Power To Your Bench Press
by
healthy_blogging
Are you doing dips, skullcrushers, and push ups, but still having trouble with your bench press? All of the exercises that I mentioned are intended to strengthen the triceps which in turn helps your bench press. But they might not be enough for some people. And even if you are seeing good results with your bench, if you're like most other lifters, you want to continuing pushing the limits of what you do. That's where power rack lockouts come in! Sometimes the only remedy for a lagging bench press is to lift heavy. Lift heavy and lift hard. And make no mistake: the power rack lockout is ONE exercise that will definitely FORCE you to work hard for every single rep you do.
How To Do Power Rack Lockouts
This is an exercise that can be deadly if you do them incorrectly. You must use a power rack for this exercise. No exceptions. Get a flat bench, Olympic bar, safety pins and weight plates because you're going to need all of them. Set the safety pins in the eighth hole and the bar on top of the pins. Position the flat bench under the bar. To get a feel for what this exercise is about, lie down on the bench just as you do for a bench press. Griping the bar at shoulder width, lift it from the pins and perform ten reps. This is just to get a feel for what you're doing. This power rack lockout is a partial lockout exercise that focuses on the lockout of the flat bench exercise. You're focusing on stronger triceps here. (The mid rack lockout is even more intense than the exercise that I'm talking about today. We'll learn about mid rack lockouts in an upcoming article.)
Now it's time to add weight. For this exercise you want to lift 125 - 150 percent of your 1 RM. So if your 1 RM is 200 pounds, you'll need to lift 250 - 300 pounds on the Power rack lockouts. And the only way to do this safely is to use the power rack. My 1 RM is 280 pounds, so I lifted 365 pounds which is 130 percent of my 1 RM. After you've added the proper amount of weight, it's time to get started.
Lie down on the flat bench just as you would for the flat bench barbell press. Grip the bar at shoulder width. Make sure that your feet are firmly planted on the floor. Arch your back, and keep your shoulders in tight. Take a deep breath and lift the bar off the safety pins. Hold the bar at that position for three seconds then lower it down to the pins again, exhaling on the way down. Then do another rep same as before. The triceps are the primary target in this exercise but you're going to feel it as an energy cost for the whole body. This is a heavy weight, low rep exercise. You're going for three sets of 3- 5 reps each. If you can perform more than six reps, you haven't added enough weight. If you can't get more than one rep, then lower the weight by 30 - 45 pounds. After you've done one set, take 60 seconds to rest. Then go for it again. Don't be surprised if you have trouble getting the same number of reps out of your second set. This is okay, it just means that you're doing that you're supposed to do. But try not to decrease the weights on your second set because this would eliminate any benefit from this exercise.
Power rack lockouts are very very effective in generating incredible strength for the upper body. If you've got enough energy left, get in a few sets of tricep dips or push ups to round out your triceps workout. When you're doing Power rack lockouts for flat bench, your triceps are going to be doing most of the work and if you make them a part of your regular routine, you should start seeing promising results in only a few short weeks.
That's it for the power rack lockouts exercise. Look for more articles on my Great Chest Workouts website.
"Great Chest Workouts: How To Do Power Rack Lockouts - Power To Your Bench Press" copyright 2010 Great Chest Workouts. All Rights Reserved.
