Tweaking HLM bench program

[Aaron Montgomery]

Thanks for the reply BBB.
1. % are based off of my top set of 5's on my bench heavy day. I have tested my squat and deadlift 1RM recently, nothing else.
2. TnG
3. No video, but I saw Austin Baraki 2 months ago when I was on SSLP and he said my technique was fine, I just needed to bring my grip in 1/2".
4. I want to hit a 300lb bench just to say I did it. And then I'll want to hit 315, because that's 3 plates. No competing. Once I get a "big" bench, I plan on trying to reach a 200lb OHP.

My setup this week is:
Tuesday (H) - Bench 195.5 (RPE 9.5); 185x5; 175 3x5 (RPE 9)
Thursday (L) - OHP 3x3 (scheduled to hit 122.5lb)
Saturday (M) - Bench 177.5 5x5 (which should be 90% of the following week's top set of 5)

[BBB]

Thanks for the reply BBB.
1. % are based off of my top set of 5's on my bench heavy day. I have tested my squat and deadlift 1RM recently, nothing else.
2. TnG
3. No video, but I saw Austin Baraki 2 months ago when I was on SSLP and he said my technique was fine, I just needed to bring my grip in 1/2".
4. I want to hit a 300lb bench just to say I did it. And then I'll want to hit 315, because that's 3 plates. No competing. Once I get a "big" bench, I plan on trying to reach a 200lb OHP.

My setup this week is:
Tuesday (H) - Bench 195.5 (RPE 9.5); 185x5; 175 3x5 (RPE 9)
Thursday (L) - OHP 3x3 (scheduled to hit 122.5lb)
Saturday (M) - Bench 177.5 5x5 (which should be 90% of the following week's top set of 5)

Aaron, what's the RPE of your OHP? 3x3 or is that a typo? You wrote 5x5 in the first post. This may not matter if you de-prioritize the OHP as I'll recommend below.

The first thing I'll say is: you should probably have realistic expectations. Although people on this forum talk about how much bench sucks on this program or that program, the reality is that it's not just programming, bench sucks IN GENERAL, for most people. You can only increase it so fast. I fully believe you'll achieve your goal, but it's a long(ish) journey.

Now that that's out of the way, I really like (love?!?) Jordan's program arrangement for upper body. You've seen the tweaks that I've made to it and mainly did that to simplify the program and have sets across (as opposed to RPE based drop-sets). In order to implement the program (or your own derivative), I'd recommend the following changes:

1. Reduce your rest intervals; you've mentioned 5-minute rest intervals, force yourself to take ~1-minute intervals. This will ensure you're using slightly lower weights (even if you are pushing yourself @ RPE 9+) and will give you time for additional volume. Unlike squats/DL, you really shouldn't be that winded/broken down here.
2. Thurs should be a bench day; 2-full-seconds Pause Bench (6 sets of 4 reps @ 70-75%) - the long pause will ensure you're using lighter weights
3. OHP should be an accessory added on Tuesday. 5-6 sets in the 7-9 rep range

These changes should ensure you're working with slightly lower weighs and get a bunch of additional volume. Consider competition/paused/tempo or other bench varieties to maintain lower intensity.

Hope that helps.

[Aaron Montgomery]

The OHP has morphed from 5x5 to 3x3 over the last few weeks. I'd say the 3x3 sets are RPE 8.5-9. But RPE 9 OHP doesn't kill me like RPE 9 squats do.

I think I'll keep my current setup for now until I fail my top set of 5 on Tuesday, and then tweak my bench heavy day rep scheme to include heavy 3's and back off sets with 5's. Wanna give the HLM template a full 12 weeks before I program hop. Jordan's program does look rather interesting, and I like the idea of hitting lots of volume with less intensity.

Considering your changes, I definitely want to lower my rest times on upper lifts, but that will require lowering the intensity/weight, which I don't want to do yet. I may introduce 2 second pause bench on Thursdays starting next week; starting with a couple sets and gradually increasing the volume to see if it interferes with Saturday's 5x5 bench session. Once I burn through 3's on my OHP, I'll definitely consider a higher volume/lower intensity scheme.

Thanks!

[Aaron Montgomery]

Update:

6/13/17 - Bench (H) 195x5 (RPE 10); 185x5; 175 3x5
6/15/17 - OHP 122.5 3x3 (RPE 9); 95x12 (RPE 8)
6/17/17 - Bench (M) 177.5 5x5 (RPE 9)
6/20/17 - Bench (H) 187.5x1; 197.5x1 (wanted 2x3); 187.5 3x3; 177.5x5; 167.5x5

Got 195x5 last week, could only do a single at 197.5 this week. Still gaining weight, sleeping fine, etc. I'll add some 2 count paused bench presses on OHP day, skip the lower weight OHP AMRAP; and deload all accy volume except for LTE's this week. See if that helps next week's heavy bench day any. Maybe I can keep progressing my 5x5 medium day every week, and keep doing sets of triples on heavy day that are only 10lb higher than medium day weights.