Whining About My Crappy Bench

[Gary Gibson]

I really, really suck at the bench press.

Squat continues to increase rapidly and the deadlift is coming along for the ride. But my ability to press weights remains sub par.

I got 225x5 a few months ago when I hit a high of ~175 lbs. Got a very hard 225x5 three days ago at a new high of 185 lbs. Today I barely pressed 235 once.

Pretty damned sure that I'm beyond linear progression for the bench. I only seem to increase sporadically and when I'm dialing back my squat training for whatever reason (injury, fatigue, lull between heavy cycles). My squat number just keep growing, but whenever I add weight to the bench press, it just feels so heavy and I usually stall.

The biggest move ever on my bench was the 25 lbs I got last year when I ran a Smolov Jr for it while rehabbing my knee and squatting really, really light. Have since failed with Russian volume approaches run concurrently with high volume squatting. Thinking of trying another Smolov Jr., however, after this meet when I dial back the squat.

Input/advice welcome.

[blowdpanis]

Two totally separate things that have worked well for my bench...

1) High frequency, pavel-style work (I raised my bench back up to my competition best, like +20 lbs, in 3 weeks doing this). In that you seem to have approached things on this end (i.e. the higher frequency stuff), perhaps this is not for you.

2) A combination of one day dedicated to the bench, and another day dedicated to an "overload" movement in the form of a floor/rack press. Volume accumulated on both with triples/5's. I did overhead stuff on the middle day.

Have you ever played with any rack or floor presses? Getting the bar to start right at/below your sticking point seems to do good things.

[Tom Campitelli]

I don't know, Gary, it seems like you are making progress on the bench. As you know, the bench won't increase like the squat and you are well over your bodyweight at the present. Some obvious questions here:

Are you microloading the bench? You are only listing 5 lb increments below.
If you were doing a linear progression before and you were microloading, why not try the next simplest thing - Texas Method? I know you like Russian training approaches, but the TM is worth a look.

[PMDL]

If you're a good deadlifter you can expect benching to suck ass.

Best thing is to just accept it's going to be a long, slow process to see improvements. Also benching is like squatting, the heavier you are the better it gets.

Microloading is a good option mainly because it's slow, incremental progress. You can do effectively the same thing with any of the programming strategies that have you chipping away at it over time. Good examples are 5/3/1, or stuff like the Pavel/Steve Justa/Doug Hepburn kinds of routines that have you sticking with a weight until it gets easy and/or you reach a certain volume target.

I never got anywhere with the "grind out sets week after week" method. Unless you count repeated shoulder injuries as getting somewhere.

[LondonTiger]

If you're a good deadlifter you can expect benching to suck ass.


Can you explain the logic behind this to me, thanks

[hbriem]

Long arms are good for deadlifting, bad for benching.

Look at the fortunes of Andrzej Stanaszek in the 2003 IPF Worlds (http://www.powerlifting-ipf.com/fileadmin/data/results/worlds/wormen2003.html). Stanaszek is a dwarf with short limbs, long torso and very short fingers.

He totally crushed his rivals in the squat and bench with a 300.5kg SQ (663 lbs) and a 182.5kg BP (402 lbs). In the under 52 division! (< 114 lbs). He had a 70.5kg (155 lbs) lead going into the deadlift and still lost! By a wide margin too.

That said, most people I know who excel at either, excel at both. And in fact in the squat as well.

[Gary Gibson]

Wow, thanks for the reply, guys.

PMDL mentioned: "kinds of routines that have you sticking with a weight until it gets easy and/or you reach a certain volume target."

This has been THE most reliable method for me in the squat. The first half of the Russian Squat Routine cycle uses 80% every single time and just waves back and forth, gradually increasing the volume from sets of triples to sets of six. Once you've gradually worked up to x6x6 with 80%, you start tapering the volume and cranking up the intensity and cruise confidently to a new single max or about 105-110% of your old max. It worked wonderfully with my squat a few months ago and seems to be working as planned (and a little better on my squat now).

Mike, the frequency stuff has not worked for me before, but I suspect like most I overdid the intensity. Also I love floor presses, but didn't get much out of them when I devoted myself to them a couple years back (I had a power rack in my kitchen, but no bench). Again, the fault was probably mine, not the movement's.

And, Tom, I will be trying TM...but after I try either the Smolov or RSR in March (leaning toward the incredibly reliable RSR with slight truncation). I will be traveling an awful lot at the end of March and either of would fit the month and then the following forced lay off perfectly. When I settle down in April, I'll be doing a long, drawn out Smolov/Feduleyev for the SQ in preparation for the USAPL Raw Nationals in July (basically cutting the frequency in half so the base cycle is six weeks of work instead of six and intensive phase is eight weeks instead of four). The Texas Method for Bench would work well at that point, using the twice weekly approach.

[Mr.City]

You're doing Smolov again?

[SerusMournstar]

The Starr 5x5 seems to have been the easiest way for me to increase my bench. It only requires 1 heavy set per workout and I haven't had too much trouble adding to my bench from week to week (with the occasional couple week reset).

[Gary Gibson]

Like so:

February 20: Meet

February 22 to March 13: 3-week Smolov Jr for BP, PTTP for SQ and DL
March 20: Test BP
March 22 to April 4: Travel

April 5 to May 15: Smolov base phase SQ done 2x/wk instead of 4x/week. BP TM
May 16 to May 21: Rest SQ
May 22: Test new SQ max
May 23 to May 30: Rest SQ (half rest time "switching phase" because Smolov frequency was half normal so recovery needs should be less.)
May 31 to July 10: Feduleyev Intensive Peaking Phase 2x/week (practice deadlift every second week)
July 11 to July 16: Taper
July 17: Meet

[franklie]

I really, really suck at the bench press.

Squat continues to increase rapidly and the deadlift is coming along for the ride. But my ability to press weights remains sub par.

I got 225x5 a few months ago when I hit a high of ~175 lbs. Got a very hard 225x5 three days ago at a new high of 185 lbs. Today I barely pressed 235 once.

Pretty damned sure that I'm beyond linear progression for the bench. I only seem to increase sporadically and when I'm dialing back my squat training for whatever reason (injury, fatigue, lull between heavy cycles). My squat number just keep growing, but whenever I add weight to the bench press, it just feels so heavy and I usually stall.

The biggest move ever on my bench was the 25 lbs I got last year when I ran a Smolov Jr for it while rehabbing my knee and squatting really, really light. Have since failed with Russian volume approaches run concurrently with high volume squatting. Thinking of trying another Smolov Jr., however, after this meet when I dial back the squat.

Input/advice welcome.

Gary, my experiences with bench are as follows:

at age 21/22 at a BW 155lb, ht 5' 10" over a 3 month period I moved my bench from 185lb to 305lb.

I benched on MOndays and I benched on Thursdays. My training partners were strong mofos and I struggled to keep up with them. Every workout I ended up doing a 1-2 rep max for my final set. The bench workouts were done "pyramid style" - low weights high reps as the weight went up the reps went down. I also did dumbbell flies (65lb) and incline benches (225lb) as part of my "chest routine". For my triceps I did 135lb "skullcrushers" with an Olympic bar on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I ended up with stretch marks where the pecs join up at the shoulder and I was embarassed for many years about them. My buddies accused me of taking steroids but I ate an ordinary diet with a 5 cup blender of protein drink at night.

Later in my 30's at a body weight of 165lb I worked upto a bench of 275lb. Again I followed a similar routine to the routine I used to get to 305lb.

I'm not sure that they are competition grade benches but the bar did touch my chest on each rep and I locked out each rep at the top.

Perhaps something in what I've written might be able to help you get your bench up.

[George Noble]

I think higher volume works for the bench. Guys like you and me bench around 230 and although it's easy to feel smart about how many of Rip's books we have read, the retards we make fun of are benching more than us because they just do so much of it and they do so much of other upper body movement.

[Smack]

I think higher volume works for the bench.

Really?

I'm in the same situation, expect with even lower bench press numbers. I did SS for ~10 weeks and added 15kg to my 5RM. I then switched to a routine that has much higher volume on the pressing muscles (IA's SPBR) and it didn't do shit for me bench.

[PMDL]

Yeah I gotta agree with the volume thing. Bench has always been more responsive to higher volume than either squats or pulls, where I seem to be able to get away with relatively little (at least on the lifts themselves).

For me benching has always needed a frequency component to improve, even if the daily volume wasn't very high. Though now I'm finding that chipping away at it with the conservative, steady-improvement approach is working just as well.

Maybe it's because I'm too old and injured to be trying all this crazy shit, and I'm finally sticking to the basics that I should have been sticking to for years.

[Guido]

I've got pretty much the same issue with my bench. I managed to get up to 315 just doing a basically random powerlifting routine of alternating heavy and light weeks, doing 5's some days, triples others, double on occasion, and then going for a new max about once every 2 months. I was making decent gains but then I completely plateued at the end of 2007. I haven't hit more than 315 ever since. I've tried all sorts of thing to bring it up including floor presses, more OH pressing, moving to twice a week sessions, 5-3-1, etc. I had actually gone down to a max of 305 a year or so ago. I was able to bring it back up to 315 recently by doing a higher volume approach alternating lighter and heavier days twice per week, with OH pressing on a separate day. I'm going to do another cycle of that and see where it takes me.

[tdwaffle15]

Interesting discussion. I'd think that the higher volume would necessitate lower weights...does this sort of programming contribute in the form of greater sarcoplasmic hypertrophy specifically, and thus create more efficient levers?

Weight gain has been a proven method. :) But IIRC Gary you are already just above the weight class you hope to compete in.

[BruteForce]

If you were willing to work in some Close Grip Bench Presses or Reverse grip benchpresses into your workout, your benchpress would certainly push through its sticking point. You do have some incredibly long limbs, so the benchpress certainly won't be your strongpoint but, you can definitely bring it up with the above exercises.

[hbriem]

My bench was stuck for over two years. It finally moved a bit late last year with a very demanding 9 week Russian routine. You know the deal 80%x6x3, 6x4,6x5, etc. I also did some lower volume benching on the other two workout days so I was doing some form of bench 3 times a week. I'm doing it again right now in the hope of adding another 2.5kg or so on top. Looks good so far.

[PMDL]

Interesting discussion. I'd think that the higher volume would necessitate lower weights...does this sort of programming contribute in the form of greater sarcoplasmic hypertrophy specifically, and thus create more efficient levers?

I can't say I really care what it does physiologically.

[Gary Gibson]

Interesting discussion. I'd think that the higher volume would necessitate lower weights...does this sort of programming contribute in the form of greater sarcoplasmic hypertrophy specifically, and thus create more efficient levers?

Weight gain has been a proven method. :) But IIRC Gary you are already just above the weight class you hope to compete in.

80% x5x 10 is very different from 60% x10 x5

[cjangelo]

I think higher volume works for the bench. Guys like you and me bench around 230 and although it's easy to feel smart about how many of Rip's books we have read, the retards we make fun of are benching more than us because they just do so much of it and they do so much of other upper body movement.



Yeah I gotta agree with the volume thing. Bench has always been more responsive to higher volume than either squats or pulls, where I seem to be able to get away with relatively little (at least on the lifts themselves).

For me benching has always needed a frequency component to improve, even if the daily volume wasn't very high. Though now I'm finding that chipping away at it with the conservative, steady-improvement approach is working just as well.

I agree with these two meatbags. Volume and frequency for the bench. If you look at the Sheiko routines, you're benching 3 times a week, so maybe you've come to the same conclusions as the Russians who invented this program.

Anecdotally, I got my bench to it's highest level by doing two months of Sheiko followed by a few weeks of Westside. I'm assuming the Westside functioned as a 'Realization' phase after accumulating fatigue.

[Nauticus]

For all you folks talking about volume: Did you do higher volume with lower intensity, or about the same?

[Gary Gibson]

I think volume and frequency are right. The bench needs more than the squat and the squat needs more than the DL. In fact, my DL has gone up almost lockstep with my SQ when I pour on the volume for the squat and just do the DL every now and then. This would NOT work the other way around.

Anyway, I suspect my bench sucks because I give so much of my available time and effort to the squat. There's no way I can bench with Russian volume when I'm squatting with Russian volume. Smolov Jr. worked GREAT for bench when I wasn't squatting. That's why I'm going to try Smolov Jr. for bench again when I back off SQ and DL after the meet.

I tried to do Russian SQ routine protocol (80%x3x6...etc...) for both BP and SQ a few months ago, but the BP quickly burned out. In fact, I was just plain burning out because I was doing the drawn out version that included the DL in the protocol! BP/SQ--DL--SQ/BP. Brutal.

[cjangelo]

For all you folks talking about volume: Did you do higher volume with lower intensity, or about the same?

Look at the beginner Sheiko programs for my answer to your question.

[hbriem]

I tried to do Russian SQ routine protocol (80%x3x6...etc...) for both BP and SQ a few months ago, but the BP quickly burned out. In fact, I was just plain burning out because I was doing the drawn out version that included the DL in the protocol! BP/SQ--DL--SQ/BP. Brutal.

Yes, I tried that, but quickly made changes to avoid burnout. I reduced the light squat day from 80%x6x2 to maybe 70%x2x5 or so. I reduced the light bench day from 80%x6x2 to maybe 90%x3x1.

I dropped the DL progression after 3 weeks and did about 80-90% for 2-3 sets of 2-3.

It worked well for the bench (+2.5kg) and squat (+5kg), DL maintained. DL was much stronger anyway.

[George Noble]

Really?

I'm in the same situation, expect with even lower bench press numbers. I did SS for ~10 weeks and added 15kg to my 5RM. I then switched to a routine that has much higher volume on the pressing muscles (IA's SPBR) and it didn't do shit for me bench.

Maybe it's semantics, but I wouldn't say the SPBR has "much" higher volume. It just has the week's entire upper body workout pretty much on one day and the pump makes you feel like it's higher volume. On SS you do nine sets of pressing a week, and something like 4-6 sets of chins. On SPBR you do something like 10 sets a week of pressing, then some skullcrushers and chins. There is more volume, but not enough to offset these points:
1. All the volume is on one day so the later sets are lower quality
2. You do more exercises at a time when you need to do fewer exercises harder.


I was thinking about this the other day, and something occurred to me: a world class bench presser's arms are huge - maybe 20" or more, and they can move monster weights. This is a bit abstract and doesn't follow perfectly, but I believe there is a point to be made. A fairly thin intermediate's legs are even huger at about 22". So a "skinny" pair of legs is actually enough muscle to move a whole lot of weight. However people's upper bodies are not usually as developed and if you want arms and shoulders big enough to move all that weight you need to put some volume in. I noticed this when I watched Mark Spurling lifting at the Worlds. He is a masters lifter, and not famous but across the three lifts he has no real weakness. Bench press is up near 500, squat over 700 and deadlift over 660 all at 181. I was very surprised when I was watching him deadlift because his upper body looks like it belongs to a bodybuilder and his legs look like they belong to an Abercrombie model (exaggerations both, but you know what I am saying).

Another interesting irony: on Iron Addict's site there's a movement to get bodybuilders to train like powerlifters and elsewhere in the actual powerlifting community there are guys who think novice powerlifters should train like bodybuilders to get big enough to lift some weight. What?

My final point in this rather tangential post is that most people seem to have an assistance exercise that suits them so well that has its place almost alongside their main exercises. Rip seems to think that the chinup is a good one for novices. Wendler talked about how the Kroc row is his Holy Grail of assistance work. I personally feel like I'm on steroids when I do dumbbell presses because my raw bench press will go up immediately even if it was stagnant for months. Find your assistance exercise and get good at it. If you're a novice listen to Rip and if you're not, find the exercise that you hate the most and makes you want to quit. Chances are that will work pretty well.

Sorry for the life story.

[nisora33]

Maybe it's semantics, but I wouldn't say the SPBR has "much" higher volume. It just has the week's entire upper body workout pretty much on one day and the pump makes you feel like it's higher volume. On SS you do nine sets of pressing a week, and something like 4-6 sets of chins. On SPBR you do something like 10 sets a week of pressing, then some skullcrushers and chins. There is more volume, but not enough to offset these points:
1. All the volume is on one day so the later sets are lower quality
2. You do more exercises at a time when you need to do fewer exercises harder.


I was thinking about this the other day, and something occurred to me: a world class bench presser's arms are huge - maybe 20" or more, and they can move monster weights. This is a bit abstract and doesn't follow perfectly, but I believe there is a point to be made. A fairly thin intermediate's legs are even huger at about 22". So a "skinny" pair of legs is actually enough muscle to move a whole lot of weight. However people's upper bodies are not usually as developed and if you want arms and shoulders big enough to move all that weight you need to put some volume in. I noticed this when I watched Mark Spurling lifting at the Worlds. He is a masters lifter, and not famous but across the three lifts he has no real weakness. Bench press is up near 500, squat over 700 and deadlift over 660 all at 181. I was very surprised when I was watching him deadlift because his upper body looks like it belongs to a bodybuilder and his legs look like they belong to an Abercrombie model (exaggerations both, but you know what I am saying).

Another interesting irony: on Iron Addict's site there's a movement to get bodybuilders to train like powerlifters and elsewhere in the actual powerlifting community there are guys who think novice powerlifters should train like bodybuilders to get big enough to lift some weight. What?

My final point in this rather tangential post is that most people seem to have an assistance exercise that suits them so well that has its place almost alongside their main exercises. Rip seems to think that the chinup is a good one for novices. Wendler talked about how the Kroc row is his Holy Grail of assistance work. I personally feel like I'm on steroids when I do dumbbell presses because my raw bench press will go up immediately even if it was stagnant for months. Find your assistance exercise and get good at it. If you're a novice listen to Rip and if you're not, find the exercise that you hate the most and makes you want to quit. Chances are that will work pretty well.

Sorry for the life story.

Some good stuff here.

-S.

[PMDL]

"Get good at the shit you hate" is a great mantra to apply across the board, not just to exercises.

[Smack]

Maybe it's semantics, but I wouldn't say the SPBR has "much" higher volume. It just has the week's entire upper body workout pretty much on one day and the pump makes you feel like it's higher volume. On SS you do nine sets of pressing a week, and something like 4-6 sets of chins. On SPBR you do something like 10 sets a week of pressing, then some skullcrushers and chins. There is more volume, but not enough to offset these points:
1. All the volume is on one day so the later sets are lower quality
2. You do more exercises at a time when you need to do fewer exercises harder.

Your numbers are a little bit off.

The SPBR is based on a chest/shoulders/triceps and legs/back/biceps rotation, three days a week. There is, depending on the week, either 13 or 26 sets of exercises in total which work the pressing muscles. Plus either 4 or 8 sets of chins, inversely related to how much pressing there is. I'd call 13 sets per week 'higher volume', or at least 'medium volume'. 26 is definitely 'high volume'. Regardless of what it is in your eyes, it definitely didn't work well for my pressing.

1. Agree.
2. Agree even more so. It seems to be an amalgamation of Westside and DC and from the results I've seen it doesn't work as well on newbies as SS.

Can't really respond to anything else you've wrote since I've got no experience with it, except about the assistance part. I haven't really found a decent bench assistance exercise yet. I don't think I did get the to stage, even at my strongest, that I needed anything other than bench to get better on the bench. Every time I deviated from bench, my bench numbers came crashing down.

[George Noble]

OK Smack. I'm actually a bit surprised te SPBR didn't work for you at all, as it happens. But hey, everyone's different and now you know what works for you.

Mark doing his thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8SxjgXl60g&feature=player_embedded

[Gary Gibson]

Wow. Lots of good stuff in this thread. Thanks.

Realized tonight that I really have been gypping the bench. I've been doing a set or two every other day instead of the volume it needs.

Today I rested plenty after the 85%x5x5 SQ of the Russian Squat Routine protocol. Horrible rep with 225x1 BP. Feels like I've lost 30+ lbs on the BP! Gave it some volume today with 185x5x5. It occurred to me that since I started the RSR for SQ, I've dropped the bench volume to nothing. I don't know how much remedying that will help this close to the meet, but I'm going to give it a go.

[Smack]

OK Smack. I'm actually a bit surprised te SPBR didn't work for you at all, as it happens. But hey, everyone's different and now you know what works for you.

It worked OK for my box squat and deadlift. Just the pressing didn't go too well.

[jacob cloud]

I'm a fellow crappy bencher, but will at least give credit as to why:
1. Injuries. Worked up to 235 3x5 on SS before I screwed up my left shoulder and had to get my AC joint scoped. Tinkered with it again, sorta scared to get another injury, then committed and finally worked up to 230 or 235 3x5 again...and injured my right shoulder (biceps tendonosis). Still fighting that injury and unfortunately, squatting flares it up.
2. Inconsistency

Gary, I've lurked on a lot of your posts and like your contributions here, but honestly, I think you're overcomplicating things. If you are eating 70sbig right now, and don't have injuries to consider, go back to linear programming and microload. It works for press, it works for bench, but you have to be patient. I find myself doubting that with a ton of calories AND CONSISTENCY, you won't blow past your previous sticking points. 3x5, start low, alternate bench and press every workout, add 2.5lbs/workout, ignore the mental aspect of previous sticking points, and keep eating. If you think this isn't enough volume, add 1-2 drop work or down sets. If you think you have a weakness, such as triceps, do those extra sets on a different exercise like dips. If you stall, remove the extras. If you still don't progress, try adding more. All basic PP stuff, but I just don't think the Russian stuff is really needed at this point if you aren't being consistent and giving yourself a fair shot.

FYI, I'm doing 5/3/1 on bench/press/deads only to "maintain" while I focus on my squat a bit for a shot at a state record, but I will also be forcing myself to go through some linear gains on bench again soon, so I've been giving this a LOT of thought myself. Don't underestimate the capabilities of calories and consistency.

One last thing, a quick tip I picked up from reading Starr's stuff - if you want to focus on bench, put it first in your workout, before squats. This goes for whatever your weakness is. Give it the most energy and mental focus.

[cjangelo]

I'm not going to pretend to try to give Gary or anyone else any advice or help. There is a ton of great information in this thread already.

But,


I was thinking about this the other day, and something occurred to me: a world class bench presser's arms are huge - maybe 20" or more, and they can move monster weights. This is a bit abstract and doesn't follow perfectly, but I believe there is a point to be made. A fairly thin intermediate's legs are even huger at about 22". So a "skinny" pair of legs is actually enough muscle to move a whole lot of weight. However people's upper bodies are not usually as developed and if you want arms and shoulders big enough to move all that weight you need to put some volume in. I noticed this when I watched Mark Spurling lifting at the Worlds. He is a masters lifter, and not famous but across the three lifts he has no real weakness. Bench press is up near 500, squat over 700 and deadlift over 660 all at 181. I was very surprised when I was watching him deadlift because his upper body looks like it belongs to a bodybuilder and his legs look like they belong to an Abercrombie model (exaggerations both, but you know what I am saying).

I used to use the Westside template. We had ME lower, ME upper, DE lower, DE upper. Once I stopped fucking around with speed benches and bands and substituted in a High Rep day, My upper body grew and my bench really started to move. I just skipped the speed work and did DB presses, 3 sets to near-failure, aiming for 25 reps, then 20, then 15, all with the same weight. My chest, shoulders, and arms grew. My bench went from 285 to 315. Shit, writing this makes me think I should go and do that again.

Anyone else have a similar experience?

[Baker]

Gary, my experiences with bench are as follows:

at age 21/22 at a BW 155lb, ht 5' 10" over a 3 month period I moved my bench from 185lb to 305lb.

I benched on MOndays and I benched on Thursdays. My training partners were strong mofos and I struggled to keep up with them. Every workout I ended up doing a 1-2 rep max for my final set. The bench workouts were done "pyramid style" - low weights high reps as the weight went up the reps went down. I also did dumbbell flies (65lb) and incline benches (225lb) as part of my "chest routine". For my triceps I did 135lb "skullcrushers" with an Olympic bar on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I ended up with stretch marks where the pecs join up at the shoulder and I was embarassed for many years about them. My buddies accused me of taking steroids but I ate an ordinary diet with a 5 cup blender of protein drink at night.

Later in my 30's at a body weight of 165lb I worked upto a bench of 275lb. Again I followed a similar routine to the routine I used to get to 305lb.

I'm not sure that they are competition grade benches but the bar did touch my chest on each rep and I locked out each rep at the top.

Perhaps something in what I've written might be able to help you get your bench up.

that's pretty good benching for that bodyweight, my best is also 305 but i was 225 (same height)...you know when friends are saying you are using then you are on the right path. the old school basics still work.

[NolanPower]

FWIW I'm built somewhat similar to you I think Gary, I just weigh more (5'10, 6'2 wingspan, 209 lbs) and I've had a lot of success with my bench press by doing a good amount of close grip or incline bench pressing along with the normal bench work. The method of the actual benching has been loading volume and then intensification. Regardless of how the volume was loaded whether it be an advanced 5x5 bridged to 3x3 program or the russian program you're speaking of (I had no problem running it for bench and squat at once though). Basically you have to put in a lot of work on the bench to get better at benching. At least twice a week serious bench workouts, I had absolutely no success doing 5/3/1 for bench which I tried recently.

Cliffs:
CGBP/Incline as assistance
More Volume leading to intensification

[poopmonkey]

Gary:

I was leafing through my dog-earred copy of Starr's book, "The Strongest Shall Survive" last night and there's actually a section about using an old Hepburn program to boost the bench.

Basically, you work up to 5 heavy singles and then follow it up with 5 x 5.

You do this once a week and your other two training days are lighter. (I'd imagine one light bench day and one press day.)

Might want to give this a shot and see if it helps. It's actually something I'd like to try as well but I figured I'd try and trick you into trying it first so I can see if it works. ;)

[jacob cloud]

That sounds like something Rip talked about doing in his PL days as well, which would make sense.

[simonsky]

i've heard this somewhere, can't remember if its from louie simmons but he said that wide grip ~8 reps helped him increase his bench or something like that.

[George Noble]

Anyone else have a similar experience?

Joe DeFranco got famous in person for having spectacular NFL combine performances and famous on the internet for basically writing the same thing as you. It worked for just about any Skinny Bastard who cared to implement it.

[hbriem]

A few friends of mine have gotten extremely good results from Hepburn type routines, ie several heavy singles followed by several low rep sets. It's a superb routine as long as you have a spotter or power rack. It also takes a while.

It also works very well for squat and deadlift.

[zepled37]

A few friends of mine have gotten extremely good results from Hepburn type routines, ie several heavy singles followed by several low rep sets. It's a superb routine as long as you have a spotter or power rack. It also takes a while.

It also works very well for squat and deadlift.


I'm quite certain I would die after doing this for the squat.