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Want to bench 400 pounds? At some point, simply benching heavier isn’t enough. You need to teach your body to produce force through the ENTIRE range of motion.

That’s where band-resisted bench press can be a huge weapon.

When you attach bands to the bar, you create accommodating resistance. The weight is lighter near your chest when the bands have less tension, but as you press upward and the bands stretch, resistance progressively increases.

In other words: the higher you press, the harder it gets.

Why does that matter?

Most lifters naturally decelerate the bar as they approach lockout. Bands give you a reason to do the opposite. You have to continue driving aggressively because resistance keeps increasing. This makes band-resisted benching an excellent tool for developing bar speed, rate of force development, and strength through the top half of the press.

For someone chasing a 400-pound bench, that becomes increasingly important.

You’re not going to casually move 400 pounds. You need to create an enormous amount of force off your chest and maintain that aggression as the bar travels through your sticking point.

I especially like bands for:

* Building explosive pressing power
* Teaching lifters to accelerate through the entire rep
* Strengthening the mid-range and lockout
* Overloading heavier weights without making every session a max-effort day
* Adding variety while still practicing the competition movement

But remember: bands are a tool, not a replacement for regular benching.

Your foundation still needs to be built with quality bench press volume, strong technique, progressive overload, and plenty of work for your triceps, shoulders, chest, and upper back.

If 400 pounds is the destination, your training has to prepare you for what 400 pounds demands.

Build strength. Build speed. Then learn how to express both.

www.harvestingstrength.com

Being strong is cool. There’s nothing wrong with wanting a bigger squat, bench, or deadlift, and I’ll always believe that getting stronger on the basic lifts creates an incredible foundation. But at some point, I think we have to ask ourselves: what good is all that strength if we can’t actually use it? Strength shouldn’t only exist when we have a perfectly balanced barbell in our hands, our feet planted in the right position, and everything around us controlled.

This is why I love incorporating strongman-style movements into training. Picking up a heavy sandbag, sprinting with it, and throwing it over a bar requires something completely different. The weight shifts. Your positioning changes. Your heart rate climbs. You have to accelerate, stabilize, coordinate, and continue producing force while moving. Suddenly, strength becomes much more dynamic.

And you don’t have to be a strongman competitor to train this way. Adding sandbags, farmer carries, sleds, stones, kegs, loaded carries, and other unconventional movements can give you an opportunity to take the strength you’ve developed in the weight room and actually do something with it.

I still want you to squat. I still want you to bench. I still want you to deadlift and progressively build your absolute strength. But every once in a while, pick up something awkward. Carry something heavy. Move quickly. Challenge your conditioning, grip, coordination, explosiveness, and ability to produce force outside of perfect conditions.

Because the goal doesn’t always have to be simply lifting more weight.

Sometimes the goal should be becoming a more capable human being.

I don’t want to just be strong. I want to be dangerous.

www.harvestingstrength.com

Insane lift from client Dillon Meeks as he hits a huge axle clean and press. On the road to 400 baby!

If your hips shoot up the second you start your axle clean… you’re already losing the lift.

One simple fix I gave my client: pull the slack out of the bar before you initiate the clean.

When you take the slack out, you create tension through your entire body…lats locked in, core braced, and hips set in the right position. This keeps your chest up and prevents your hips from rising too early, which is one of the biggest reasons people miss heavy cleans.

On an axle, this matters even more. The thicker bar makes it harder to stay tight, so if you rush the pull, the bar drifts, your position breaks, and now you’re fighting the weight instead of controlling it.

Think of it like this:
👉 Set your position
👉 Build tension
👉 THEN move the bar

That small adjustment can be the difference between a smooth clean and a missed lift before you even get to the press.

Strongman is all about efficiency under heavy load, don’t waste energy by being out of position from the start.

Want better technique and stronger lifts?
Check out my coaching: www.harvestingstrength.com