💪BENCH PRESS—TWO TIPS💪
✅Squeeze the bar. Limp wrists don’t equal big benches. Squeeze the bar tight like you are trying to crush; pulling the bar apart is helpful in grasping the bar tightly. According to renowned strength coach Eric Cressey, “A firm grip does so much more than connect you to the bar; it turns on more proximal muscles and gets the nervous system going, as we have loads of mechanoreceptors in our hands (disproportionately more than other areas on the body).” In layman’s terms, grab the bar tightly and activate more muscles. Isolation is not the goal; using as many muscles as possible to bench press maximum loads is.
✅Lower the bar. “I think of my muscles as spring loaded as I lower the weight to my chest, like a rubber band. As soon as I hear press, I explode,” Bill Kazmaier told me in a phone conversation. Lower the weight with control; there is no exact tempo prescription. Jeremy Hoornstra lowers the weight rapidly, whereas former world record holder Doug Young very slowly lowered the bar. I always felt tighter lowering the bar fairly slowly. Science says, “A fast movement produces a fast counter movement.” However, a controlled descent gets a faster press call and enables a lifter to stay tighter easier. The bar for a raw lifter should generally touch between the sternum and nipples.
7 x 212 Olympia champion and one of the greatest to ever set foot on a bodybuilding stage, Flex Lewis, has retired from the sport. We congratulate Flex on a truly legendary and decorated career.