We’ve all heard someone say the bench press is not a good chest development.
“Leave the bench pressing to powerlifters; the barbell bench press is only for strength.”
Following such a statement, they often sell the idea that machines are the only way to grow the chest, which could not be further from the truth. We will explore how to modify the bench press to be more hypertrophy-specific, along with a rep, set, and tempo to help implement these moves.
Larsen Press
Next time you bench, remove your feet by holding them straight out before you. This will eliminate any lower body assistance, putting more tension on the target muscles, the chest, triceps, and anterior deltoid. To further enhance the hypertrophy gains, you pull your shoulder down when you lay down; you should look like you have a long neck, squeeze the back muscle, make the chest protrude further out, and then grab the bar. Maintain that the upper body positions throughout the entire duration of the set, thus increasing the stretch at the bottom of the eccentric, where the most muscle growth occurs. We will now look into the guillotine press.
Guillotine Press
A tremendous upper chest press is the guillotine press, A more advanced exercise that requires the elbows to go out wide as you guide the bar to your collarbone; this angle puts great tension across the upper pec muscle. Because of the disadvantaged position of the shoulder, try it with just the bar first to make sure it feels pain-free. If so, you can increase the weight as you seem fit for your fitness level. Because it is a hypertrophy-based movement, little weight is needed to help stimulate muscle growth. We will now discuss cambered bars.
Cambered bars
A cambered bar is any barbell with a bend so that the weight can drop below the torso before the bar hits the upper body. Thus increasing the stretch placed on the chest because the arms can descend further.
Reps, Sets, Tempo
For hypertrophy, doing 2-4 sets x 8-15 reps is ideal to maximize muscle growth. For the tempo of these exercises, push up as fast as you can and control the eccentric every rep. Sometimes, keep the tension for an extended duration at the bottom to milk out the tissue damage to create muscle growth. Use lighter weights on these movements. They are meant to make the targeted muscle work more because of the disadvantaged positions.
Last Set
Now that you have expanded your knowledge on the bench press go and implement these variations and watch the muscle gains come to life. Stay consistent, find what works best for you, and stay tuned to learn how to adjust the squat and deadlift to be more hypertrophic.
Medicinal Movements
