The Beginner Series: - Bench Accessories.

Here we are - back again with The Beginner Series. Today we're looking at the accessories for the bench press. 

James Kennedy has written this one and has even included a sample routine to try. Give it a look below. 

Cliff Notes - 

Read Time - 3.5 minutes. 

Word Count - 1050. 

Main Points - 

You'll struggle with bench in certain positions - read below to figure out where. 

Certain muscles contribute massively to bench press - see how to improve them individually, and as part of a larger unit. 

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Continuing our series on the big three power lifts, in this article we will outline accessory work for the bench press. As discussed in the article on accessory work for the squat, the purpose of accessory work is to address imbalances developed during the primary lift, address weak points and develop hypertrophy in the muscles used during the major lift. 
The main muscles used within the bench press are the pectorals, deltoids and the triceps. There is also a need, for shoulder health and longevity, to perform upper back work. The bench press puts a lot of strain on the shoulder joint within one plane - the horizontal push. This leads to the development of the muscles at the front of the shoulder but not the back; accessory work for the bench press should involve upper back work to address this imbalance.  Furthermore, powerlifting puts a lot of strain on the shoulder joint. The low bar squat and bench press requires a reasonable degree of shoulder mobility and health - most powerlifters reading this will have had shoulder pain, discomfort or injury at some point. It is essential to use accessory work to address this, strengthen the shoulder muscles and reduce the injury risk. 
Accessory work for the bench press can be split into two groups on this basis - pressing accessories and shoulder health accessories. Pressing accessory exercises are exercises targeting the pressing muscles - pectorals, deltoids and triceps. These exercises range from compound exercises - e.g. overhead press - to isolation exercises - e.g.  tricep extensions. Shoulder health accessory work is primarily focused on improving the strength of the shoulder joint and addressing the muscular imbalances caused by pressing. Examples of this kind of exercise include rear lateral raises or dumbbell rows. 
People tend to fail the bench press in two positions - off the chest or at lockout. Failing off the chest indicates that the pressing muscles need to get stronger, whereas failing at lockout indicates relatively weak triceps. The first set of accessory exercises will be pressing exercises, relatively similar to the bench press, aimed at improving general pushing strength. The second set of pressing accessories will be aimed at improving strength at lockout and will primarily target the triceps. 
The spoto press may look like you're just cheating on reps - however if you are doing it correctly it will massively improve both your bench technique and strength. The spoto press was popularised by legendary powerlifter, Eric Spoto, who set multiple bench press world records including a 327.5kg raw bench press. He credits the spoto press with developing the strength of his chest at the bottom of the lift. To perform the spoto press, pause the bar an inch or two above the chest instead of touching the bar to the press. This forces you to lower the bar under control and builds ‘reversal strength’ within the pectoral muscles as you cannot sink the bar into your chest and ‘heave’ the bar back up. 
Incline press and shoulder press, with barbells or dumbbells, both target the deltoids, pectorals and the triceps. By performing the bench press on an inclined surface, the shoulders are targeted to a greater degree. The shoulder press and it’s variations primarily helps develop shoulder strength but it will also develop tricep and pectoral strength. For powerlifters, the focus should almost always be on the bench press, relegating overhead pressing to accessory lifts. For general physique or strongmen athletes a more balanced approach to pressing would make more sense, with alternation between bench press and shoulder press as the primary pressing movement or even relegating the bench press to an accessory movement for strongman athletes.
The key compound exercises used to address triceps weaknesses are the narrow or close grip bench press. This is similar to a normal bench press, except instead of taking as wide of grip as possible, your grip should be narrower than shoulder width. This forces the triceps to do more work, improving their strength and driving hypertrophy. Another good option, which can be done for high reps, are dips. These can either be done using a bench - bench dips - or using dip bars. Performing high rep sets of tricep dips is a great way of developing tricep hypertrophy. 
Alongside these major lifts to develop pectoral, deltoid and tricep hypertrophy, accessory work to improve shoulder health and muscular imbalances is also needed. These exercises should be added to any routine that involves heavy pressing to balance out the muscular development of the shoulder. 
To begin with, keep it simple - pull-ups and dumbbell rows will help develop your traps, delta and lats. Pull ups in particular are a great exercise for shoulder health as they also open out the chest and stretch the pectoral muscles. If you can’t do a pull-up do not be afraid (or too proud) to use a resistance band to start with.

Alongside pull ups and dumbbell rows, there are three varieties of raises that can be performed to develop different, hard to isolate muscles of the deltoids. The front raise targets the posterior deltoids, lateral raises the medial deltoids and rear deltoid raises target the posterior deltoids. Utilising these exercises allows you to build up all the muscles of the shoulder, improving shoulder health, stability and strength. 

If you're unsure what exactly you need to work on for your bench press or you’re just starting out and need to develop general pressing strength and upper body hypertrophy, the training split outlined below would be suitable for you. To perform this plan, you should be doing two pressing workouts in a microcycle (a microcycle is the shortest unit of training time within a longer, structured training cycle - usually a week). 

Day 1 

Bench Press 3x5 @ 75-85% RM
Incline Press 3x8-12 @ 65-75% RM
Dips 3x10
Pull-ups 3x6-10
Lateral Raises 2x15

Day 2 

Spoto Press 3x5 @ 75-85% RM
Shoulder Press 3x5 @ 75-85% RM
Dumbell Rows 3x8-12
Tricep Pushdowns 3x15-20
Dumbell Flys 3x10-12
Face Pulls 3x8
Rear delt raise 2x15

By performing the following split you’ll be developing the technical skills to dominate the bench press - the most technical of the powerlifts - and the hypertrophy necessary to continue progression. In addition to the hypertrophy in your pecs, delts and triceps, this plan will enable you to build up the shoulder strength you need to continue powerlifting and pressing impressive weights! 

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