It is wrong to attempt a max at the highest weight you are looking get up. This sounds obvious but many people make this mistake. Let's say you want to max out on 450 pounds for one rep. To start out at 450 pounds is foolish. Instead, you should start with a warm-up weight and then pyramid up in large increments.

For example, you might do 225 for 6 (obviously not to failure but just to prepare the muscles) then go to 300 for 5 (not to failure), then 360 for 2 (not to failure but heavy), then to 420 for one, then try going for 450. You need to pyramid the weight up and not go for it all at once.

Any good power lifter knows this to be true. When you “max out,” you are using a different energy system in the body than when you are performing a bodybuilder's routine. For that system to fully recover between heavy sets so that you can move the most weigh the next set you need to rest between three and five minutes.

This tip goes right along with number twelve. Since you need to take the extra time to rest between your heavy maxing sets you need to make sure that your body does not cool down. You should stay warm throughout the session. During this time do not let your body get cold. Wear hooded sweatshirts and sweatpants; wrap towels around your legs, whatever you have to do to stay warm.

It is always helpful to visualize yourself pushing the bar right through the top of the movement. Never get caught up in the moment during the bench or think about the position that the bar is at. What you need to do is “see” the top. Don't let the bar stop moving until it reaches the top. If you have ever raced or are a runner you know that you don't slow down as you approach the finish line.

While this is evident, it sometimes helps to use this analogy when bench pressing. Nobody is going to consciously slow down the bar or use less effort as the bar moves up but the mind works on subconscious levels as well. For this reason you need to visualize yourself blasting right through the top of the movement.

This works on two levels. First, by keeping your chest up you put yourself in a more advantageous position. What's more important, and you see power lifters doing this all the time in meets (the Chinese are great at it), is that by increasing the height of your chest you decrease the distance the bar must travel in turn decreasing the amount of force that is needed to move the same amount of weight.

I'm not completely sure what people are thinking when they lift their glutes off the bench. Some people think that pushing with their feet means their glutes need to come up off the bench. This is not only dangerous but it weakens your bench.

Before lowering the bar take a deep breath and hold it. What this does is creates a more solid torso from which you can generate power. It stabilizes the muscles of the thorax and helps keep the body in a more beneficial state for increasing your bench.

This technique is way underused and overlooked. The lats play a big part in a strong bench press. By increasing the strength of your lats you can actually add to your bench press. Also by squeezing the lats out and “pushing” with them you will be able to move more weight. Your lats should be flexed throughout the entire movement.

Don't neglect the other muscles besides the chest that are used in the bench press. Remember, a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link. If your shoulders are lagging in strength compared to your chest, triceps, and other body parts, you need to work to bring up the strength of that muscle. Once you do that, your bench press will start to increase like crazy.

The existence of over-training is a very controversial matter. Over-training existing, it can destroy any gains in your bench press. Of course, you can help combat the over-training with eating more, and better foods and getting more rest between workouts.