Boosting your strength and endurance can be achieved by more than just regular workouts. For instance, you can combine bench press workouts with high-intensity conditioning and see numerous improvements. The combined workouts are designed to focus on structural integrity and pushing your aerobic limits to increase performance and decrease injuries. Keep reading to learn more about the high-intensity bench press workout.
1. Focused Bench Press Technique
The workout begins with a bench press workout that helps reinforce controlled lifting mechanics. When doing this exercise, athletes are urged to maintain upper back and lat tension while sticking to a meticulous tempo for each lift. Helpful tips to improve each set include:
- Scapular Retraction: This helps in stabilizing the shoulders for a safer press and lower injury risk.
- Firm Foot Placement: Keeping your feet firm can stabilize the lower body during the lift, so you can focus on your arms.
2. Tempo Manipulation for Muscle Growth
Changing the tempo of the workout can enhance chest muscle engagement and hypertrophy. Try these techniques during the workout to see more improvements:
- Top-Peak Isometric Holds: At peak contraction, take a brief pause to increase the tension and improve your muscle endurance.
- Double-Tempo Contrast: Switch between slow and fast movements, increasing your muscle activation along with your endurance.
Along with better muscle engagement, these tempo changes can help with neuromuscular control.
3. Aerobic Metabolic Conditioning
After the bench press workout, athletes will switch into the aerobic metabolic conditioning workout, aka “As Good As It Gets.” The 16-minute workout is EMOM (every minute on the minute), and includes exercises like:
- Bike Calories: This exercise helps with increasing aerobic endurance.
- Moderate Deadlifts: Build overall strength with deadlifts, from your shoulders to your feet.
- Push-Ups: Complement the upper body work from the bench press workout with push-ups.
The EMOM strategy has two main results: encouraging efficient stations and maintaining form while managing heart rate.
4. Accessory Exercises for Overall Balance
After the bench press workout and the conditioning workout, the last piece of the puzzle focuses on improving muscle symmetry and core stability. These are a few of the highlighted exercises:
- Barbell Good Mornings: Each rep targets the posterior chain of muscles.
- Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift Isometric Holds: This exercise prioritizes balance and strength.
- Dumbbell Bench Presses: This is perfect for increasing pressing strength.
- Weighted Planks: Along with strengthening the arms and legs, they focus on core stability.
5. Overall Performance Improvement
The whole workout is designed to give athletes a balanced approach to strength and conditioning through three categories: pressing mechanics, tempo training, and metabolic conditioning. By combining these three workouts, athletes can reap the benefits of a higher athletic performance and muscular endurance, while also decreasing their chances of injury.
Final Thoughts
Adding just a few of these elements to your workout routine can show positive results and increase your overall fitness. If you want more of a challenge from your workout and don’t know where to start, try adding this bench press workout and other exercises, and watch your body benefit.