The Best Muscle Mass Results on the Weight Bench

A weight bench is a necessity for anyone looking to get the most out of a muscle-building routine. Without a bench, you won't be able to perform key exercises such as bench presses, dumbbell presses, chest-supported rows or seated shoulder presses. Combine your weight bench with a set of dumbbells and a barbell for the best muscle mass results.

  1. Upper-Body Onslaught

    • Working your chest without a bench is extremely difficult, so a weight bench is almost mandatory when it comes to building a big chest. Bench pressing might be the most popular chest move for many gym-goers, but it's a risky exercise, according to strength coach Greg Everett. You may fare better with dumbbell presses as these allow your shoulders to move through a more natural range of movement. Personal trainer Nick Nillsson recommends performing dumbbell presses at an incline, flat and decline angle to get the most benefit from them. Shoulder presses can be made tougher by sitting on your bench as opposed to standing up as you can't use as much body momentum and the same goes for biceps curls and triceps extensions.

    Maximum Leg Muscle Moves

    • Mass and strength-building barbell exercises such as squats and deadlifts don't require a weight bench, but plenty of lower-body variations do. Split squats, performed with your back foot on a bench and front foot on the floor work your legs unilaterally, as do step-ups onto the bench. Perform split squats with your arms overhead holding a weight, recommends John Romaneillo, personal trainer at Roman Fitness Systems in New York. Squatting onto a bench can also help you learn good squatting technique and depth before progressing to free squats.

    Picking Rep Ranges

    • The exercises you perform on your bench play a big part in building muscle, but the number of sets and reps you do are just as important. You'll get most muscle growth performing the majority of your workout in the six to 15 reps per set range, according to strength coach Marc Perry. Make sure the weights you use are challenging -- each set should stop just at the point your technique starts to diminish. Perform some heavy, low-rep work along with a little lighter high-rep work too.

    Weekly Schedule and Muscle-Building Diet

    • Consider how many times per week you can train. If you can complete three sessions, work your whole body in each one. For four weekly sessions, split your workouts into upper or lower-body ones, alternating between the two. To build muscle you also need a surplus of calories, so increase your calorie intake by eating more healthy, protein and carb-packed foods such as meat, fish, beans, legumes, fruit and wholegrains. Aim to gain 1/4 to 1/2 pound per week. You can also include other non-weight bench exercises in your routine such as pushups, lunges, squats, deadlifts and chin-ups.