More Exercises to Improve Your Bench

Have you hit a plateau with your bench press?  Try these outside the box techniques:

• close grip bench press
• floor bench press (elbows on the floor)
• pin press*
• board press*

Board press requires two 12 inch 2×4s.  You’ll stack one on top of the other and put them on your chest.  You’ll do bench press just the same except when you come down with the bar you’ll pause when the bar hits the boards just for a half second before pushing the weight back up.

Pin press takes advantage of a power rack.  This will be just like a bench press except for you’ll use pins (insert them in power rack where your sticking point is) to lift off from.  You’ll lift up straight up from your sticking point and then lower and repeat.  This drill is designed to get you “over the hump” so to speak.  Your sticking point is the point at which your bench press breaks down (for example getting the bar 5 inches above your chest during your max.)

To supplement these exercises, here is a nice bench press tips video: