Want to up your Bench Press ?

Bench press is one of the big three compound movements that trigger maximum GH (growth hormone) release. The question you'll get asked most often by an average gym rat will be 'How much do ya bench?'.  Often my friends ask me how to improve their numbers in bench press. In this post I will summarize

factors that determine how good can one get at getting that weight off their chest.

1. Strengthen your Triceps: Triceps are one of the biggest muscle groups extending from the shoulders down to the back of forearms. Apart from adding thickness to the arms, it is very important in providing overall stability in day to day activities. Ever seen a guy benching heavy with tiny arms? The key is to make your triceps strong by doing exercises like seated overhead barbell extension, close-grip bench press, skull-crusher etc. Pay attention to your tris and watch your bench take-off!

2. More is not better: A widespread misconception is to do more of a job to get better at it. While true to an extent, people often take this beyond the getting-it-to-work realm. Bench pressing every other day or twice or thrice a week would not make you strong at it, instead might cause over-training. If trained properly excellent gains can be made by training the bench press once a week.

3.Correct your form: A big mistake made by many is to hyper arch their back that causes the butt to rise way off the table. Such deeds not only make you prone to injury but

might lead to unlearning of proper form. Chances of increasing your bench number are maximized if you perform it with perfect form.

4. Max-Out once a while: Test your one-rep max once in a while. A good way to do it is to max-out once in 2-3 weeks. One-rep max is the weight that you can bench only for one rep with perfect form. If you keep doing 10 reps at 175 pounds every week, you will keep doing 10 reps at 175 pounds! You need to make your body aware of the fact that it needs to strengthen itself to move a heavier weight.

5. Follow a routine: A well-organized plan for training your bench press is the best and most efficient way to go! It might take a while to find the program that suits you the most but better do it now than never. The 5x5 strength program is a good place to start with. I have my own customized way that did wonders for me  in the past (and still does!). I usually do 4 sets of the exercise (1 warm-up + 3 working). The key is to change the numbers of your last and second last set. For instance, if I can bench 135 x 8 in my 2nd set and 145x4 in my 3rd, for this week, then next week I might try doing 140x7 and 150x2-3 respectively.

Needless to say, all of the above will work like charm only if you have a proper diet with sufficient macro and micro nutrients backing you! 

Lose fat and gain muscle

"Can I simultaneously gain muscle and lose the fat?" is one of the questions that I get asked every now and then by my friends. Well my answer to that would be "Yes, but is difficult". The difficulty here doesn't lie in the following of an arduous regime, but the time it'd take to achieve the final long term goal.
Let us consider a sample person Y, weighing W with lean mass M and F, the body fat content (W = M + F). Our sample Y would love to attain a weight W' with lean mass M' and fat content F'. Ideally he would like (a) M'>M and (b) F'< F. The question that turns up here is if both (a) & (b) are approachable together. Let us see what each (a) and (b) demand.
Clearly, (a) calls for something extra to be added to the body, and hence needs calorie (energy) surplus. Ideally, most if not all of the calorie surplus should come from clean foods which means complex carbohydrates, lean protein and good combination of unsaturated and saturated (yes, some saturates are required for a balanced fat intake) fat. Usually the macro-components are taken in a specific distribution like 40/40/20 or 50/30/10 and so on. Cardiovascular training is best kept at minimum as it may result in loss of otherwise vital calories. The outcome one should expect out of this would be :
M' = M + mass-gained and F' = F + little-fat.

On the other hand, (b) requires a energy deficit in the calorie intake. The deficit is  best created by combining diet manipulation with cardiovascular training done 3 to 5 times a week. The diet has to be clean with carbohydrates limited only to breakfast and the post-workout meal. The macro components are to be tweaked with most of the calories coming from protein. In this case,
F' = F - fat-lost and M' = M - slight-muscle.

Yes, these two seem like two opposite pathways and indeed they are. Hence, the ideal thing to do is to go for (a) (a.k.a Bulking) and (b) (a.k.a. cutting) in phases one after the other. An ideal combination is to bulk for 4-6 months and then cut for 2-3 months. Doing otherwise will be no different than pedaling backwards with a will to go forward!