There are practically no secrets in bodybuilding today. Athletes share their best practices. Learn how to achieve maximum strength while lifting weights. Today we will talk about several ways to accelerate progress in one exercise, namely the bench press. This is one of the most popular basic exercises and the interest in it is understandable. You can use all the methods that you will learn about today in other movements. Let's take a look at these strength training secrets from the iron sports pros.
Physiological reasons for slow progress in bodybuilding
As you know, muscle tissue is made up of fibers. Human strength is directly related to the number of fibers that are involved in lifting weights. The brain is responsible for this. You must remember that all muscle fibers will never be involved in work. Even if you are lifting what is your maximum weight, some fibers will not work. Thus, we can say that we have a sufficiently large potential of strength that we cannot use.
It should also be said that if you use 6 to 10 repetitions when performing exercises and decide to determine your maximum weight, then the result will be significantly different from what can be achieved using fewer repetitions in training. If very often already at the weigh-in stage it is possible to determine the winner of a bodybuilding tournament, then in powerlifting or weightlifting, the appearance of an athlete is not decisive. This is due to the possibility of unlocking the potential inherent in our muscles.
The number of fibers required to lift a certain weight is determined by the brain thanks to special receptors that are located in muscle tissues and ligaments. The task of these receptors is to control the stretching of the fibers, as well as the load on the muscles, connective tissues and bones. Thanks to this, the body can protect itself from various injuries under powerful loads.
Your task is to get the brain to connect as many fibers as possible to work. This means that it is not only necessary to activate more receptors, but also to develop the connection between the brain and muscles.
Strength training secrets
Let us first consider four ways to activate additional receptors. Remember that they can be taught to work faster.
Press (partial press)
This method is very effective in triceps training. You are doing a regular bench press, but the equipment should not touch your chest. You can lower the bar very low or only a couple of tens of centimeters. For each of these cases, it is necessary to select the appropriate operating weight. The more the weight of the projectile and the smaller the range of motion, the more progress you can make in the development of strength indicators. Do two to four repetitions.
Single
Simply put, singles are singles. Use the weight of about 95 percent of the maximum and do three or four sets of one repetition. It is very important that not the maximum working weight is used, but close to it.
Negative repetitions
Immediately it is necessary to warn that this is a very complex movement and at the same time very effective. The muscles when lowering weights can develop significantly more force than lifting. Use a weight between 105 and 110 percent of your maximum. You must lower the projectile yourself, while controlling its movement, and your partner will lift the weight for you. Do no more than two sets and use this method once every 14 days. This is due to the fact that the body will take a long time to recover.
Static projectile hold
In this case, you will need to use a weight between 110 and 120 percent of the maximum. A friend helps to remove the projectile from the rack, and your task is to hold it in straight arms for ten seconds. Rest for five minutes and repeat the approach.
All the exercises described above will help you accustom the articular-ligamentous apparatus to work with heavy weight. However, this is not all. It will be very useful to develop the power-speed qualities of the muscles. This will teach the brain to connect a large number of fibers to work in a short period of time. It is thanks to the explosive power that athletes are able to lift large weights that they seem incapable of.
One of the ways to develop these qualities is the fast bench press. Take a weight between 50 and 60 percent of the maximum and do sets in three counts. Rest between sets should be a couple of minutes, no more. Plyometric push-ups are also very effective. Place two benches for the bench side by side, and yourself take an emphasis lying between them, while you need to touch the ground with your chest. After that, push the body out with a sharp push and take an emphasis while lying on the benches. Push the body out again with a powerful movement and return to the starting position.
You need to monitor the speed of the exercises in the regular press. Do this not only in a positive phase, but also in a negative one. The faster the projectile descends, the less strength you will spend. Also, fast work in the negative phase allows the muscles to stretch sharply and thereby lower the receptor threshold. This leads to the fact that during the lifting of the projectile, additional fibers are connected to work and your strength increases. At the time of the barbell press from the chest, you need to do it as quickly as possible. This allows you to develop the connection between the brain and muscles, which was mentioned above.
These are just a few ways to improve your strength characteristics. At the same time, you need to be careful with negative reps and singles to avoid getting overtrained.
You can visually familiarize yourself with the technique for performing the main elements of strength training in this video:
