if you're looking to increase your bench press you're in the right place let's get into it
so the dumbbell bench press is one of those things where it's actually a little bit easier
to progress in weight than a lot of people think now of course there's always going to be plateaus
there's always going to be different strategies to break through those plateaus but today we're
going to talk about three key things that you can use to continuously build momentum and strength
with your bench press some of these things are going to allow you to improve your bench press
starting today and then others are going to allow you to make more quick strength gains and actually
physique gains as well through these strategies so there's three specific things that we're going to
cover today so the first one that we're going to go over is getting your form right now i created
an entirely different video on form alone that i want you to check out but the four keys to really
focus on when you're getting your form right is to stay tight is to fully control the dumbbells
don't use something where it's a heavy weight and you're bouncing it off your chest to keep your
elbows at a 45 degree angle so instead of that 90 degrees that a lot of people tend to do keeping
them more of 45 and then the fourth one is really rather than just focusing on getting the weight up
really working on activating that muscle so first and foremost get those right again if you're
looking for a more detailed explanation check out the link in the description of this video for the
form video for dumbbell bench press the second strategy that we're going to work on is using
specific variations now there's a lot of different ways to control the tempo of the bench press but
what i want to talk about today are three separate phases that you can work up to to really gain that
control and that strength with that exercise now there's a lot of different ways to do this right
you could do one variation one workout the next variation the next you could do one variation on
set one the next on set two the next on set three but really what we wanna be doing here is varying
it enough that allows our muscles to adapt to what we're actually doing and so again we're
always going to be focusing on the form here we never want to be out of control but really
when we think about the three variations so the first is going to be a much more controlled tempo
so specifically on the way up we're going for a count of three to five seconds
so a lot of people tend to just explode up we really want to focus on just coming very slowly
squeezing the chest same thing on the way down coming very slowly and then pausing for two
seconds now when we pause you can maintain a tight grip on the dumbbells but actually
loosen up your chest a little bit allow your tenseness and the muscle to kind of
just release there and so how this would look is going one two three four one two three four five
stretch tighten up one two three four one two three four five loosen up and stretch
and that would be for going for the duration of the reps now i didn't mention this before
but you can also vary these within the same set so if you wanted to do three to five reps with
that first variation and then the next three to five reps with the second one then the next three
five with the third one that's also another option and so the second variation here once
you have progressed from that one is going to be doing the same thing where you have full control
but basically you're going to allow yourself to pause at the bottom so it's going to be
one two three four five pause at the bottom and then explode up now when you explode up again
really focus on activating the chest here we don't want to just put the focus in the hands
and so down pause explode up down pause explode up so that's variation number two and then the third
variation is just going to be down up down up so controlling on the way down exploding
up so just like a tap now you're not bouncing here right you're not doing anything like this
you're maintaining that full tightness and control but again you're using those different variations
so again variation number one is going to be slow down pause for two seconds slow and
controlled up really squeezing variation number two is going to be slow down pause
explode up variation number three is going to be slow down explode up and so when you're doing
these what you're going to find is you're actually the more you control the weight the more that you
include those pauses the more that you're going to be able to really handle those weights and just
explode up and really activate the power in the chest so try this out next time rather
than doing just the rep after after rep after rep really focus on controlling that weight and
guys that brings me to strategy number three here which is going to be the most important part to
seeing strength development which is going to be pushing hard all right so what most people
tend to do when they're just exploding the weight is once they hit that burning point they stop or
maybe they'll go a couple through now this type of exercise where you're really slow and controlled
even especially the paws at the bottom and slow and controlled at the top is you need to become
friends with the discomfort you need to be okay with allowing that burn to happen in your muscles
now of course there's that fine line between a burn that's actually helpful
versus a burn that shows that you're about to get injured you're about to hurt yourself
so of course you always want to make sure you're using weights that you control but the more that
you can step into this discomfort and really push those reps because the grind men they are tough
they are mentally tough they are physically tough and so if you really want to develop
that strength one of the things that you have to develop here is making sure that you're getting
into that zone getting into that state where the toughness is just something you can just
grit out and push through the more you do it the more you find that you're actually going to push
in other areas of life other workouts and overall your development as a person is with your fitness
with your weight loss with pretty much everything else is going to improve if you are focusing on
really becoming friends with this discomfort and so that's a practice there i mean i'd always
recommend keeping some sort of log where you know okay this workout i did 65 pounds for 10 reps
really controlled and it freaking burned and then next workout you can see hey maybe i'll go
for 11 or 12. because then you can really not only progress in the weight but you can also
progress mentally because especially like i said when you're getting in the slow and controlled
most people are giving up pretty far before their muscles actually fail it's usually their mind that
fails first and so those are my three strategies make sure you get your form right switch up
between those variations of slow pause slow slow pause fast and slow fast right super simple there
and then the third is going to be really becoming friends with that discomfort and letting it burn
while of course maintaining your form staying tight because if you don't that's when you can
put yourself at risk for injury so let me know in the comments below out of these three what do you
think is going to be the most helpful for you with your strength and your physique gains so
i'm looking forward to those comments but if you are currently working on losing weight and you've
done the yo-yo and you've been struggling to stay consistent and to keep that motivation make sure
you check the link in the description of this video for our free course that we put together
on how to use weight training and fasting and mindfulness and mental toughness to see incredible
results with consistency motivation discipline as well as of course actual weight loss gains so
check that out but of course make sure you're subscribed if you're looking for more awesome
ways to simplify weight loss with that being said i appreciate you and make sure as always that you
eat smart move more sleep deep and be grateful for this moment i'll see you in the next video