The Best Exercises To Do Using a Bench Press Bar
You’ve seen them in the gym before. Long benches with metallic rods on one end. While a bench press bar may seem simple enough, it’s the ideal place to do one of the most physically intense (and arguably dangerous) exercise activities you’ll see at the gym on a regular basis — the bench press. And while you may not want or need to do any bench pressing, there are still a few other ways you can make use of this interesting piece of gym furniture.
HOW TO MAKE USE OF A BENCH PRESS BAR
So, let’s say that you’ve just gotten a gym membership and you want to make use of all the features that come with the facility. Or maybe you work out at home so much that you thought investing in gym equipment may be a good idea. Either way, here are a couple of approaches you can take with bench press bars:
Bench press
Of course, the main use of a bench press bar is to, well, perform a bench press. Essentially, it involves raising and lowering a heavy weight known as a barbell up and down above your chest area. This is, of course, quite dangerous, as you may run out of strength and drop it on your body by accident. To prevent any injuries from occurring, people who bench press usually have someone else to keep an eye on them at all times, ready to catch the barbell in the event that it does fall by accident. This person is known as a “spotter”.
Bench pressing is difficult, however. You need a certain amount of muscle and strength to be able to bench press, and even then, you’ll likely stick to the lighter weights before moving on to the heavier ones. The exercise is also quite draining, as it will require every ounce of your upper body strength to lift and press the barbell effectively. Still, it’s a very popular form of exercise, and a great way to build muscle, so it’s worth doing if you have someone else to spot you.
Dumbbell exercises
You can also use the bench press bar to do some dumbbell exercises. Aside from serving as a decent place to sit, you can also use the bench to lie on your back and perform particular dumbbell exercises. For example, you can lift the dumbbells perpendicular to your body to work on your chest muscles. These types of exercises aren’t possible without a thin and long surface to rest on such as a bench.
Stretching
Finally, there’s good old stretching. Nothing beats a good stretching routine to start off and end a workout session for the day. Stretching is very important before exercising as it warms the body up and promotes blood flow, preparing your body for the rigorous exercises that it’s about to go through. Aside from this, a good stretching session can minimize the risk of injuries that may occur while exercising, so you can really go all out without worry as long as you follow the proper form.