How to Increase Your Bench Press - Build a Bigger Chest Fast

Nobody can't deny that Bench Press is the king of all upper-body exercises and it is the best chest exercise for mass including all its variations (incline bench press, decline bench press, flat bench press). The best way to build a bigger chest is to increase and improve your bench press.

Of course, it is very important to lift heavy in order to build muscle mass but it isn't as helpful if you perform the exercise with the bad form. Bench press, as one of the hardest compound movements, can be very dangerous and if you perform it with bad form can lead to injury. 

Improve your bench press form

Proper bench press form is very important for building your chest and also because it prevents injuries. By preventing injuries you will be able to increase your bench press power faster and develop your chest.

Here are some of the most important tips you should know to improve your bench press form:

- Tuck your elbows in at the bottom of the movement to decrease the shoulder rotation and stress from the shoulder joint. Many lifters are ruining their shoulders with one big mistake that they make - flaring their elbows out while pushing the barbell off their chest.

- Using medium, slightly wider than shoulder-width grip is the best way to protect your shoulders. You may also include some wider and narrower grip work, but make sure that majority of your bench pressing is done with a medium grip.

- Keep your shoulders back on the bench and drive yourself into the bench while pressing. You don't have to touch your chest with the bar if the barbell is going to get below 90 degrees because you will move stress from your chest to shoulders which can cause injury.

Check out this YouTube video and learn how to improve your bench press form:

Perform Bench Press more often

If you do like many other lifters and bench press only on Monday, switch from bench pressing once a week to twice a week. By increasing your bench press frequency you will practice this movement more. This will also improve your bench press form and increase your strength.

If you want to get better in something you have to do it more often, so bench pressing with more frequency will get you better results.

Lift Heavier

You can't increase your bench press if you lift the same weight week after week. Lifting the same weight every time will not increase your bench press and will not give your chest a reason to grow. So, to build stronger and bigger pecs try to add 5lb (or less) in every other workout. Try to add more weight whenever you are able to, even if it is only 2lb it doesn't matter. What is important is the progress you make.

Also, check out some basic principles of muscle building to learn how to build muscle mass fast:

How to Gain Muscle Mass - Tips for Beginners and Hardgainers

The 10 Rules of Muscle Building

The Ultimate Chest Workout for Mass

The Ultimate Chest Workout for Mass - Build a Bigger Chest Fast

You've probably heard it a million times when somebody asks for advice to get a bigger chest it is always somebody there to say well, do bench press. Ok, it is true that bench press it the best mass-building chest exercise, but it isn't enough just to do flat, incline and decline bench presses to increase the size of your chest.

Bench press, performed from any angle, is a basis of a great mass-building chest workout and it is best to start every workout with a multi-joint movement like this one. But, aside to king of chest exercises, you will need to perform some dumbbell flyes and pullovers to add more mass to your chest.

The best way to increase your chest width and size is to focus on the upper chest and to perform incline bench press from many incline positions. So, instead of classic incline bench find an adjustable bench and use less of an incline for better impact on your upper chest and less stress on your deltoids.

It is a very common mistake that lifters make when they are training their chest, they don't pay a lot of attention on the stress they are making on their deltoids which lead to many shoulder pains or injuries. What can probably cause that is your form when performing bench presses. 




Here are some tips to improve your bench press form:


- Drop your traps and shoulders down
- Hold your shoulder blades together
- Puff your chest up
- Hold your elbows slightly under the nipple
- Touch your chest with barbell and don't lock out your shoulders

Bench press form is very important when it comes to building a big chest. It is very important to hold a barbell (or dumbbells) with a medium grip which put less stress on front shoulders than the wide grip. 



Many bodybuilders agree that bench press with a grip little wider than shoulder width is great for hitting your pecs. 



Performing a barbell bench press will allow you to lift more weight than using dumbbells which is why it is the best exercise for stronger and bigger pecs. On the other side, dumbbells allow you to perform presses with a more controlled range of motion and it can be safer for deltoids. It is best to perform dumbbell chest exercises after your pecs get exhausted from barbell bench presses.



It is considered that incline bench presses are better than flat bench presses for muscle building because it put deltoids in less vulnerable position. 



A good reason to use dumbbell flies in your chest workout routine is that flies are chest only exercise. Performing it will put all the tension on your chest. Remember to squeeze the weights on the top when performing flies.

One thing that is very important for chest development is stretching. This is the reason why you should also add dips (chest version) to your chest routine. Key to best form is to lean forward, keep your elbows tucked, and go down till your arms are parallel to the ground. 

MASS BUILDING CHEST WORKOUT:

   

EXERCISE	SETS	REPS
Bench Press (Flat or Decline)	3	8
Incline Dumbbell Press	3	8
Incline Dumbbell Flye	3	12
Dip (Chest Version)	3	12