll know how difficult it can be to burn fat while packing lean muscle mass onto your frame. You’ve probably also noticed how some muscle groups respond more favourably to training than others. You could perhaps have a huge upper body with smaller than average shoulders for example, despite training shoulders just as hard as the rest of your anatomy. A lot of people find themselves with stubborn chests, which just will not seem to grow, no matter how hard they train. If you are looking to pack muscle mass onto your chest and build yourself a chest that would rival that of a prime Arnold Schwarzenegger, bench pressing is one of the best activities you could ever wish to perform. But what makes the bench press, and all of its many different variants, so hugely beneficial? Well, lots of things as it goes. Here’s a look at four proven benefits of bench pressing.

Fantastic compound exercise – One of the biggest advantages associated with bench pressing, is the fact that the exercise itself is a wonderful example of a compound exercise. A compound exercise is basically an exercise which, because of the body mechanics of the movement, targets multiple muscle groups at once. The exercise is primarily designed to target the pectoral muscles, but as an added bonus it also works multiple other muscle groups simultaneously, so you get a great upper-body workout and subsequently build more muscle and can attain a symmetrical physique. The exercise mainly hits the chest muscles, but on top of that it also works the triceps, the core, your deltoids, and your back, and all that is from just one exercise. Machine-based chest press exercises however, are designed to isolate the chest, so you work the chest and only the chest.

Strong triceps – We’ve just mentioned how because the bench press is a compound exercise, it works the triceps, so if you do plenty of benching your triceps will benefit hugely and will look great. Bench pressing really helps bring out the natural Horseshoe shape of the triceps muscle. As well as building muscle in the triceps however, bench pressing also helps to build crazy amounts of power in the triceps. When it comes to push strength, the stronger your triceps the more power you can generate. This means that by bench pressing, you can increase your strength and generate more pushing power to perform a wide variety of other exercises, including military presses etc.

Variety – Another great advantage associated with the bench press, is the fact that there are so many variants of the exercise to choose from, so you can switch things up so that you never grow bored. The main example of bench pressing that springs to mind is the flat bench barbell bench press. There are however, others to choose from including incline barbell bench presses, decline barbell bench presses, and dumbbell bench presses, which replace the barbell with dumbbells. The great thing about each version of this exercise is that they all provide different benefits and advantages. Flat bench presses are great for adding mass to the pecs, while incline bench presses target the upper pecs, and decline presses work the lower pecs. What’s more, if you go with dumbbells you get a deeper stretch and a greater range of motion, so you can activate more muscle fibres, which will equate to increased rates of hypertrophy, or muscle growth in simple terms. You can also perform the exercises on a smith machine.

Increased strength and power – While many people think of bench presses for building muscle, they are also very beneficial exercises for building overall strength and power. The stronger your bench press becomes, the greater your bragging rights in the gym become. We know that nobody likes a show off, but when somebody asks you ‘how much do you bench, bro’? It’s going to be a nice feeling when you tell them that your 1 rep max is 315. The bench press and all of its different variants are ideal for building explosive strength and power, which will help you out when you perform countless other exercises too. In the US, many pro athletes, including American Football players, incorporate bench presses into their weekly training regimes. Whether you want to press more weight, perform more push ups, throw a ball further, or just generally increase your upper body strength, performing bench presses on a regular basis is a great way to do exactly that.

So, there you have just a few of the many benefits associated with bench pressing. If you would like to learn the techniques behind different bench presses, or simply learn a few new exercises, our useful infographic should tell you everything you need to know, and then more besides.

References:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5504579/

https://www.strengthandconditioningresearch.com/exercises/bench-press/