Weight Bench Exercises for Abs

Abs exercises can strengthen your core muscles, which can then help you perform all the other exercises in your workout. It’s just a bonus that toned abs are also aesthetically pleasing for both men and women.

In fact, strengthening the abs helps you maintain good posture and it boosts your performance in other athletic exercises. Strong abs can alleviate lower back pain and also helps prevent injuries when you’re actively engaged.

Reverse Crunch

Crunches target the rectus muscles, which run down the middle of your abs and they’re the muscles responsible for the 6-pack.

The reverse crunch is one of the most effective exercises that strengthen the rectus abdominus, according to the American Council on Exercises. It’s also part of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 6-pack routine.

1. Lie down on the flat bench.
2. Bend your knees with your feet on the end of the bench.
3. Hold the sides of the bench near your head for support.
4. Tighten your abs to lift your pelvis from the bench.
5. Roll your knees toward your forehead.
6. Squeeze at the top for a count, and then slowly lower your knees back to the original position.

Here’s a video to demonstrate the move.

Weight Bench Exercises for Chest

When it comes to building your chest muscles, it’s all about lifting weights. The most popular exercises in this category are the barbell bench press and the flat bench dumbbell press.

Barbell Bench Press

The barbell bench press involves the upper pecs and front delts more than the dumbbell version.

1. Lie back on the flat bench.
2. Grasp the bar with hands a little wider than shoulder width.
3. Lift the bar from the rack and hold it so it’s directly above your eyes.
4. Lower the bar down slowly, so that it gently touches your nipple area.
5. Raise the barbell back up so that it’s over your eyes, while you keep your elbows straight.

You can watch this video of a bench press demonstration.

Flat Bench Dumbbell Press

The flat bench dumbbell press, on the other hand, is more effective in targeting the lower pecs, according to one study.

1. Lie back on a flat bench with your knees bent and your feet on the ground.
2. Hold a dumbbell in each hand.
3. Your elbows should be pointed out and just under the level of your torso.
4. The palms should be facing your lower body.
5. While breathing out, flex your pecs and push the dumbbells toward the ceiling.
6. Extend your arms, and stop until the inner plates of the dumbbells are just an inch away from each other.
7. Breathe in as you slowly return the weights to the starting position.

Weight Bench Exercises for Arms

The Triceps Kickback is an all-time classic when it comes to targeting the triceps. This is one very effective way of putting on some definition on your upper arms, and it results in a very deep burn.

Triceps Kickback

1. Prepare a flat bench and a dumbbell with a comfortable weight.
2. Get to the right side of the bench and rest your left knee and left arm on the bench.
3. Grab the dumbbell with your right hand, while your upper arm is parallel to the floor. Bend your elbow so that your forearm is perpendicular to your upper arm.
4. Hold the dumbbell with your palm facing your body. It’s like you’re holding an attaché case.
5. Then while you keep your upper arm still, straighten your arm behind so the entire arm is parallel to the floor. One end of the barbell should then be pointing to the floor.
6. Then slowly bring back the weight to the starting position.
7. The upper arm shouldn’t move. Otherwise, your shoulders and your back will help bear the weight, so you wouldn’t be able to fully stress your triceps.
8. Do the same with the other arm.

Or you can just watch this video on your smartphone while you follow the moves.

Weight Bench Exercises for Back

You can also use a flat bench to focus on your back muscles. More specifically, you can target the latissimus dorsi muscles which are located in the upper sides of your back.

Dumbbell Pullovers

These latissimus dorsi muscles are the largest muscles on your back, and they start the movement for the pullover exercise. Then at the end of the movement, your chest muscles take up the slack.

Pullovers also have other muscles helping out. These include the rhomboids, rear shoulder muscles, and the triceps.

The best way to describe how to do this is to just show you a video instead. Just make sure you lower the dumbbell behind your head in a nice steady motion.

One-Armed Dumbbell Rows

This exercise focuses on your lats. It also works on your rhomboid muscles, which are located between your shoulder blades.

• With this exercise, you start with the same starting position for the triceps kickback.
• But this time, you pull the dumbbell up to your lower stomach.
• Then you slowly lower your arm down towards the ground until your arm is fully extended.
• Make sure you keep your arm tight to your side while you do the motions.
• Then just repeat the motion.

Here’s a video to show you the moves. According to Muscle and Performance, the one-armed dumbbell rows ranks as one of the best exercises for the back muscles.

Weight Bench Exercises for Glutes

The flat bench can also be great for step ups that can really work your glutes. For this, you also need a dumbbell on each hand.

Bench Step-Ups

1. Hold a dumbbell on each hand.
2. Step on the flat bench with one leg.
3. Then get the other leg up, while continuing to raise your knee up to waist high.
4. Do the same for the other leg.
5. Do about 4 or 5 sets with 12 to 20 reps each.

Here’s a video demonstrating how to do the bench step up properly.

Weight Bench Exercises for Legs

You can perform several types of weight bench leg exercises if you can attach leg rollers. With the attachments, you can do lying leg curls and leg extensions.

Lying Leg Curls

Leg Extensions

These are basically resistance exercises meant to develop your leg muscles. Just as you often use your arms to lift barbells and pull cable, with these exercise you use your legs to directly lift the weights at your feet.