Whenever one of my lifters finishes a training block, competes in a powerlifting meet or otherwise reaches a turning point in training, I ask them the same question:
What do you want to focus on next?
Recently, I’ve had a lot of lifters set squat and deadlift PRs in training, but not as many bench press PR. So naturally, many of them answered that question by saying they want to focus on improving their bench press.
After taking a critical look at my lifters’ strengths and weaknesses, as well as dissecting their recent training programs, I whittled it down to 5 main reasons why someone’s bench press might be stalling.
1. You’re Not Pausing Your Reps
Simply pausing each rep on your chest can help improve your bench press dramatically. From improving upper back tightness, to increasing bar speed, to enhancing leg drive, paused reps are magic.
If you have any intention of competing in powerlifting, you should be pausing all your reps anyway. Practice like you play. Even if you don’t compete, try pausing ALL your reps on the chest for a “1-Mississippi” and watch your technique and bar speed skyrocket.
2. You Don’t Bench Often Enough
Most of our lifters squat, bench and deadlift twice a week. That seems to be the sweet spot for most people. It allows us to do one heavy day and one light day, with lots of specific practice of the competition lifts. However, when bench progress is being a fickle beast, sometimes you need to increase the frequency to 3 or even 4 times per week.
Three bench sessions per week works well if you follow a medium/light/heavy protocol. For example:
Day 1: Medium bench (sets of 3-5)
Day 2: Light bench (sets of 8-10)
Day 3: Heavy bench (sets of 1-3)
If you were to push it to 4 days per week, you’d want to include plenty of variety to attack the bench from all angles and stave off overuse injuries. At Bonvec Strength, our novice lifters do this by benching twice a week and floor pressing twice a week. It’s still all bench press, just slightly different variations.
3. You’re Slow Off the Chest
Success leaves clues. If you watch the best bench pressers in the world (Julius Maddox, Jen Thompson and Eric Spoto, to name a few), they’re all tremendously fast off the chest. This is no coincidence. They’ve built their speed via precise technique, violent intent and really, REALLY strong triceps.
Dave Tate has said that any lift that’s struggling can be chalked up to a combination of technique, mentality and muscle. Bench is no different, specifically one’s bar speed off the chest.
From a technique standpoint: staying tight on the chest, using good leg drive and not letting the elbows flare too early.
From a mental standpoint: wake up and choose violence. Bench like you’re trying to break someone’s nose with the bar. Or like you’re trying to punch a hole in the ceiling.
From a muscular standpoint: get your triceps as strong as humanly possible. We’re not talking rinky-dink cable triceps pushdowns. We’re talking about making your close grip bench press nearly as strong as your wide grip. The increased range of motion and lower touch point will teach you to be lightning fast off the chest.
4. You Don’t Get a Handoff/Spot
I’m always surprised by the number of lifters who don’t ask for a handoff or spot when they bench heavy. No matter how hard you try, you’re always going to give up a bit of tightness and sacrifice your starting position by unracking the bar yourself.
A handoff is one thing. I don’t take one very often either. But not getting a spot is both silly and unsafe. If you’re too shy or antisocial to ask for spot, you’re probably also not pushing yourself as hard as you could. Maybe you’re not adding the extra 5 lbs or going for the final rep or two that could be making the difference between progress and stagnation.
It takes a secure person to ask for help. You don’t have to do this alone.
5. You’ve Lost Weight
I don’t have any science to back this up, but the bench press seems to be more negatively affected by weight loss than the squat and deadlift. Whether it’s dehydration, a poor day of eating or an aggressive cut to make weight for a competition, the bench seems to tank when the number on the scale goes down.
If you’re actively trying to lose weight, great. Your goals are yours and yours alone. Just understand that your bench performance will probably suffer. If you cut weight to make a certain weight class at a meet, don’t expect to match your in-the-gym bench numbers when you weighed more.
And if you’re a classic hardgainer who needs to treat every day like Thanksgiving just to keep weight on, know that you can’t take your foot off the gas when it comes to nutrition if you want your bench to keep moving.