🏋️‍♂️ 8 better bench press variations to unlock serious gains

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Here’s what we’ve got for you today:

• How to train power for speed and stronger lifts

• The triceps exercises you need in your routine

• The best bench press variations for newfound gains

Training Tips

Power and Glory

Bulging biceps and chiseled pecs will get you looks at the beach. A five-plate squat turns heads in most commercial gyms. But genuine, well-developed athletic power bleeds into every activity you perform, enhancing your speed, skill, coordination, agility, and more. Anyone who considers themselves an athlete — recreationally or otherwise — should train to develop their power output.

In athletic contexts, power is distinct from strength, which is purely about the amount of weight you can lift, usually for a single repetition. Power is your rate of force development (RFD) — not just how much you can lift, but how fast you can lift it.

Unlike strength training, which is sometimes as simple as adding five pounds to the barbell every time you step into the gym, or bodybuilding, which revolves around creating fatigue, power training requires a degree of finesse to benefit from.

Power training can unlock your athletic potential both in and out of the gym, and we’ve got a complete guide on doing it the right way.

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Exercises

All Killer, No Filler

Big slabs of muscle on the backside of your arms are vital for pressing power and flexing up on everyone in the room. But are your arms living up to their potential? More specifically, are you training your triceps hard enough? If not, the eight exercises below should do the trick.

Heavy compound moves and isolation exercises are necessary for training your triceps. Putting close-grip bench benches together in a program with triceps kickbacks or overhead dumbbell extensions is a spicy recipe for bigger, more defined arms. Run the gamut of triceps training by digesting this arm-centric article.

Workouts

Bench the Bench

Every Monday may be International Bench Press Day, but that doesn’t mean you have to just lie down, look at the ceiling, and think of England while slogging through the same up-and-down motion for the umpteenth time this month. No, the bench press revolution is alive and well, and with these eight variations on the classic version, you can show off your crushing independence.

Giving your chest the variable stimulus needed to grow can include changing up your tempo from a chest-bouncing heave to a slow-and-controlled descent, ascent, or both. Switching up grips between narrow and wide puts the pressure on muscles from a slightly different angle, and opting for a neutral grip with a Swiss bar opens up even more significant worlds of geometric pumps. Blast that weight off your chest with these new and eye-opening lifts.

Everything Else

Walk the Plank

• This is no normal plank — the side plank is a great variation to support stronger barbell lifts and build your six-pack. Here’s how to do it.

• The 2024 competitive CrossFit calendar is taking shape, with all the sites and dates for each region’s Semifinals being released by CrossFit HQ this week.

• The best nitric oxide supplement should increase blood flow with research-backed ingredients. These are our tried-and-true favorites.