When training any lift, after a period of time progress slows down and what’s needed is some familiarisation with heavier weights to acclimatise your joints, muscles and C.N.S. If you are stuck in a rut and struggling to make that leap to a next big milestone in weight, then you might like to try some overload methods.  Whilst some of these bench press overload methods can be overused and don’t always solve the problem entirely, they can build confidence with heavier weights.  A huge part of lifting, especially bench pressing is tied up in your confidence to handle the weight so these methods can enable you to get over the fear and ‘break in’ weights you will soon hit in the future.

Here are some examples of benh press overload methods which you can try…

• Board Presses
  • • These reduce the range of motion so very often enable you to use more weight. Because of this they are not a substitute for full range benching but can be a great compliment.
    • You have various options and can work down from a 5 board all the way down to a 1 board. Generally the closer to the chest the range of motion the closer the relevance to your actual bench press in terms of representative numbers.
    • You can strap the boards to the chest but generally it is best to have someone to hold the board for you. Ensure they hold the boards flat against the chest.
    • Ensure the bar path you use when board pressing replicates the same bar path as your regular bench press. So where you touch the board must be the same place as the bar would be at that point of the movement if benching to the chest.

A selection of our boards we use at Iron Forge Gym

• Reverse Band Bench
  • • This method is often referred to as ‘The Future Method’ for the reason that it facilitates you to handle weights which you might be trying to target in the near future.
    • You set up a bench in a power rack and attach bands from the top of the power rack and loop under the bar.  This will mean that the bar is being partially supported by the bands and as you lower the bar towards the chest the bands will stretch more providing more support at the chest than they do when at lockout.
    • Which bands you choose and how much tension is added from the bands should be relevant to your strength level. There is no point having 50kg assistance from the bands IF your bench press is sub-100kg.  Equally, if you bench 250kg then only using bands which provide 15-20kg support might not be sufficient to change the dynamics of the exercise to have a significant training effect. Typically we look for the reverse band to add 12.5-20%.
    • This method has the advantage of allowing a full range of motion and is great for building confidence with big weights, however lifters can come complacent if over using this method and should be careful to still pause / dead stop their bench presses on the chest (if training for competitions) and not rely too much on the rebound nature that the reverse bands provide.
• Heavy Over-load eccentrics
  • • This is a method which can be done in a couple of different ways. The first requires some specialist equipment known as Weight Releaser Hooks. These are loadable pins which hang off either end of the bar and as you lower the bar and get to the bottom of the movement, the weight releasers release from the bar meaning you only have to press up the weight remaining on the bar itself.
    • This is a slightly more advanced method and you MUST use well experienced spotters to ensure your safety.  You should perform slower eccentrics (lowering phase) than perhaps usual and aim for 5-10 second descents, followed by explosive single or double reps just with the bar weight. Remember that you only get the additional load from the weight releaser on the first rep of each set. This is why it is recommended that you only perform one or two pressed full reps following the heavy descent.
    • The other version of this bench press overload method is one which can be done by anyone in any gym.  It will still require one, or preferably 3 well trained spotters for safety.  It is done by loading up 105-120% of your 1 rep max on the bar and performing just the eccentric part (lowering) of the lift, while a spotter loosely holds on to the bar. Once you have lowered fully to your chest the spotter will help as much as is needed to bring the bar back up again while you press. Another name for these is slow eccentric, assisted reps.

There are various other bench Press overload methods, including supportive devices like Iron Forge Gym’s very own ‘Bench Bolt’ but I will save these for another article.

I hope you find this information useful and interesting and if you would like to know more or want help setting any of these up and implementing them into your training then please ask in person or message me directly and I will gladly help.

Enjoy breaking your bench plateaus.

Phil

If you don’t train at Iron Forge and are looking to buy some bench boards for your gym, then check out these.

If you liked this article, check out another of our bench press articles here.