2 a day, 7 days/week

[BenC]

A 24 year old kid at the gym bench presses twice every day, seven days per week.

• He weighs 164 pounds and his Bench Press PR is 315.
• He starts his bench presses above bodyweight with 185x5 and does 4 more sets of five, none of which are heavier than 250 (=.80 1RM).
• Then he tops out near or at 1RM (305 to 315 in different weeks but I couldn't find the pattern of how that progresses).
• Then he comes back down the other side of the pyramid for another 4 or five sets starting around 250 and getting lighter.
• He does no other lifts other than bench press.
• He also does 5 sprinting intervals every morning.
• He walks to/from classes and the gym, amounting to more than 30 minutes of walking each day, five days per week.
• He claims to eat about 4000 calories per day but he looks like he might be dieting.

Can someone explain to me how this is possible and even productive for this kid? My understanding of programming isn't much so its hard to understand what I'm seeing. Is this possible for everyone or is he just a genetic freak? ...The only clue I have to how he might be pulling this off is that he quits reps without struggle. He lifts under some low placed squat rack pins and he just tries for the rep but if it doesn't go up there's no struggle--he just brings the bar down to the pins and wiggles out from under them. So that could be saving him from injury on this program?

Kinda mystified. Explanatory comments would be appreciated.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

All I can say is that there are no shortage of examples of people who get decent (or even very good) results from programs that would probably be far less than optimal for 99% of the population. Sometimes this is genetics, sometimes this is just through sheer will/grit/work ethic. I also don't discount the "placebo" effect that is present in programming. i.e. if somebody really believes in what they are doing they often get better than average results from it.

In his case, I have no idea. Might be genetics. Might be that very frequent suboptimal efforts (ie. never close to failure) seem to work for him. Might be that a consistent approach to his nutrition (28,000 high quality calories per week) has overridden less than optimal programming.

Who knows. Probably a mixture of everything. My guess is that if he cut this in half at a minimum he'd be even stronger

[BenC]

All I can say is that there are no shortage of examples of people who get decent (or even very good) results from programs that would probably be far less than optimal for 99% of the population. Sometimes this is genetics, sometimes this is just through sheer will/grit/work ethic. I also don't discount the "placebo" effect that is present in programming. i.e. if somebody really believes in what they are doing they often get better than average results from it.

In his case, I have no idea. Might be genetics. Might be that very frequent suboptimal efforts (ie. never close to failure) seem to work for him. Might be that a consistent approach to his nutrition (28,000 high quality calories per week) has overridden less than optimal programming.

Who knows. Probably a mixture of everything. My guess is that if he cut this in half at a minimum he'd be even stronger

Thanks, Coach. I appreciate your comments.

...It still blows my mind though. What about his doing no other lift than benching? That's gotta be unbalancing something right? ...If you were advising a minimalist exercise selection, what are the one or two exercises a person could live with? Would benching be one of them?

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

I'd probably Press & Deadlift if I could only do 2 movements ever again.

Yes, the bench only routine is dumb. Obviously.

[Kregna]

I'd probably Press & Deadlift if I could only do 2 movements ever again.

Yes, the bench only routine is dumb. Obviously.

Why deadlifts over squats out of interest?

It's hard to make legs to weep over without a couple of tear drops

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

The squats work the legs more thoroughly, but the Deadlifts work more of the total body, mainly the back. Plus, in our ridiculous hypothetical scenario, I'm assuming that I can do Deficit Deadlifts as an extension of deadlifting, thus building the oh-so-important tear drops on my quads. So I can rest easy now.

[Kregna]

The squats work the legs more thoroughly, but the Deadlifts work more of the total body, mainly the back. Plus, in our ridiculous hypothetical scenario, I'm assuming that I can do Deficit Deadlifts as an extension of deadlifting, thus building the oh-so-important tear drops on my quads. So I can rest easy now.

Can't argue with that bro logic!

[Nubygaines]

I'd probably Press & Deadlift if I could only do 2 movements ever again.

Yes, the bench only routine is dumb. Obviously.

agreed. may not have the best looking physique but you'd be strong enough ough to be healthy and handle most strength related situations