How I added at least 30 pounds to my bench in since mid June

[skid]

Everyone knows the bench press is the true measure of a man's strength. When people ask about weight lifting everyone wants to know how much you can bench. No one gives a shit about deadlifting or squatting. Most of the population doesn't even know what a dead lift or proper squat is, but everyone knows what the bench press is. With that said, here's how this 5'10" 215 lb 52 year old added significantly to his BP. (disclaimer - above paragraph is mostly sarcasm although true...)

In late May I competed in a IPF event and BP'd 275 and failed at 295. So my starting strength (TM) was somewhere in between. I was a little disappointed with my bench at the contest and decided to concentrate on adding weight to it in mid june.Yesterday I did a one second pause bench of 320 so made a significant improvement over the last 2-3 months I did a few light squats and deadlifts once/week to keep my muscle memory during this time period and to focus on pressing.

Here is the routine I followed (disclaimer - do not try this if you are an old geezer that has poor recovery or other excuses - again sarcasm - Also you will need a spotter or a cage as you may fail a bench press...):

Monday - Week one:
Light squats - work up to 1 set of 5 of about 50 - 75% of max
Bench Press - work up to 5 sets of 5 of the heaviest weight you can do for 5 reps
Incline press - work up to 2 sets of 5-8 of the heaviest weight that you can do for over 5 reps
Chin ups - 3 sets of Body Weight AMRAP (I alternate my grip - OH, UH, Neutral grip)

Wednesday
OH Press - work up to 3 sets of 5 of the heaviest weight you can do for 5 reps
Clean/push press - work up to 3 sets of 3 of the heaviest weight you can do.
Weighted Chin ups - 3 sets of weighted chinups. If you can do more than 5 reps add weight
Curls - 3 sets of AMRAP (had to get curls in there some where...)

Friday
Light squats - Work up to 1 set of 5
Bench Press - 5 sets of 1 with 1 second paused rep - I started at 15 pounds under my previous highest weight single
Incline press - 2 sets of 5-8 with the heaviest weight you can do (feels light after heavy singles)
Light Dead lifts - 1 set of 5 at 50 - 75% of Max

After 1st week:
Don't add weight to squats and deadlifts but keep doing them Mondays and Fridays (squats) and Fridays (deadlifts). On Monday's bench add 5 pounds each week until you can't complete all the reps. Then stay at that weight until you can do 5 reps for all 5 sets, then add another 5 pounds and repeat. Really push yourself damn it! The inclines should feel light after that but keep adding weight to them too. On Wednesday's presses keep adding 5 pounds as well to the press and clean/push press. I can clean more than I can press so that isn't an issue.

Now the most important thing - On Friday keep adding 5 pounds to the 1 rep singles paused bench press. At some point you will not be able to complete 5 sets of 1. At that point you will have to do 1-4 heavy sets of singles, and then drop some weight to complete your 5 sets of 1 rep. At the end I was doing 1 really heavy single (say 320), and 4 sets of a lighter weight singles (say 305) to get all the sets in.

I hope this inspires others to push their bench press numbers much higher. At some point these gains will stop or your shoulders may hurt. I feel I have another 2-3 weeks of this in me before I need to mix things up again.

After a couple months of only light squatting/deadlifting I also did heavy squats and deadlifts Friday and found I lost very little strength. My sore right hip mostly healed during that time as well...

[Dave Klopp]

Good info and thanks for sharing your experience. I feel I'm at the same point with my presses - needing more volume. Unfortunately, I struggle with time constraints and one can fit only so much into a 75 - 90 min full body workout a couple times/week. I will probably need to focus on presses for awhile as you did. Nice to hear you were able to retain most of your strength in squats and deads.

[skid]

A criticism of starting strength programming is how little attention is paid to the pressing movements. Pressing (BP, incline and overhead) requires more volume than what is programmed for maximum gainz, even in Texas method in my opinion. With higher volume I am still making weekly gains. Admittingly by focussing on pressing I am not making gains in the dead lift or squat so it seems like one needs to choose one or the other to concentrate on.

[Scott Hanson]

A criticism of starting strength programming is how little attention is paid to the pressing movements.

Not really sure this is a valid criticism if the alternative is to not progress on deadlifts and squats. I rarely see someone's bench lagging the other lifts in Novice LP. It's more common to see people who can't squat as much as they can bench.

Great work on building your bench however.

[skid]

From what I've read here by some of the more experienced and insightful lifters, at the end of novice progression most people's presses are less developed than their squats and deadlifts. Once people have milked their easy gains on the bench/OH press it is difficult to make additional gains, and that does seem to be a common topic on this board. IMO that's due to not programming enough volume. Forget the micro weights, do more volume...