Now how many times have you heard that or been asked that? Whether you are a bodybuilder, powerlifter or even just a casual lifter, you have undoubtedly been asked this question before. Why? Well, that's because the bench press has always been the test of someone's strength. Now, I didn't say it was the TRUE test of someone's strength, but to the lay people out there, it is. I have never been asked how much I squat or how much I deadlift, or what my total is (what's a total?), people are only concerned with how much I bench. And you can understand why — it's the glory lift, right? It's the one that gets all the attention and the lift that's the most fun, again, at least in the eyes of the lay people.

Back when I was in high school and first started lifting weights, all I was concerned with was benching more weight. I wanted to bench BIG! Back then, BIG was the magic number of 315. Oh boy, if I could bench 315 — that's 3 plates on each side!! That would be impressive! How simpler things seemed back then! I never did hit that 315 in high school though; it took me a year after to get that magic number. But as soon as I did, the next number was 405 (that's 4 plates per side for you lay people) and I searched high and low for ways to get that bench up.

Now back in the early 90s I didn't have the internet to help me out, nor was powerlifting big in the gym I trained at or were there many guys in there willing to share advice, so how was I going to be able to get my bench to 405??

Well, my answer came when I picked up an issue of Powerlifting USA one day and read an article by a man named JM Blakley. For you young people reading this, back in the day Powerlifting USA was THE source for finding anything you needed or wanted to know about Powerlifting. Yes, we used to have to read articles on paper, not on the computer or on your iPhone — imagine that! Unfortunately this great magazine went out of business a few years ago.

Johnmark (JM) Blakley was one of the greatest bench pressers in history.

If you never heard of him, well, you are in luck, because in the next few blogs I will be posting articles and tips from the great JM. JM was my all time favorite bencher — if you ever saw me training in the mid 90s, I was always wearing a JM T-shirt. Got bench? Right PJ? (PJ is my very first training partner and long time best friend. If you know him, your life is much better for it, and I am sure I will write an article on him one day soon too.)

Unfortunately, I have never met the great JM. He is still alive though, just retired from powerlifting and is now a Reverend, but I was able to talk to him once when he personally called me and gave me some great advice on how to bench big — and I would like to pass this great bench pressing knowledge on to you.

So I will end this first article in the JM series with giving you 2 pieces of advice:

Tip #1: When you bench, grab the bar, and squeeze that bar TIGHT — like you are trying to bend the bar. Do this the whole time you are benching. This alone will put 5lbs on your bench. Don't ever let that bar just sit in your hands. Don't believe me? Try it out.
Tip #2: A very good movement to strengthen your triceps to help you get that bigger bench — strong triceps = big bench. In my opinion, this is one of, if not THE best movements for your triceps. It was invented by JM himself: it is called the JM Press. You may have heard of it, but most people cannot perform this movement correctly. Instead of me trying to explain it, I will have the man himself explain it to you in the video below. Enjoy!
JM Blakley's JM Press Tutorial