My first encounter with a weight bench was at a Barry’s Bootcamp class. After slogging it out on the treadmill, I spent the second half of the class working on the “mat” with a weight bench. It was love at first use. After my first class, I was an instant fan of this nifty gym tool.

“A weight bench is an amazing tool that can stabilize you to lift safer and more efficiently,” explains Barry’s Bootcamp instructor Marley Bigos. “It allows the lifter to perform many exercises with greater ranges of motion, thus enabling the lifter to target multiple muscles.” Instead of just a regular dumbbell chest press or regular sit-up, a weight bench can allow you to vary positions and level of difficulty.

If you’re looking to take your strength workout to the next level, here are eight ways to challenge yourself, with a bench.

Basic Bench Press

In a basic bench press, you lay flat on the bench and grip two dumbbells or a bar weight. “The lifter will move the equipment up and down, inhaling on the way down to the chest, and exhaling up to the sky,” explains Bigo. The key here is to pull elbows back into a 90-degree angle. If you’re lifting bar weights or heavy weights, it’s a good idea to have a spotter work with you as you press.

This move targets the upper, middle, and lower chest and it’s important to note that “any bench press or dumbbell press will also target secondary muscles such as your triceps and shoulders” says Bigos.

Incline Bench Press

An incline bench press occurs when the bench is lifted up, so the lifter is in more of a seated position. “The incline press targets the same groups but uses mainly the upper pecs, but also includes more deltoid involvement, due to the angle,” says Brandon Gonzalez, a fitness instructor at Barry’s Austin. “It takes stress off of the rotator cuff as opposed to a flat bench press.”

Decline Bench Press

A decline bench press targets the lower pecs and work the triceps and biceps secondarily. “In a decline bench press, the bench is tilted down towards the ground, so the lifter’s head and upper body are positioned lower than the rest of the body,” says Migos. “The lifter will perform a decline press with a bar or dumbbells in the same manner as the other variations of a chest press.”

Make sure to “pinch your shoulder blades together and into the bench,” says Gonzalez. “And follow the same steps as above, but this time let the bar descend towards just under the sternum and press back up.”

Dumbbell Exercises On Bench

Doing dumbbell exercises on a weight bench versus barbell exercises allows the body more opportunity to train unilaterally. “It also in turn can allow for a longer range of motion which could have more muscle activation. It allows you to isolate each side of the body more effectively and potentially correct muscle imbalances,” says Gonzalez.

“The form would follow the same ideals of a barbell bench, except you would need to press the weights together as you press up towards the midline of the chest. Focus on all the same muscle groups (the pectorals, deltoids, and triceps),” he adds.

Core Workouts

Strengthening your core with a workout bench is about so much more than just doing sit-ups. On a bench, you can get a deeper workout when doing Russian twists than you would just if you were sitting flat on the ground.

If you have your bench at an incline, you can do decline pushups to increase your range of motion and increase the core workout of doing an actual sit-up. Most weight benches have a raised platform where you can hook your legs around it. Hook your legs on the weight bench, lay backward with your head at the decline, and complete sit-ups from this setup to increase your core workout.

Strength Training

“Weight benches have endless possibilities, and are amazing at any exercise where the lifter is laying down; this includes chest and tricep work,” says Migos. She adds that using a workout bench is also helpful for anyone who wants to work muscles in the arm like biceps, but would prefer to sit instead of stand. “Seated bicep curls are going to put less stress on a lifter’s lower back,” she explains.

“In addition to aiding with exercise modifications, a weight bench is great for different lower body exercises. These include weighted bench step-ups, deficit lunges, Bulgarian split squats, and hip thrusts.”

Stretching and Mobility

Using a weight bench to stretch is a great way to add to your workouts. Here are three easy stretches you can do for your quads, hip flexors, and hamstrings.

• Hip Flexor Stretch: Face your body to the bench in the incline position. Put one knee onto the seat, supporting your body with the other hand on the inclined portion of the bench. Reach back for your foot and pull your ankle toward your bottom.
• Hamstring Stretch: Sit on the seat with your body facing the inclined portion of the bench. With one foot on the floor, raise one leg to the top of the seat so that it aligns with the incline. Maintain a straight posture while keeping the knee slightly bent. Then straighten the knee. Repeat on the other side.
• Glute Stretch: Sit on the seat with your body facing the inclined portion of the bench. Keeping one foot on the floor, pull one leg into a half-butterfly stretch or half-pigeon with the ankle resting on the seat. The outside of the foot will be on the middle of the bench. With one hand put pressure on the inside of the knee, and with the other pull your body toward the bench, keeping your posture tall.

Plyometric Workouts

“A plyometric workout consists of exercises that are going to use speed and or force to help build up power,” says Migos. “Examples of plyo exercises on a bench include single leg step up to knee drives (performed quickly and with power), box jumps, and tricep dips with a ‘hop’ at the top (hands jumping up off the bench at the top of the dip).”

We mentioned this before, but having a spotter when using a workout bench is always a good idea, especially if you’re doing any chest-related workouts and if you’re new to lifting in general. Make sure to check your bench station before you begin working out as well. You want to make sure it’s firmly on the ground and won’t slip or slide around. A traction mat can be helpful to place under your bench to ensure it stays in place as you work out.