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How you place your hips down to the pad can make or break your set up. Want a bigger arch? This is a huge key right here!When you're bridged up, setting weight onto your traps, you can either do one of 2 things...Simply place the hips down without much thought or effort. Often times contributing to a looser set up, less force transfer, and a drop in positioningOr you can purposefully and intently tuck your butt back as best you can. Using your legs to help tuck your hips under. Doing this will improve all the aforementioned things. You'll feel...

There's no doubt that the bench press in any form is atop the list of any chest and upper body builder. However I think many looking strictly for size could benefit from prioritizing strength.Back when I dabbled in other forms of training before strict powerlifting, the time I grew the best was when I prioritized getting stronger in the bench. Not just trying to pump up the chest and feel the muscles workingIf you expect your body to keep up with the demands that's placed on it, it will have to accommodate by growing!Not only is there a benefit in...

This cue is going to help you cut range of motion, strengthen your bench, and prevent shoulder injury!Think about driving your shoulders into the bench pad. Squishing the cushion of the pad as hard as possible!Just as demonstrated here, you'll feel your back get super tight and you will find a ton of new control and stability with the bar.Continue to try to squish the pad as hard as possible throughout your setThis is why I becomes more difficult to bench off a harder surface. In order to improve the cushion of a commercial gym bench, you can add yoga...

This is a workout I developed and utilized in training before that we are sharing. This is something I've used on a raw bench cycle and recommend for raw benchersStarting off with Close Grip Benching! We are using a close grip here to further the range of motion and target the triceps in particular. The larger the range of motion we can strengthen, the easier it will be when we go back to a slightly wider grip! This is a great alternative if you don't have the range of motion to bench with a cambered bar.We add bands to prioritize...

How do you create a big pop off the chest? Hint: It's not by throwing your body at the bar with your leg drive!They key to getting pop off the chest is actually loading the back on the way down. Using your back like a spring and loading the weight onto it!In order to do and feel that you need to lock your upper back in. You need to pull your shoulder blades into your hips and maintain them like so.Just by standing with a PVC you can experience the difference it makes!I first demonstrate how easy it is to...