5 Advanced Training Tips For Incline Bench Press
In this video, I take you through the first exercise of my workout – the incline bench press. Funny enough, I actually performed this workout at midnight with a few glasses of vino in my veins!
This brings me to my first lesson (and a very important one at that):
Lesson #1: You Are Capable Of More Than You Think
The only limits there are, are the ones you place on yourself. As well, sometimes your best workouts are accomplished under suboptimal conditions.
Too many people make excuses for poor workouts. Lack of sleep, busy work schedule, no time… They let these ‘excuses’ stop them for progressing.
Well in this video, I hit an all-time personal record at midnight while being slightly drunk.
Now, I don’t recommend training after a few drinks as it’s generally NOT a good idea. That said, I’m sharing this video to impress upon you that there’s really no excuse to not push for forward progress!
You are capable of far more than you think. As well, it’s important to just relax. Don’t stress out about everything being perfect.
Lesson #2: Micro-Loading Will Get You Amazing Progress
In my Greek God Program, I share an incredibly effective concept known as micro-loading. The premise is simple: you add just 1.25 pounds to each side of the bar, for a total weight of 2.5 pounds.
This works amazing because it’s a realistic rate of strength gain. Trying to add 5 lbs to the bar each workout is a tall order. What most people do is try to build up their reps, then increase the weight.
This method works, but it’s slower and it’s not nearly as efficient. As well, increasing reps can be very challenging. For example, if you’re doing 225 lbs on bench press for 4 reps, adding a rep the next workout would increase your predicted one rep max by 5-10 lbs.
As you can see, the best option is micro-loading. I will be selling some micro plates on Kinobody very soon! Can’t wait :)
Click here to learn more about the Kino Micro Plates!
Lesson #3: You Need To Excite Your Nervous System
On your warm up sets, I recommend really focusing on exploding on the way up, and focusing on maximum speed. The reason for this is simple: you’re teaching your nervous system to fire more powerfully.
This will increase strength and power! As well, it will effectively “turn on” your nervous system so you will be stronger and more ready for the heavy weights to come.
I typically do 2-3 warm up sets with progressively heavier weights, building up to my first work set. Note – I only do warm up sets for the first exercise of a workout.
Lesson #4: Don’t Train To Complete Failure (Finish Strong)
By all means, I recommend pushing yourself hard – but know your limits.
One of the biggest mistakes I see is this: people either half ass it or they go full-out and trash themselves.
My suggestion is to push yourself hard, but finish strong. Once you’re unsure if you’re going to be able to get the next rep, that’s when you terminate the set and rack the weight.
If you push yourself too hard, it will be harder to progress and you’ll be wiped out before you finish your workout. Sometimes I’ll leave 1-2 reps in the tank on my second and third set of reverse pyramid training.
I find this method really helps to allow for a smooth rate of progress. Once you start destroying yourself on every set, it becomes much more difficult to improve.
There’s several reasons for why this is the case, but I’d encourage you to try it out for yourself and see. Experiment with how your body handles it.
Lesson #5: Muscle Growth Is Easy With Proper Training
If you’re making consistent strength gains, you can make incredible muscle gains with far less than you think! In fact, I only do about 3-4 sets on chest per week.
I’ve been making gains and building my chest simply because I’m lifting heavier. Now, yes – I could add a secondary chest exercise to get some more volume in and speed up the chest gains. In fact, in my fitness courses, I typically have more volume than what I do in my routine.
That said, I’m not too concerned with optimizing muscle growth at this time. Most people over blow the volume to the point where it sacrifices their strength development. They’re pouring in tons of effort for no gains!
This Will Lead To Better Progress
Hope you enjoyed the takeaways for this post. Use these strategies to progress more (and likely faster) than anything you’ve tried to this point!
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Hey Greg, I hit a plateau on Incline Barbell and I plan on switching to DB. Do you count both weights or just the one on each hand for RPT? Also since DB can only go in 5lbs increments how do you account for getting stronger on the lift? Very much appreciated!
P.S. WSP and GGMBP is easily the best $90 I’ve ever spent :)
You would have to hit top end of the rep range before increasing weight
What can I do instead of incline barbell bench press because it hurts my shoulders (sharp pain) or what should I do to prevent it? It doesn’t happen with flat bench and dumbell press.
Make sure your resting your self on your scapula muscle, backs of your shoulders. Not a flat back. This will take stress off your shoulder
Darren is right. Greg has an article on the proper form for both
flat an incline bench pressing you should check it out. The article Greg has on
posture should be beneficial as well it has some great exercises that will help eliminate your shoulder pain by improving your ability to get into the proper position for incline pressing.
Article on form: https://kinobody.com/workouts-and-exercises/bench-press-form/
Article on posture: https://kinobody.com/workouts-and-exercises/how-to-boost-strength-confidence-with-perfect-posture/
Hope this helps.
Great post. It hadn’t occurred to me that I should use
explosive movements to excite my nervous system during warmup sets and It’s
also good to know that I don’t have murder myself during every set of every
exercise.
You mentioned that a second exercise would help speed up
muscle growth but I was wondering if doing 1-2 extra sets of RPT would be just
as effective. If not what exercises would you recommend to supplement Incline
benching?
I’m also having a problem with my weighted chin ups, I
started with bodyweight about three months ago and now I’m doing chins with 50
pounds (35% bw) and it seems like every muscle in my back except for my lats is
growing. Is there a way that I can target my lats more effectively?
Maybe try changing to pullups for some time?