Aleksey Vayner Bench Press Technique, Tips & Tricks to Increase Your 1 Rep Maximum Bench Press
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This article is the result of several hundred emails I received back in college from weight training enthusiasts, asking how I bench pressed 515 pounds and how they could achieve the same results. I was hesitant to share my training experience because, having been through it, I do not support powerlifting. Powerlifting demands a regular training regiment that is not only strenuous, but is damaging to one’s body and actually kills brain cells. In addition, the muscle mass one develops in the process significantly limits the caliber of ones performance across most other sports. Overall, it was a regrettable waste of time.
Traditional weight training can provide many more benefits to your fitness goals. However, if your sole purpose is to bench press weights in the range where most people will not believe you, then I hope you’ll find suggestions on this page quite useful.
What follows is a compilation of powerlifting methodology and effective ‘hacks’ which led me to a 515lbs one rep max bench press in June/July of 2007. This articles focuses on areas newbie powerlifters often overlook. They are meant to be incorporated into your existing, comprehensive training program – NOT used as a substitute for one.
First, you need to find someone who has successfully and regularly bench pressed a lot more weight than your target goal, and model (duplicate to the best of your ability) their path.
I followed MetalMelitia bench press techniques, and Rayan Kennelly’s (world powerlifting record-holder) training plan, but that was still not enough for me to break through 500lbs bench press in 2006. In 2007 I hired 2 renown powerlifting trainers who have numerous students setting records in national and international championships; their help made the difference between bench pressing 495lbs assisted and 515lbs unassisted (when spotter does not touch the bar throughout the rep).
Prep Work
1. Before you begin, create a plan. Know exactly where you stand now, and exactly what you want to achieve. As already mentioned, you need to model after someone. Analyze everything you can on how people (similar to your height and built) did before what you are trying to achieve now, and work backwards using their training plans. Then see if you can customize these plans to your specific needs to make the process more effective.
In applying the same concept to martial arts, Bruce Lee often said – take what is useful, discard what is useless and make it essentially your own. This process of modeling an appropriate champion in your respective niche, and then customizing their path to better fit you, is responsible for more gold medals, in more sports, than any other technique.
2. Write everything down. Unfortunately (as important as visualization may be) you can’t quite think your way to a massive bench press. If you want large gains, you will have to invest heavily into producing them. As with any other form of investment, there are risks, costs and opportunity cost. I approached weight lifting as I do everything else; thorough research, written plan, and written execution to measure progress and account for deviation. In the 2 years I was serious about weight lifting, almost every single workout is documented with hand-written notes; I never did exercises that were outside the scope of my training plan for that day, and rarely did I not complete every lifting routine assigned to that day. This step alone, and the discipline to carry it out, will be responsible for at least 50% of your bench press success.
3. Get the right equipment. Equipment for powerlifitng includes a bench, powerlifitng rack for lockouts, bench shirt, wrist wraps, powerlifitng belt to keep the bench shirt in place, boards, bands and chains. My 515lbs bench press goal was not ambitious by any professional powerlifting standards, therefore to reach it I got away with bench pressing raw majority of the time. However, if you are looking to move weights in the 600lbs+ range, I highly recommend learning and sticking to lifting in a bench press shirt because it is much safer than benching raw, and much easier to move the weight through the weakest range of motion.
To break bench press records you will need good equipment; I used an average bench most of the time, but everything else was top notch; Inzer Rage X bench shirt, Inzer forever buckle belt, Iron wraps Z, power-surge red line knee wraps, strong/monster bands, chains and boards for bench press.
4. Supplements & Nutrition. Powerlifting destroys your body, literally. Your recovery time, and staying injury free is correlated to your ability to set new personal bench press records. Basic supplementation consisting of weight gainers, whey protein, liquid protein, designer protein with ZMA, BCAAs, L-glutamine, creatine, multi-vitamins, multi-minerals, and various energy boosters cost me around $400 per month during the peaks of training cycles. A great, under-the-radar source to purchase all of these supplements is www.dpsnutrition.net
Your food intake after workouts & during recovery phase is the single most important factor after the quality of weight training itself. If you consume poor quality food you’ll undo 90% of progress you could have made. Drink a high quality protein shake immediately following the workout; designer whey is a good choice. Beyond that, all your meals should consist of high quality lean protein, balanced with complex carbohydrates. The most common dinner meal I had during training was steamed chicken breasts, steamed broccoli, and boiled brown rice. I drink almost exclusively green tea, at all times except during actual workout (when I drink water).
Weight Training Mistakes
In the investment field it is common mantra that by practicing risk aversion and not losing money, you will eventually make a tidy profit. From this perspective, most people fail at weight training from day 1. The following are some common mistakes I’ve often observed in the gym (or have been guilty of myself). Any one of these errors, however trivial they may appear now, will diminish results of your individual workouts, and will compound to significantly undermine your overall efforts, and/or will have adverse affects on your fitness level.
1. Warm up. Warm up and stretching must precede weight lifting. Body has to be warm and primed for lifting heavy weights. Starting with light weights is a shortcut, which is not a substitute for stretching and 10-15 minutes of cardio warm-up. Most people get this wrong.
2. Prepare Mentally. Weight lifting, and especially powerlifting, is exhausting! Many people come to the gym unprepared to train, physically and mentally. Some have just eaten while others have not eaten in a long time. They may be tired, focused on factors beyond the gym, or have another excuse not to train effectively. Scattered mind in the gym is a waste of time. If you show up, come physically and mentally prepared to train at your best.
3. Technique. Proper technique is the cornerstone of progress and remaining injury-free. Many people seem to associate moving a weight with weight training, which makes weight training appear deceptively simple. It’s not. Take the time to learn correct techniques for each body part you are working on. Learn a little about anatomy, and the muscles and joints that get involved in each of your exercises. Always be vigilant not to sacrifice technique by going heavier than you can execute well. I estimate 95% of people at an average gym try to lift too much weight or use poor form, which is a good recipe for an injury.
4. Follow you plan, maintain rest periods. It has been my experience that above-average performance in anything requires substantial knowledge, discipline, sacrifice and consistent effort. This leads me to 2 subtle, yet critical points about your powerlifting efforts. If you are following advice on this page, and you have outlined a split-training routine at least 1 months out – stick to your workout plan. Second, keep your rest to 60 seconds between sets unless you are lifting legs or going for really heavy/max weight sets. If you do not time your rest, I guarantee your rest periods are 2-5 times too long. Now think about this – It takes you about 20 seconds to complete 1 exercise on a bench. If you rest for 60 seconds, your training to rest ratio is 1:3. If you rest 2 minutes between sets, the ratio is now 1:6; at this rate you actually train 10 minutes out of the hour you spent in the gym. That’s not good enough. Leave socializing at the gym to people with no written goals, no written training plan, and no real purpose for being there. Avoid them and stick to your rest limits until you have completed your workout.
5. Train with spotters or partners. One of the unbreakable bench press rules is that you must have a spotter when you bench press. I cannot stress this enough. As you increase the weights, you need two or three spotters; I recommend using 3 spotters for all bench presses over 425lbs. Insist that spotters keep their hands right against the bar/plates throughout the rep (without assisting you). Although spotters cannot touch the bar when you bench press in a competition, it is better to be safe than sorry in practice; if you hit failure, and spotters’ hands are not right against the bar, they’ll never “catch” the bar before it crushes your chest, or at best, causes you serious injury.
One thing worse than not having a spotter is having a bad spotter. I have had instances of calling someone over in the gym to spot me and the person would be listening to their headphones (nearly killing me when I was at a rep failure). Never get assistance from people listening to headphones in the gym, period.
Training partners are essential to your bench press success. I attribute half of my results in powerlifting to great guys I trained with at Yale University. DM helped me stay committed to my goal, hit my targets and regularly push for a new personal 1RM. PC held me back from injuries by making sure I don’t max out on the bench press more than once per week, keep the right grip, and have 2-3 spotters whenever bench press was above 425lbs. They were great training partners who added the necessary structure, competition, and motivation to our training; they also kept me alive.
6. Get a trainer. After you develop solid strength and technical base, I recommend engaging the help of a powerlifting trainer who has a track-record of sending students to world championships. This might be expensive, but there are intricacies to powerlifting bench press technique that are difficult to grasp without professional help. A good powerlifting trainer is essential to help you perfect the bench press technique, develop a split routine and push you beyond the limits you can normally push yourself.
I initially made the mistake of thinking that I could figure out all the training details on my own; as the result it took me 2 years to bench press 500lbs+ instead of the 1 year I originally anticipated. During my 1st training session with 2 world-renown powerlifting trainers I completed 23 sets of bench press, threw up, passed out 3 times during the press, and had the bench shirt cut into muscle tissue on my arms. I would probably never put myself through such torture willingly, and consequently would not have reached my bench press goal.
7. Manage Pain. There is good pain and bad pain. Good pain is from residual lactic acid in the muscles (or so it was though by scientists until recently). Contrary to common opinion, I think you can train through it if you are not maxing out on any of your exercises. Bad pain is a result of an injured muscle, joint, or tendon. 46% of males who go to the gym have said, according to a widespread national survey, that they train through the pain. This is not smart if the pain is a result of an injury, and it is important to be attentive enough to your body to differentiate between the two.
Foundation, Growth, Recovery, Peak
A solid training program consists of foundation/building, growth, recovery and peak phases.
Foundation/building stage of weight training consists of priming the body for more rigorous training. During this stage you should expect to perfect technique, gain strength, gain approximately 20 pounds of muscle, and become thoroughly familiar with combinations of weight training exercises, split-routines, supersets, drop sets and other important elements that will go into your growth training. During this stage you don’t have to do anything specific to powerlifting except emphasize leg and triceps strength. Vast majority of weight training literature on the market deals with foundation stage. The best and cheapest option I’ve seen is a soft-cover book titled BodySculpting Bible for Men (there is one for women too). It will enable you to create solid basic workout plans.
Growth. Growth stage should consist of advanced strength routines that are heavy in both, the number of sets and the weights being lifted. Routines you develop for growth stage should be 3-on/1-off, have 12 sets for large muscle groups (at max weight), 8 sets for smaller groups, stay in the 3-8 reps range, and include supersets and drop sets.
I am attaching a document with examples of routines I followed. They are NOT powerlifting, but rather heavily modified bodybuilding routines. I opted to develop maximum strength and proportionately develop the body before making too many powerlifting-specific adjustments. Also note, these workouts are very set and weight heavy, so I strongly recommend making adjustments to fit your fitness level and training goals. . Click Here to Download Aleksey Vayner’s Weight Training Routines
Recovery. Recovery is at least as important as the actual weight training. Body rebuilds itself and muscles grow during recovery, not during the workout. As you can easily see by my routines above, I over trained; this was the main reason I did not hit my target powerlifting goals in 2006. When you get to advanced weight training stages, 3 training days in the gym is the optimal number, depending on your split-routine. Recovery is also the time to place special emphasis on the quality and the amount of food and supplementation you are getting.
A quick sidenote; heavy bench presses, even single rep ones, burn a lot more calories than I even suspected. If you don’t make a conscious effort of eating more than usual, you’ll actually be loosing weight during the heavy lifting/growth stage.
Peak. Peak phase is when you are preparing for a competition, or to set a substantial new personal best (blast through a long-standing sticky weight). Peaking for maximum bench press involves adding resistance bands to the bar, using boards, and doing many highly specialized workouts tailored to increase your bench press, which are beyond the scope of this article. Contrary to popular belief, this phase is not 1-2 weeks before competition. It can be 1 month out, or up to 6 months out, depending o your specific needs.
Master The Bench Press Technique
Strength and proper technique are equally important elements of your bench press. You cannot have one without the other, and to set new personal records, you’ll have to pay special attention to powerlifting bench press technique.
First, powerlifting technique is quite different from what you see people do at the gym. Second, even the smallest adjustments (such as 1″ difference in position of your elbows during descent) can lead to a 25-50lbs increase in your one rep max (1RM) within the same workout, and up to 200lbs increase if you are using a bench shirt (fact; many powerlifters who bench press 700lbs+ using a bench press shirt cannot bench press 425lbs raw).
Prior to setting up on the bench you want to make sure that you have stretched, primed muscles with semi-heavy sets, and wrapped your wrists well. There are many wrong ways and one right way to wrap your wrists so they are locked in place; learn to wrap your wrists correctly and do not delay your 1RM because wraps cut off most of the blood circulation into your hands.
It is not possible to demonstrate correct bench press on paper, but there are several basic tenants you must always follow:
- Dig in with your traps. Big chests do not translate into big bench-presses. Proper technique shifts most of the movement onto the back (latissimus dorsi), triceps, and rear deltoids. On a standard bench, place your head on the bench fist while you arch (holding the bar from underneath with both hands at the same time) and then pull your shoulder blades together so the traps and “upper” shoulders rest on the bench’s surface. This shortens the distance from the chest to full extension, ads stability, utilizes larger muscle groups, and eliminates your arms’ weakest range of motion.
Here is a quick video of what I just described (very poor execution, on a very shaky bench, but you’ll get the idea):
- Bench with your legs: Strong legs make a much more powerful bench press than a large chest. To maximize your leg strength during a bench press, put your body into a near-full arch when performing a one-rep max bench-press by supporting your body on the balls of your feet (by putting your feet underneath your body and arching your back). Drive your legs into the ground hard to initiate the lift of the bar from your chest.
- Train for triples:Dedicate one work-out per week to the bench-press alone, performing 8-12 sets of 3 reps with about 5 minutes rest between sets. Use all 3 grips during this workout: wide, standard, and close grip (as per regulation, not according to what you think is a wide, standard, or a close grip). Start with 60% of your 1-rep maximum (1RM) and add 5-10% per workout going forward.
- Emphasize triceps, rear deltoid, and brachialis development:Following the above 8-12 sets of bench-press, perform one exercise for rear deltoids, one exercise for triceps, and one exercise for the brachialis. Perform 3 sets of 10 repetitions with 2-4 minutes between sets.
My favorite exercises for these body parts are as follows:
Rear deltoids - Reverse dumbbell fly (performed standing).
Triceps - My favorite by far were dips, weighted with 4 or 5 45-pound plates (this exercise is for lockouts, so do NOT attempt a high range of motion as you’ll likely tear your rotator cuff). However, specifically for bench press, triceps extensions or close grip bench press is a better training choice.
Brachialis- Hammer curls: bicep curls where the thumb is kept pointing to the ceiling and the palm is not turned upward.
15 Tweaks for Maximum Bench Press
Here is a list of additional 15 easy tweaks you can make to improve your bench press in a single workout:
- Pyramid up. Don’t ever start with a maximum attempt.
- Visualize. Before every single max attempt visualize yourself pressing that weight without any trouble; this helps to break through mental plateaus
- Play mind tricks. Mind tricks can do wonders for your training. When I practiced in a small powerlifting gym, my trainer chalked all heavy dumbbells with a lighter weight, without telling me. Early in the workout he handed me dumbbells marked 120lbs each. We must have done 4-5 sets with them before the chalk got erased and I could notice a barely-visible 145 mark engraved on the side of these dumbbells. Really helped!
- Rest 3-5 min between heaviest reps
- Stay warm; most gyms have ACs which hinder your workout by cooling your muscles during rest period. Wear long-sleeve between sets.
- Use a firm/professional bench (if you can find one). The more stable the bench (and generally firmer the foam), the stronger your lift will be. Make sure the bench height allows you to have an acute knee angle (less than 90 degrees) with your feet flat on the ground. Most competition benches measure about 30 cm wide; make sure yours is not narrower.
- Pick your bar carefully. Similarly, use a bar with the least whip; this can make a 5-10% difference in your 1RM. Different bars have up to 1/2-inch difference in circumference where you grip. Using a bar that is 9-9.5 centimeters can add 5% to your lift. Make sure the bar is completely straight; roll it on the floor, you’ll see whether it rolls smoothly or is lop-sided. This can account for another 5% in your max bench press. Next, make sure distance where you grip is the same regardless of where the bar is marked (another 5%). Finally, make sure it is not too shiny/slipper, so you don’t waste energy fighting lateral hand slippage.
- Keep glutes on bench press; it’s an amateur mistake to lift glutes off the bench, and actually weakens your bench.
- Lats; squeezing the lats and “pushing” with them will enable you to move more weight.
- Not quite an immediate fix, but strengthening your legs will enable you to break through your current max. If you have done all you can with the upper body and cannot increase your bench press any further, look to your technique and leg strength.
- Avoid overtraining; an obvious one – you must be well-rested to set new records
- Don’t waste your energy on taking the bar off the rack. Train spotter/s to hand it to you by easing it into your hands, instead dropping it on you like a shipping container.
- Arch for maximum bench press! The arch reduces the distance the bar travels, increases contribution the lats and lower pecs make, and creates an arc in the lift, as opposed to forcing the lift straight up. Start by placing your feet far back, driving your hips in the air and back down the bench, then placing your shoulders into the as close to your feet as you can. All professional powerlifters have a big arch.
- Master the “sticking point” during the concentric phase of the lift by consciously driving the bar more toward the head rather than straight up.
- Hold your breath until you’re are, at least, through the sticking point. This maintains a firm structure, a foundation from which you press the weight upward. You should eventually hold your breath for longer periods of time. This is what most powerlifters inadvertently do.
I hope all this information was helpful to you and will be helpful to anyone trying to reach a new maximum bench press. Best of luck!
Aleksey Vayner Interview w INZER
Aleksey Vayner Weight Training Routines
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