Rarely will you find an active male who at one time or another has not attempted to do the bench press for once in their lives. For the benefit of the rare, uninitiated, a bench press is performed while lying down with your back to a bench, your feet planted on the ground. You unrack a barbell, and bring it down to your chest, bringing it back up to the starting position for one repetition. Sounds easy enough on paper.

Bench presses, and their many variations such as the incline and decline presses will play the starring role in your quest to build a barrel chest in time for summer. First things first, you have to do things right. Proper lifting form is of stellar importance. A bench press must be done in a slow, deliberate manner that covers the full range of motion. From the top, lower the weight slowly until it touches your chest. Pause for a second then lift up, short of locking your elbows.

Ideally, a fit male individual should reach a point where he is pressing the equivalent of one and a half of his body-weight. If you weight, 150 lb, your long-term goal must be to bench press 150 lb to 225 lb.

For beginners, start off with flat bench presses that give you moderate difficulty for 10 to 12 repetitions. Do three to four sets of these. Two warm up sets with light weights must be done prior to the actual work set. Follow this up with incline bench presses where the bench is set at a 45 degree incline to better stimulate the upper chest muscles.

For experienced lifters, avoid the temptation to pile on the weights and in the process sacrificing form by doing partial repetitions and letting momentum get the job done. Keep a slow, steady pace.pausing at the bottom where the bar touches your chest-to make sure your muscles are doing the work. Making the exercise more difficult means your muscles work harder, ergo, more growth.

Of course we must realize that some of us, by virtue of genetics are more predisposed to have bigger chests than others. Yes, even if we do the exact same exercises and get the exact same nutrition as our training partner, we may get varying results. Such is the reality of genetics.

If you are attempting a heavier than usual weight you are not sure to clear, it's best to have a gym buddy act as a spotter to help you in the event that you are unable to rack the bar.

For those wondering how heavy others are pressing, here are a couple of interesting facts. The Philippine men's bench press record is around 500 lb for one repetition. The world men.s record is a mind-boggling 1,075lb set by Ryan Kennelly in 2008.

Wei've got quite a long way to go. Happy pressing.