Tag Archives: bench press

Reverse rep bench press

29 Thursday Jan 2015

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The reverse rep is my favourite way to bench press! It completely shreds all your muscle fibres in your chest and you gives you an amazing pump. The reverse rep technique is great for anyone who is trying to overcome a plateau or maybe your simply bored of your usual chest routine.

How to:

 

For those who are unfamiliar with the reverse rep, its basically when you get in the starting position on the bench as you usually would. You then lower the bar very slowly until the bar touches your chest, then your spotter will take the weight and bring the bar up for you or give you alot of help. You then lower the weight again slowly and repeat the same procedure. It should take you about 10 seconds for the bar to be completey touching your chest on the eccentric phase of the rep and then about 2-3 seconds to lock out on the concentric upward phase. The spotter should take about 70-80% of the weight when they help bring the bar up.

I usually do this every other week when i train my chest, For example on week 1 i will do my usual chest routine then on week 2 i will mix it up and add in the reverse rep presses. Note that you will have to drastically reduce the weight. So don’t try and press your usual weight because you struggle. I would also advice to completely stretch your chest of and warm up before trying this to avoid damaging any of your muscle as this technique is pretty advanced.

Give it a go and see how you get on x

Keep in compound #TOP5

14 Wednesday Jan 2015

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When it comes weight training you need to forget all the fancy exercises you see on youtube and remember that these 5 exercises are the best when it comes to building strength and muscle.

1. Bench press – This exercise is probably the single most effective exercise when it comes to building muscle and strength in your upper body. Not only will you feel it in your chest but you will also make strength gains in your shoulders and triceps too. If you already have this incorporated into your workout then try some bench press variations like using drop sets of even super setting it with another chest exercise to really help burn out the upper body.

2.) Military press – Barbell military press is another great compound exercise which works mainly your deltoids but again helps with strength gains in other areas. If your using this exercise in your shoulder workout i would recommend doing this as your very first exercise. Then go into targeting the smaller areas or your shoulders after.

3.) Squat – Many people just assume that squatting will result in strong legs but the squat will help you build strength in every area of your body. Not only that but when you squat your body releases testosterone which is a natural growth hormone that your body needs for muscle to grow. So using this exercise in conjunction with everything else is great.

4.) Bent over barbell row – This exercise is one of my favourite when it comes to training my back. Its physically demanding but its one that will really help pack on the muscle. Be sure to keep good form when doing this exercise and ensure your back doesn’t begin to bend.

5.) Deadlift – This mainly targets your lower back but like some of the other exercises I’ve talked about its also great for your entire body. For me, this is my favourite exercise because its one that i feel really pushes my whole body to the point of exhaustion. I sometimes spend a whole session just focussing on this exercise and perfecting my technique. Its extremely important that you warm up before deadlifting and also do 1 or 2 warm up sets. Its so easy to get injured if this exercise is performed incorrectly.