The bench press is an essential ingredient in almost everybody’s workout regime. Weight benches are great because they are a simple exercise that provides us with a means to get a great increase in muscle size and muscle strength, but often we overlook the importance of explosive strength. This five-second test will help you decide if you need improvement on your explosive strength. The Test: Warm-up normally then estimate your max and lift 60 percent of that for 5 reps. Then lift 70% of that weight for three reps, and then 80% for 1 rep. No it is time to test your explosive strength. Put on the weight of your 1 rep max and time how long it takes you to lower and then raise the bar. If you take more than 5 seconds you need to improve your explosive strength and if you are able to lift the weight in under 5 seconds you are in good shape. The Next Step: Those who passed: Congratulations, your muscles and tendons have explosive power and move fast. Your next step is to increase the amount of weight you can lift by lowering reps on the bench press and increasing the weight on the bar. Those who failed: Cheer up! You don’t always have to be a failure, to increase explosiveness on the bench press follow these steps: 1.Time yourself on how long it takes you to lift 50% of your max 5 times, then add one second to this time. (Your max is 250, you lift 125 in 8.4 seconds + 1 seconds = 9.4 seconds) 2.Gradually increase the weight on the weight bench while trying to execute 5 reps within your goal time (from the example: 9.4 sec.). 3. Continue increasing weight until you are no longer able to execute 5 reps in your goal time, then you are done for the day! Keep it up and you will have explosive power.
Please Rate this Article 5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5
Not yet Rated
