How to do the Best MASS Exercises Even Better

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If you’re into bodybuilding you want to actually build that body, not just lift weights. You want to add enough muscle that there’s no doubt what you do — the results speak for themselves. As soon as you walk into a room, people see you for what your are, a bodybuilder. There’s no room for doubt. And what you don’t want is to bulk up with lots of blubber and water along with those muscles so you just look big and bulky … and yeah, flabby. That’s not a good look.

Ever since way back when this whole thing first started, men have been focusing on the solid, basic lifts, the ones that build a strong, functional body. In recent years the focus has started to shift somewhat so that nowadays new guys doing bodybuilding are working more and more with machines and gym balls and balance boards and whatever new contraption pops up this month. There’s nothing wrong with these new things, or with taking a different approach; that’s how we make progress and make new discoveries generally, not just with bodybuilding. But the problem arises when people lose site of what it’s all about, what is known to work and what’s known to produce the effect you’re looking for.

And then, when they’ve lost that direction, the gains generally stop coming and pretty soon they stop turning up at the gym because they don’t see the point anymore. It’s a shame to see people drop out this way, but it’s inevitable, as long as this confusion goes on. In this article I’m going to reintroduce you to some of the most effective bodybuilding exercises ever, and I’m going to point out how they should be performed in order to see the best results.

The flat bench press

serge-nubretThe bench press was always regarded as the mainstay of upper body work. Back in the 60s and 70s bodybuilders generally had more all round upper body development than they do today. This is not some sort of tilted nostalgia, seeing the old time guys as being better just because they are still revered today, and imagining them to be better in some odd way. You only have to look at photos of past champions (and others, by the way, not just the champions) to see how magnificent their upper body development was.

There’s a move away from the bench press today, with people preferring to use machines to do pec work, and using dumbbells rather than the bar if they do bench work. The problem with that is that these are closer to true isolation exercises, whereas the bench press is a true compound lift — it works the chest, of course, but it also works the anterior delts, the triceps and everything in between. If you choose to forgo the bench press you might well be missing out on some of the crossover benefits that come along with that chest development you’re working on. And because you’re concentrating on dumbbell work or machine exercises, you might miss out too on any serious pectoral development.

How to do the bench press even better

Too often people get obsessed with gaining strength. Of course you want to get stronger, and you will. By doing the exercises right! But focusing too much on gaining strength detracts from the main aim of the bench press — developing the chest. Trying to build massive strength, people stick to low reps and heavy weights. This is excellent … if you’re a powerlifter, but you’re basically a bodybuilder; your primary aim is to build the body, not gain massive strength.

Instead of sticking to sets of 3-5 reps of a really heavy weight, strip some of those plates off and do the exercise as it was designed. First, pull your shoulders down a little and squeeze your shoulder blades together. Arch your back just a little, and force your chest up. Have your grip a little wider than shoulder width and keep your elbows tucked down. Now force that bar up evenly, feeling every inch of the movement, and hold the top position for a second or two, but not with your elbows locked out. Squeeze those pecs hard (remember, that’s what this exercise is all about, not just pushing the bar up and down). And as you lower the weight, do it under full control, slowly and evenly, and being aware of your chest muscles stretching.

Go for 8-12 reps like this and you’ll feel more benefit almost immediately. And you’ll be sure to be building up your strength as you go, and seeing crossover benefits in your triceps, traps and delts.