Bench Press

Okay now that we covered nutrition we can start to talk about workouts. Were going to take this step by step so we'll start off talking about chest workouts. The first exercise that you should start off with is the bench press. Now the main thing that you need to remember is that the bar alone weighs 45 pounds. So beginners need to know that before they put to much weight on the bar they could end up hurting themselves. If you have never used a bench press before then you need to start off with small weight so that you can judge how much you can truly lift. If you’re a man I suggest that you put 25 pounds on each side just to start. If you are a woman I suggest you start off with just the bar. Now after you have your weight on, you need to make sure that it is secure. You need to locate clamps to put on alongside of your weights to make sure that they don't slip off the bar mid rep. I have seen this happen and take it from me it wasn't pretty.

Now that you’re ready to go, ask another person in the gym if they could spot you so that if you are struggling they can help you rack your weight. Something to remember is hand placement. There should be two lines on each side of the bar. If you want to work your entire chest then you need to put your middle fingers on this line and then make a fist. If you want to work your chest and triceps then your hands need to be closer together. For this grip you will need to put your thumbs in the middle of the bar where it starts to become course and make the fist. Now take the bar off the rack and bring the bar down until you touch your chest. Now do this slowly! You don't want to drop the weight onto your chest really fast because you are liable to hurt your sternum. Now after you touch your chest with the bar, bring it back up to where you took the weight of the rack. That is one repetition. To get a good workout you need to be doing three sets of 10, which means 10 reps. Then take a small break, and then 10 more, a little break, and then 10 more. It is important that when your starting off that you do the exercises properly so make sure that your are going all the way to your chest and back up. Other wise your only hurting your own progress and results.