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How to Bench Press Tips 1950s Style
 W ant to build powerful pecs like the strongmen of yesteryear?Your how to bench press tips 1950s style shows you how. Bench Press For Chest?If you want to build your chest, you bench press, right? While it is difficult to imagine anyone wanting to work their pecs and not practice this movement, it wasn't always so. Historically speaking, the bench press is a recent trend. Since standard bench pressing benches weren't common until well into the 1950s, this meant the bench press exercise didn't gain any serious widespread following until lifting giants Paul Anderson and Doug Hepburn began to rewrite the record books... In fact, the current widespread popularity of the bench press has been attributed to the results the exercise produced for Doug Hepburn and Marvin Eder - two strongmen whose efforts weren't lost on their upper body development. Why is the bench press exercise so effective? Consider these bench pressing benefits:
Fast forward to today, and when your typical trainee speaks of building their chest, the talk often starts and ends with the bench press. Why? When performed correctly, the bench press is one of the most productive exercises for working the triceps, shoulders and chest. The strongmen of yesteryear knew this. Your bench press tips 1950s style, shows how this exercise can work its magic for you. Photo courtesy of Joey Day How to Bench Press Tips 1950s Style1. Abbreviated bench press routines. The strongmen of the 50s trained the bench press hard and with heavy weights (for inspiration, Doug Hepburn benched a mighty 580 lbs in 1954). While such feats will be beyond the typical trainee, the philosophy of strength training with progressive poundage is a sound one. Forget the bench press routines found in your muscle magazines, as they will do little to help you, and instead focus on adding more iron to your barbell while performing your bench pressing movements with perfect style. What does a typical abbreviated bench press routine look like? One single work set is enough, while an ultra abbreviated bench press routine could be one single work set performed every 5 to 7 days (or in some cases, perhaps even longer). Afraid you'll lose muscle? Bodybuilding legend Mike Mentzer had some of his students train their major body parts with a 10-13 days rest period between sessions - and the exciting part? These same students continued to gain both size and strength. 2. How to bench press. Perfect bench press technique will help you add muscle safely. The benefits to you? You get to bench press more weight injury free. Begin by benching with your hand placement a little wider than your shoulders, as the wider you go, the more stress will go onto your anterior delts, just as a narrow hand spacing will place more stress onto your triceps. It is safer to avoid such extremes. The widest grip you should take is one that has your forearms parallel to each other when you have the barbell on your chest (this is the same forearm position taken when performing a body weight press up). As always, lower the weight under strict control, and breath powerfully (inhale when lowering the weight, and exhale when pushing the weight up). Just like the strongmen of the 50s, stick to a flat bench initially. And one further how to bench press tip? Practice a repetition range of 5-8 for optimum strength training. 3. Bench pressing perils to avoid. Exaggerated variations of the bench press are usually at the root of any bench pressing perils caused by this exercise. For example, very wide bench presses, and in particular bench pressing to the neck, can be potentially hazardous. While some genetically gifted trainees can perform these interpretations without any apparent harm, they are the exceptions to the rule. The risk you run in performing such interpretations is a serious shoulder injury, or worse. Please don't do it. Instead practice perfect how to bench press form. A further word of caution: never do heavy bench presses without having spotters, a power rack, or safety stands, or some other method to help you get out from under your barbell. For all its muscle building capabilities, the bench press can very likely cost you your life if you ignore this advice. If training at home, set up a home gym with equipment that is bombproof, and built to last. Safety when strength training is paramount when building a strong and healthy body. This is as true now as it was back in the 1950s. In SummaryWeight lifting giants Paul Anderson and Doug Hepburn rewrote the bench press record books. Want to build powerful pecs like the strongmen of yesteryear? Your how to bench press tips 1950s style shows you how. |
