Key Elements for a Bigger Bench Press
 by: Michael Francis

Proper positioning on a weight bench to maximize leverage

• Keep the bar in line with the eyes; if you are too far towards the top of the bench it puts your shoulders in a weak position and wastes energy, and creates unsteadiness when lifting off.
• Firm foot contact with the floor close to the bench is Paramount! Feet on the bench, straight legs with feet lightly touching the floor is a recipe for failure; it decreases force and puts you out of balance. Feet planted firmly on the floor and push from that foundation to blow through sticking points. When your feet are close to the bench, it's easier to keep the arch in your back.
• Keep a solid foundation by retracting your shoulder blades and powerfully push yourself through the bench. Keep the chest the highest point with the back slightly arched and shoulder blades retracted, stay tight in the midsection; this will keep your back securely in contact with the bench and create the stability needed for heavy benching. Keeping the chest with a slight arch in the lower back will decrease the distance the bar has to travel.

A word about grip strength

You will notice most Big Benchers have huge forearms; that is because grip strength is a huge factor in controlling the bar. Wrap your thumbs around the bar and squeeze hard as if you squeeze right through the bar.

Grip the bar low in the palm towards the heel of your hand and lock your wrists straight to create leverage! If you correct the frequent mistake of holding the bar near the base of your fingers causing a backward bend in your wrist you will notice an immediate increase in your max bench due to the improved leverage and increase in sending the force of the chest, deltoids, triceps bicep tendon… straight through to the bar

Use the width of your grip to exploit your strengths!

Sticking Points result from weakness in secondary muscle groups. Where the bar stalls will pinpoint the weak muscle.

• Mid point = weak pecs and/or triceps
• Bottom = weak front deltoids
• Lock out = triceps.
• Use a wide grip if you have strong pecs and are weak in deltoids and triceps

Choose the grip width and elbow placement based on your body

• Long arms use a wide grip to shorten the path of the bar (elbows out)
• Short arms use a closer grip (elbows in more)

Employ your strengths

• Strong triceps? use a closer grip and elbows close to your body
• Weak in the Delts? use a close grip keeping elbows wide

Strengthen assistance muscles and eliminate weak points!

A Big Bench = Powerful Deltoids, Lats, Triceps, Forearms and Bicep Tendons.

Work with heavy weights on these groups and your bench will improve, (especially go heavy on triceps!)

Use rows to exercises the lats think of barbell rows as a reverse bench press this trains the back in the same plane as the bench press.

Lifting Form = Physics. The shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line!

• If you have shoulder pain, (like I do), keep your elbows and arms at a 90° angle and lower the bar a bit below the nipples to increase leverage, recruit more of the assistance muscles mentioned above and prevent external arm rotation which is hard on shoulder joints.
• Lift right away once the bar is above your chest, it’s a little late to get “geared up” so don’t just hold the bar over your chest, get on with it!
• You are stronger on the eccentric, (negative), so slow down and lower under control
• Pause at the bottom to prevent momentum, this is important on working any muscle for hypertrophy. Quick movements are better suited to certain sport specific training.
• Press straight up unless it feels causes shoulder pain or feels too abnormal
• Again for most people developing tricep strength will help form the most so train them heavy!
• Breath in deep on the eccentric stage hold your breath during the initiation of the concentric phase
• Push as hard as you can through a full range of motion

Between set resting

The one minute rest won’t get it on a heavy bench day 2 to 3 minutes is more like it, many advanced lifters adhere to a 5 minute rest between heavy sets.

Initially strength is determined by your nervous system and connective tissue integrity

• 80% of initial strength increase is determined by nervous system motor unit recruitment. A motor unit is a nerve and all the muscle fibers innervated. Heavy tension is required for the recruitment of high threshold motor units- these are fast twitch which tend to grow, (increase in mitochondria and supporting cytoplasm). Slow twitch become more metabolically efficient. If the impulse from the nerve is too weak you’re muscles are weak the more motor units recruited have more muscle innervations and strength increases. Once that nerve fires once in the movement it will fire every time; this is called the all or none principle.

When a motor unit is sufficiently activated once the entire pool of fibers contract. The central nervous system can increase the strength of muscle contraction by:

• Increasing the number of active motor units (i.e., spatial recruitment)
• Increasing the firing rate at which individual motor units fire to optimize the summated tension generated (i.e., temporal recruitment)
• Both occur concurrently

Heavy Benching is very taxing on the nervous system overtraining is a common mistake as trainees don’t take into account nervous system recovery!

Mindset

Benching near your max has as much to do with your mind as it does with strength and technique weight mentally, you need to believe, (even picture yourself), or it will not happen

• Sometimes little rituals before the lift are a good idea to clear your thoughts and put you in the mindset, you've seen this with field goal kickers and other sports that are primarily mental; these are called “anchors”. Develop a simple action, (anchor) such as: clapping, stomping, or something as simple as deeply breathing a given number of times. It should be an uncomplicated movement that you don’t normally do.
• It is common for lifters to hit sticking points at times when they add another 45 lb plate (i.e. 225, 315, 405…); this is obviously a mental barrier not physical. When training people I would have them go from say 215 to 230 to avoid this (but that is just a band aid for mental barriers!).
• Focus and maintain your concentration and be only selectively aware of your surroundings.
• You must picture in your mind doing and believing you will make the lift, a grain of doubt will = an avalanche of failure, a valuable lesson successful lifters learn early.

Apply these techniques and get the proper equipment and I guarantee serious results and a bigger bench!

Look for future articles from FitnessScape with information and tools to light the way to achieving your fitness goals.

Dietetic Decisions May Impact the Sex of Your Child
 by: Elaine W Clegg

Though there are various different things that can decide the gender of your future child, the nutritional selections you make may have a huge impact. Natural gender choice depends on a couple of different systems to help increase the chances of having either a boy or a girl. As you recognize, nothing in life is 100% sure but nearly all couples that go along these natural techniques end up with the gender they hoped for. At the end of the day, it is a 50/50 probability, but there are a few things you can do to swing the percentage in your favor.

The foods that you consume can affect the future sex of your kid for a range of different explanations. One of the focal reasons is that your body's PH desires to be at a certain stage for each a daughter or a boy. The sperm that carry the chromosomes that determine gender require a different PH for a triumphant expedition towards fertilization. I will tell you the variations of sperm in order to give a superior knowledge how PH ranges can affect baby sex.

To start with, the sperm responsible for conceiving a son hold the Y chromosome. They are small, swift and must connect with their destination hastily before they expire. They require an alkaline surroundings to get through to the egg properly.The sperm responsible for conceiving a daughter carry the X chromosome. They are much bigger, more durable and though they may take more time to make contact with an egg, they have a greater probability of living long enough to do so. They do well in an acidic environment.

So despite the fact that you can see yourself, choosing your eating habits wisely may indeed have an influence on your child's gender. Let's take a look at what meals are essential to include in your eating habits for each gender.

Boy Diet

Enrich your diet regime with potassium and sodium if you wish for a boy. They are non acidic by nature and will raise your alkalinity. The recommended foods include bananas, sweet corn, red meats, and even sausages. It is crucial however that you eat these foods in moderation and include a healthy and balanced diet program for good health. Having too much sodium is in no way suggested. Stay inside appropriate dietary rules at all times.

Eating for a Girl

If your desire is baby girl, you should focus on foods that add acidity in your body. Focus on foods that are rich in magnesium and calcium. Broccoli is the perfect example of a food that contains high stages of both. Other meals you can consume take in grapefruit, apples, dairy products, some fish (farm raised to steer clear of high levels of mercury) and leafy green vegetables.

What to Remember

Everything in moderation is key whereas well though suitable nutrition. Though there are other approaches of selecting your kid's sex naturally, combining them with a accurate eating routine will boost your likelihood for success. Ask your doctor if you have any questions in relation to the foods that you should be eating.  

Healthy Aspects of Venison
 by: Jim Nelson

Deer hunting season is more than a time for avid hunters to enjoy a fun and challenging outdoor activity; it is more than a time for hunters to fill their freezers with fresh caught meat; it is a time for people to change their diet to a healthy beef alternative – venison.

Venison has healthy dietary implications…

Venison is an excellent source of protein that is low in fat. A recent study that appeared in the journal Nutrition and Dietetics (Volume 65 Issue 4), researchers set out to determine how an individual’s fat burning process reacts to a high protein meal. It was determined that increasing your dietary protein can help jump start your fat burning when you are in a fat burning lull.

A small 4 ounce steak of venison supplies 68.5 percent of your daily required protein. Not only does venison have high protein content but it also has low saturated fat content (only 1.4 grams) and is low in cholesterol.

An interesting fact to note is that venison also has less cholesterol than chicken and turkey. Looking for a food high in iron, look no further, venison provides 28 percent of iron in a serving size. This meat is full of other important nutrients, minerals and vitamins such as phosphorous, selenium and vitamin B12. Best of all a four ounce serving size only adds 180 calories to your diet.

Venison boosts a healthy state economy…

In Michigan according to Jordan Pusateri Burroughs a wildlife outreach specialist in the Michigan State University (MSU) Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, deer hunters harvest 450,000 deer annually. Burroughs says that “Total retail spending by deer hunters contributes more than $700 million annually to the state’s economy, and the deer hunting industry all total, accounts for almost 12,000 jobs.” Hunters also contribute millions to state and local tax revenue.

Venison can boost the health of your personal and community economy.

In trying economic times, when most families are struggling to afford meat to put on the table, a seasoned deer hunter can bag enough deer meat to supply his family and even have enough spare portions to share with friends and neighbors. Venison is a perfect high quality meat substitute.

Deer hunters stay in local hotels and eat at local restaurants giving local economies a boost. Some communities even have programs where they will process your deer meat for free if you donate your excess deer meat to local food banks.

Venison is great for a greener healthier planet. Deer live naturally in the wild and according to environmentalists this leads to healthier and happier deer. Using “green” buzzwords like free-range, grass feed, organic and locally harvested; eating locally hunted venison provides a boost to the green movement to save our planet.

Since deer is not farm raised, do not expect to find steroids or antibiotics in the meat. These chemicals enter into the population that eats the meat leading to a population afflicted with negative health effects. It is good to know that venison is a chemical-free meat.