Bench Press 1,075 Lbs: Advice From The World Record Holder

Ryan Kennelly Bench Press

If you’re putting up 360lbs or more on a bench press, you may have the world record –if it was still 1898. A lot has changed since Georg Hackenschmidt held the now-laughable record in the late 1800’s.

Ryan Kennelly – Bench Press Record Holder

The top bench press has skyrocketed to an unbelievable 1,075 pounds, currently held by Ryan Kennelly. Kennelly does utilize a bit of assistance in the form of special supportive-shirts, wrist supporters and the like, but in interviews, articles, and his book he’s revealed some gems that you can start putting into practice so you don’t have to lie when someone asks you: “so, how much can you bench?”

Train…a Lot: If you’re serious about boosting your 1 rep max, it’s not enough to get under the bench press bar once per week during your typical training split. Kennely trains 7-10 times per week –on bench presses alone!
Don’t Forget to Rest: Kennely takes three full days a week off from lifting anything. Because bench pressing, unlike tricep kickbacks, work your entire upper body, you need more rest than is typical.
Leg Power: Before he broke the world record, Kennely was stuck in a rut that he couldn’t seem to dig his way out of. That’s when he realized that he never paid any attention to the two limbs hanging off the other end of the bench: his legs. Like throwing a baseball or a punch, most of the power comes from your legs. Sure enough, when Kennely started taking his leg-training seriously by incorporating squats and deadlifts into his regimen, he watched his plateau disappear.
Go Crazy: Kennely likes to say: “Eat, sleep, and live it. Give 110%, or just show up and get your free t-shirt and watch.” A borderline psychotic mentality is a requirement if you expect to make real progress in such an intense lift.
Train Triceps: The triceps are involved in the entire bench pressing motion. It’s important not to neglect them as they can hold you back from piling on a few more plates to the bar.
Mix It Up: Kennely doesn’t stick to the standard bench press fare. It’s helpful to mix in a heavy dose of variety like speed benching and close-grip benches to help stimulate supportive muscles.

Avoid Lite Foods Like The Plague!

It seems that no food in today’s world is complete without its light (or “lite”) counterpart. Sure, the idea that you can have your reduced-fat cake and eat it too may sound like a win-win, but new research shows that lite foods actually work to derail your physique.

Lite Foods Are More Processed

Have you ever heard a professional bodybuilder or fitness model say: “the secret of my success is eating highly processed reduced-calorie packaged food and shunning natural foods like vegetables and lean meat”?

Of course not. The foundation of any health or physique conscious person’s diet will always be natural foods. Lite foods are the antithesis of natural foods. They tend to have dozens of unpronounceable ingredients, many of which are code names for sugar.

You Eat More of It

Not only are you eating sugar, but you’re eating a heck of a lot more of it. This phenomenon is called the “lite halo effect” by researchers. The lite halo effect happens because we perceive that a food is good for us and we feel good about that decision…and go overboard.

The lite halo effect was put on display recently by scientists at Cornell University. The researchers gave two groups of people the same bowl of M&Ms. However, one was labeled “low-fat” while the other was labeled as normal.

Surprisingly, people didn’t just eat more of the low-fat M&Ms (even though they were not actually low-fat), but they ate 50% more. Worse yet, the people who overate the most were the very people who needed to lose weight the most.

The “Lite” Bulb Going Off In Your Head

It’s helpful to be cognizant of the lite halo effect, but the knowledge doesn’t actually help fight it. This mental trickery is simply human nature.

Here’s how to be avoid falling prey:

Work the Perimeter: The perimeter of the supermarket is bursting with natural, unprocessed foods. On the other hand, the center aisles are where the packaged lite foods lurk, luring you in with bogus health claims.

Know Your Limits: Scientists have also found that when people are presented with a reduced-calorie food, they tend to wildly underestimate how much they consume. It seems that we tend to shut off our portion regulation with foods we consider something healthy. If you want to indulge in a lite food, be sure to keep a close eye on how much you are putting in your mouth.

Eat the Full-Calorie Version: Studies show that we eat about 10% more total calories when we eat a lite food than a regular one (this 10% includes the compensation for the lite food having less calories in the first place). In other words, you’re better off going with the standard, full-fat and full-calorie version. Ironically, you end up eating fewer calories in the process.

5 Tasty Foods That Burn Fat

Hot Pepper

It is the holy grail of fitness: delicious food that does not get stored in your gut, but actually burns away the fat that is already there. While the covers of supermarket checkout line magazines love to tout the wonders of 20, 50, or even 100 fat burning foods, the reality is that there are only a handful of foods that can effectively burn fat.

Adding these fat-incinerating foods to your diet can help you shed stubborn fat just moments after swallowing them.

Fat Burning Food #1: Green Tea

OK, it iss a drink, not a food, but green tea has too many research-backed fat burning benefits to ignore. Green tea is a well-know metabolism booster, but what you may not know is that the compounds in green tea, known as EGCG, laser-target fat.

2001 research published in The Journal of Nutrition found that green tea significantly boosted the calories subjects burned while resting. The best part is, the majority of those extra calories were in the form of fat.

Fat Burning Food #2: Hot Peppers

The natural chemical in peppers that make them spicy, called capsaicin, is a noted fat burner. The best part, after a dose of fiery red pepper, your body continues in fat burning mode for a few hours after you’re done.

It’s important to eat hot peppers with a source of protein like whey protein powder, chicken, or lean beef as protein helps the capsaicin cross the intestinal wall.

Fat Burning Food #3: Ginger

Ancient cultures have been using ginger for centuries to help them get lean. Ginger works by improving circulation to area of the body that are relatively blood-dormant, like your abdominal region.

Ginger goes well with many of the dishes you probably already eat –making it an easy way to burn off some of the calories in the meal itself.

Fat Burning Food #4: Soy

Soy-based foods, like tofu and edamame, are bursting with lecithin –a natural emulsifier that blocks the conversion of circulating fat to stored fat (known as lipogenesis).

Because soy is a dirt-cheap source of top-notch protein, eating soy more often is a win-win for your muscles and your love handles.

Fat Burning Food #5: Salmon

Salmon is jam-packed with omega-3s: the essential fat that gets its fair share of newsworthy attention. What most people don’t know about omega-3s is that they are a potent fat burner. Research published in the International Journal of Obesity found that omega-3s helped people get more lean than cutting calories alone.

So starting eating these foods that burn fat and start seeing that fat fall of your body. You might also enjoy reading the in depthhow to lose fat guide.

How to Lose Fat: The Definitive Guide

How To Lose Fat

If there is an issue that will get people arguing more than Democrats and Republicans over health care, it is how to lose fat. Thousands of books, articles, and web pages are dedicated to answer the simple question: “how can I lose the extra fat I have on board?”

Luckily, the answer to that question on how to lose fat is not as complicated as you might think. Most of the advice out there is just a regurgitation of the tired “eat less, exercise more” mantra. Not here. This article cuts through the fat loss fog and presents you with factors that research says has the most profound impact on quick and lasting fat loss.

Setting Goals: Not An Option

Most people’s fat loss journey is doomed before it begins. Because they set out to lose an undefined amount of fat or weight, their efforts eventually falter as old habits creep in. Goal setting is not something only for overly-excited for self-help guru groupies –the act of setting simple, actionable goals multiplies your fat loss results. Researchers at University of North Carolina recently found realistic goals helped people stick to a diet and exercise program.

Here is how to maximize the effectiveness of your weight loss goals:

Process, Not Outcome: While controversial, it appears that goals involved in what you do are more important than the actual result. For example a goal of hitting the gym three times per week is more likely to stick than losing 10 lbs.

Actionable and Specific: Vague goals do not stick. Replace “I want to lose this gut” with “I will start eating fruit for my afternoon snack instead of a vending machine snack” and you will go far.

Get Real: There is nothing wrong with a little ambition, but be careful not to set yourself up for failure. Small, achievable, “mini-milestones”, are preferable over lofty aspirations.

Some other popular goal related resources:

Nutrition to Lose Fat: 4 Keys To Success

Nutrition is by far the #1 make or break factor for fat loss. While exercise should be part of any fat loss regimen, nutrition’s impact on fat loss trumps working out.

The reason nutrition is head and shoulders above anything else is because it’s so darned easy to eat more calories than you need –and just as easy to cut them out.

For example, while it may take you 2 minutes to down a slice of apple pie, it will take almost 60 minutes on a treadmill to burn it off.

The diet industry makes fat loss nutrition seem confusing and complicated, but itis not. Here are the basic tenets of using the power of nutrition to shed extra fat:

Fiber: Fiber is the most powerful fat loss nutrient around. Purdue University scientists found that a diet high in fiber helped dieters lose more fat than by cutting calories alone. Be sure to avoid high-fiber processed food like the plague. Natural sources of fiber like fruits, veggies, and beans work much better.

Watch, Don’t Eliminate Carbs: Carbs have gotten a bad name as of late. While blindly following the Food Guide Pyramid and eating carbs by the bushel isn’t going to help you lose an ounce of fat, a diet rich in low glycemic carbs like produce and legumes will stimulate metabolism and ramp up your fat burning furnace.

Cure Fat-Phobia: The fat in your diet does not instantly turn into the fat on your body. In fact, studies show that eschewing fat is one of the worst approaches for weight loss. The uber-popular Mediterranean diet is backed by piles of research, which show that the fat-rich olive oil, nuts, and cheese actually keep French and Italians from getting fat in the first place. Sure enough, when this diet is adopted by American dieters in clinical research, body fat flies off. Learn to eat high quality fats.

Ditch Diet Foods: Counter intuitive as it may seem, “lite” and “low-calorie” foods actually cause weight gain, not loss. Because we perceive them as healthy, we tend to eat more than we normally would. Instead of resorting to diet foods, focus on a diet with a foundation of unprocessed whole grains, fresh fruits and veggies, lean meats, low-fat dairy, beans and nuts.

Other Top Nutrition Resources:

Workouts: Cardio Is not Enough

While exercise’s impact on fat loss does not hold a candle to nutrition, it does have a significant impact on fat loss. However, not just any exercise will do. Cardio exercises are a mainstay of any fat burning program, but it is not complete unless you include a heavy dose of strength training.

Strength training is the only way to create metabolism-boosting muscle mass. If every gym session begins and ends with 45 minutes of slow peddling on the stationary bike, you are going to lose quite a bit of muscle along with that fat –and your metabolism will take a hit.

A study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise found that women who resistance trained a few times per week had less fat and weighed less than their cardio-obsessed counterparts.

Along with regular bouts of cardio (including interval training), be sure to hit the weights just as often. Check out the vast amount of workout routines to pick from here at builtfit.com.

Other Recommended Cardio and Workout Resources:

Rest and Sleep: You Snooze, You Lose

Scientists now point to stress and fatigue as one of the key causes of fat gain. In fact, research shows that sleeping less than 7 hours is a sure-fire recipe for overeating and fat loss failure. That is because our hormonal appetite signals are largely regulated by our sleep patterns.

If you find yourself unable to control a ravenous appetite, or continue to fall off the fat loss wagon, shoot for at least 8 hours per night. That one factor alone can make a tremendous difference.

Other Rest and Recovery Resources:

Consistency and Tracking Progress

Many people view fat loss as a light switch: something to be turned on and off. If you want results that last, it requires a commitment to stay consistent with your approaches –starting on day 1.

It is one thing to set goals and stay focused, but if you’re not recording of your progress, it is impossible to know if you are on your way to achieving them. Whether your goal was to take 4 inches off your waistline, cut out dessert, or eat 5 servings of veggies per day, a log of your successes and failures can keep you motivated and on track.

Other Recommended Resources:

Supplements That Burn Fat

You may be surprised to find that, despite hundreds of so-called fat burners on the market, most are either worthless or dangerous.

However, a handful of supplements are backed by clinical research and have a clean bill of safety to boot:

Conjugated Linoleic Acid: Research published in The International Journal of Obesity found that CLA helped people burn more fat throughout the day.

Green Tea Extract: A well-documented fat burner that doesn’t run the risk of hurting your health down the road.

Chromium Picolinate: Gilbert Kaats, PhD recently published a research review where he concluded: “The data clearly confirm that supplementation with chromium picolinate can lead to significant improvements in body composition resulting from fat loss”.

Supplements can definitely give you an edge in your battle against fat, but as cliché as it may sound, they do not work unless you have the solid nutrition and consistent exercise to match.

Other Recommend Supplement Resources

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You might alos be interested in our guide on how to build muscle.

Stop the Weekend From Derailing Diet Results

Just when you thought your Sunday tradition of football, buffalo wings, and a pitcher of beer was safe, a new study out of Quinnipiac University in Connecticut finds that weekend eating can be detrimental to your weight –even if you eat healthy during the week.

The study looked at 600 individuals who filled out a 2-week survey about their eating habits. Scientists analyzed the data and found some interesting trends.

Skimp Now, Dine Later

One of the most unique findings was that we tend to “:make up” for missed or small meals by eating larger quantities later in the day. For example, if you have a small salad for lunch, unless you’re careful, you’ll find yourself in the buffet line for dinner. However, if you eat heavy at lunch, your body may not compensate at a later meal, thus piling on the extra calories as fat.

Or as study author J. Jeffrey Inman puts it: “Our results suggest you need to think between days, because if you have a big dinner last night, then those calories don’t disappear, they’re with you today,”

This phenomenon is particularly important for weekend eating as people tend to eat anywhere about 400 more calories on the weekend than during the week. Unless you mindfully cut back on Monday, your appetite isn’t going to naturally down shift to make up for that giant piece of chocolate cake from Friday night.

Don’t Let Saturday Night Be “Faturday” Night

Believe it or not, but it’s possible to indulge a bit on the weekend without paying for it later. Here’s how.

Cook: Now that you have a bit of extra time on your hands, why not spend it having some fun in the kitchen? If your traditional weekend dinner out has gotten stale, instead of trying that new pizza place, try making a new dish at home. It’s more fun and leagues healthier than restaurants fare.

Doggie Bag It: Want to cut your calories in half and still let loose on the same weekend meal you love? Eat half, and save the other half for later. Not only will this limit the damage, but you get to enjoy the meal twice.

Cut Creams: Creams and sauces are absolute calorie bombs. In fact, for some dishes, the calories in the sauce outweigh the calories in the rest of the dish!

It’s best to either ask for no sauce at all, or on the side.

Limit Liquid Calories: Although they tend to be ignored, calories from drinks like beer and wine definitely count. However, the worst calorie culprits are mixed drinks like fancy martinis and gin and tonics. They basically add sugary syrup or mixes to what’s already a fattening drink.

It’s OK to imbibe now and again, but definitely shoot for red wine or light beer when you do.

Cooking Method: It’s not always the dish itself, but how it’s cooked that makes all the difference. By asking for a dish to be grilled or baked instead of fried, you can sometimes hack off 25% of the calories.

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