The bench press is undoubtedly the best time-tested weightlifting exercise that people have been engaged in for many years. It is an iconic favorite for many gym-goers for many reasons.
Once you start hitting the gym, you will find numerous people joking and exaggerating greatly about how much they can bench. However, as a matter of fact, bench presses are indeed great for everybody. Therefore, every gym-goer should try adding bench press to their routine, and you don't need to worry, as you would not need extraordinary weights to make it a practical exercise.
Now, to convince you further, you need to know what you could possibly gain out of it. So, without further ado, let's have a look at the benefits of bench press.
1. Enhanced Upper-Body Strength
An excellent bench press workout can give you full upper body muscle strength because your body is unfamiliar with the angles and works harder to raise the bench rod. So, the more you lift, the more the muscles will be utilized, increasing their size and strength. You can calculate your strength using this bench press calculator.
The main muscle groups associated with this particular exercise are shoulder muscles and rib cage muscles. The shoulder muscles that benefit from the activity are specifically deltoids and lateral deltoids, whereas the rib cage muscle that helps from the exercise is the Serratus Anterior.
2. Improved Bone Health
Like other compound movements, the bench press can also improve bone strength and health. After going through several research and studies, we came to know that when there is added resistance to the body's structure, especially from heavyweights such as bench press exercise, we are promoting our bone health.
Since these weight-bearing exercises are responsible for building new bone cells known as osteoblasts both on and within your bone, the more weight-bearing activities you do, the more osteoblasts will be produced for new bone mass.
3. Burns A Lot of Calories
Almost every exercise contributes to calorie burn, but what is so interesting about this exercise? As mentioned above, bench press exercise benefits a lot of body muscles, which means that it is almost a full-body workout that would require a lot of energy while performing. By this energy, we mean calories.
It is time that you stop getting fooled that only cardio is only responsible for burning calories. So, if you are in for muscle retaining, this might be a perfect time for you to start with bench press exercise.
4. Improves Joint Health
The best benefit that you should be aware of is that the bench press helps maintain your cartilage's health. As you age, your cartilage starts to deteriorate and wear down, resulting in different symptoms such as lack of motion, severe pain, and osteoarthritis.
But what if we tell you that you can prevent this from happening just by doing bench press exercises? Yes! It is possible since the fluid responsible for cartilage wear is replaced by a brand-new nutrient-rich fluid just by exercising.
So, bench press exercise can somehow prove to be beneficial for aged people.
5. Helps Building Triceps
Although the bench press is mainly focused on upper body muscles, guess what? It is also a tremendous mass builder for the triceps.
As the bench press rod gets closer to your chest, you can see a significant bend in your elbow. In addition, there is an extended range of motion where the triceps get extended; this eccentric contraction uses so much of muscles and applies a significant load on the triceps.
All that together means that if you want to build those massive triceps, well, the bench press is the exercise you need!
6. Balance Regain
Switching over to new exercises demands more from your body, to which it will somehow adapt. So, trying different positions during bench presses forces your body into new challenges and situations, which eventually helps in improving your balance.
7. Multiple Variations to Implement
Well, you would be pleased to know that bench press comes with a wide variety of different variations, which can hit muscles quite differently. It drives greater adaptations and improvements and makes things interesting by adding several variations; all these varieties can be achieved through a single exercise, and you would know the deal by now.
Down below are some variations that are worth trying out:
l Wide Grip
l Close Grip
l Angle change (incline, decline)
l Cambered bars
8. Better Look and Feel
You cannot deny that this exercise will contribute so much to making you look and feel better. It is all about self-belief and confidence in yourself. There is no objection that having bulged muscles makes us feel better about ourselves, both while looking into a mirror or getting compliments from those impressed.
It makes you an inspiring figure for others, so it is an extraordinary feeling that you would carry on your shoulders. Moreover, your self-worth and self-confidence are also significantly impacted by how you look.
However, doing this exercise will surely get you shredded in no time, and that kind of feeling is a fantastic feeling about yourself.
Conclusion
The point of emphasizing the benefits of the bench press exercise is that many gym-goers do not show interest in such exercises because all they know is that the exercise is meant for the ones who are into more hardcore muscle building. However, we have made it clear that bench press is not only intended for such purposes; it also plays a massive role in contributing to several health benefits.
So, it's time you stop making excuses and make your lifestyle productive.