Do it.
As I read it you would do it in two weeks.
If you could ad 13 kg to your bench in two weeks then I would do it.
It’s a matter of having fun in the gym.
When you’ve done that, then focus on something else.
By all means change program for a few weeks if that’s what it takes to reach your goal.
Sometimes we have to do crazy thing 
I’d you’re going to see that kind of improvement in two weeks then you believe you already possess the strength; you just need to convince your body.
I don’t think this will interfere with your physique goals.
I’m not too familiar with the Bulgarian training but I think you need to shy something to practice the bench skill as well as desensitize your GTOs. I think a conjugate approach could be good along with some heavy partials or isometric holds (to convince your body it’s safe to handle that weight and allow you to do it).
As far as do vs don’t. I say do it. How often do you think you’ll be in a position where your strength and bodyweight are close to the 2x ratio?
What do you think contributed to your strength gains on bench while NOT doing bench? My experience has always been that my performance drops due to the specificity of the movement. When I stop benching I usually switch to all DB work.
Thanks for the input man, I’m starting to lean towards doing it.
I think that on a perfect day I could hit maybe 150kgs on the bench at the moment, the beauty of the Bulgarian system is that because of it’s extreme specificity and frequency you’ll gain strength fast through neural adaptations. I do think that I’ve built enough “storage strength”; strength potential to do 160kgs if I can dig it out.
Yeah, I’m thinking that too - two weeks is not long enough to experience too much if any muscle loss.
That’s pretty much what I’ve thought Igor doing - a variation every day and then regular bench for speed work + heavy holds (which I’ve been doing even now, going up to 190kgs, so nothing really feels heavy to me. As per reducing work on other bodyparts, yeah, I though of alternating between doing an upper body pull and a lower body movement every day.
So a regular day would be something like this:
That’s what I was thinking about too, as every kilo gained in bodyweight means you’d have to add two kilos to the bar - it’d be much easier to hit it now than during my bulk
For the past year I’ve pretty much been only doing close grip bench (both paused and tng), floor press and board press in terms of flat pressing, regular, pin and alternating incline presses and overhead barbell presses (pretty rarely). Those are the movements I’ve done consistently, in addition to them I’ve done some sessions with dips, db benches and so on but haven’t stuck with them.
My bench grip is quite narrow so close grip presses are very specific to it, and I’ve been doing a lot of those. I’d say it’s the biggest single factor there is.
Never saw too much bench gains from DB work, but my chest likes them. For me it’s probably just the fact that with DBs you lose some of the absolute load on the exercise.
Score:
Do it:
4
Don’t do it:
1
If you weren’t such a cool dude, I would hate you 
That’s understandable, but don’t worry, eventually time will do it’s thing and I’ll be unable to do anything like this 
That’s why I train for longevity… Or at least that’s what I tell myself! Haha
Lately I’ve been shifting more into that direction as well, or maybe I should say that I’ve been avoiding getting injured by dumb decisions better than before.
For example, my calf has been feeling a bit fucky, so I don’t put it into extreme stretches. Or my back, which felt off yesterday, I just stopped the set right there. A year ago I would’ve just tightened my belt another notch and continued.
But we have to stop and think - a year ago I never had back pain, and I was doing a lot of super heavy and, at times, very ugly rows and pulls. Could it be that now that I’m training in a more strict manner I’m more vulnerable to injury?
Is the key to longevity training with extremely dangerous exercises?
Probably not.
It’s funny you say that because it’s how I treat the rest of my body and it does seem to work that way. The body is very adaptable and quite resilient. When push comes to shove, as long as the body is given the nutrients, time and rest it will recover and grow stronger.
I do think there is more right with your statement than wrong.
If you had asked me this question 10 years ago, I’d have been all for it.
Now? My shoulders ache just thinking about it. If you’re competing then by all means, do it however I personally don’t see the value of hammering a Bulgarian block for ‘shits and giggles’, especially when your current bench is impressive. I personally, would be more than satisfied with that.
Good luck with whatever you go at mate!
I’m about to compete in my first PL competition and was originally planning to cut and enter the 90kg class to be more competitive. Some wise people encouraged me to maintain weight and compete with the 100kg class and just go for the biggest total possible (not Wilks).
The more I thought about it the more this makes sense to me. I’ve kind decided I don’t want to just be “strong for my size”, I just want to be strong.
I don’t want to be “smart for my age”, I’d like to be smart.
Sure a 2x BW bench is a cool feat, but benching 4 plates is cooler, IMO.
No ill intent meant with this post, just my thoughts at this current second…my opinion on these things seem to change by the month. Ask an next month and I’ll likely tell you you’re stupid not to go for it!
I see where you’re coming from - aches and injuries are the last thing I want to have. I’m not doing a competition or even a challenge here, I just saw an opportunity to do something cool. (So really just do it for shit and giggles)
The score is starting to even out, thanks for the input man!
I get what you mean man, and I do think the same way - for me absolute strength is far more impressive than relative strength. But on a certain level I think that the idea of being able to move something that far outweighs you is attractive. Pushing 200% of your bodyweight up from your chest is no small task. Of course if I hit, say 190kgs at 100kgs bodyweight that’ll be a lot more impressive overall, because it’s more weight and a bigger dude.
Kind of off-topic but that is a really weird and kind of annoying compliment in my opinion
Sounds like you’re nearing a 4 plate bench and low key telling me you’re better than I am
I asked for honest opinions on the topic and I’m glad you took the time to contribute. I’ll have to think this through in a week or two and the points you and the other guys have provided will help me tremendously with that.
Thanks man!
The score is:
Do it:
4
Don’t do it:
3
If anyone else wants to have their opinion heard, please do comment.
Daily log:
Weight:
84.9kgs/186.5lbs
Nutrition:
1200 Calories
190g Protein
40g Carbs
30g Fat
Training:
200 Calories worth of cardio
Pull ups for fun (10s rest between sets):
6 reps DOH
6 reps w/4 fingers/hand
6 reps w/3 fingers/hand
4 reps w/2 fingers/hand
Some leg raises and lower back pump stuff to get blood flowing
Foam rolling
2x1 minute stretching for each muscle individually. Took am hour just stretching.
Notes:
Pull ups with two fingers is surprisingly hard compared to three or four, with those I felt like I could do 10+ easily, but two fingers, hell no.
Back has been feeling stiff the whole day, getting a slight pump helped with it. Also stretching very extensively felt really good.
Yup. That’s why I don’t care about my lack of abs and return of the power belly now.
An annoying compliment? It was simply an analogy I had read elsewhere while going through my own internal debate on cutting for my competition or not. I thought it was an interesting perspective.
Incorrect sir. If you’re planning on hitting 160kg in 2 weeks at 80kg, you’re much better at benching than I am. 160kg will be a high second or possibly 3rd attempt at my PL meet in 2 weeks and this is competing in the 100kg class.
Yeah, I’m considering going full @MarkKO after my comp and just going for mass for the better part of a year and see how it goes. Meet you at the 250lb mark, Mark.
I get what you meant with it and I was taking it out of context here, what I meant that in the real world when someone tells you you are smart for your age it is annoying in a sense. Because if someone tells you that in real world it kind of downplays you due to your age.
I should’ve clarified that I was not referring to your comment at all really with it. But yeah, it is a good analogy and perspective on the topic at hand
We really need some sort of sarcasm banner here, as I tried to make a joke there, oh well. If I’m to hit 160 at 80 it’s gonna be more likely a month or so from here because I need to get down to 80kgs first. It’s not too far away but if I begun peaking for it now the risk that I was 82-83 is too big.
Good luck with your competition man!
Is it just me or does this conversation seem kind of aggressive to you too? Because that’s not what I’m after, it’s just hard to put your thoughts into words over the internet
I’ll join you guys in a year or two
Lol, here I was thinking you missed what I meant…and I missed what you meant. Doh!
x2, see above.
Thanks man, I appreciate it!
As I was typing I couldn’t quite figure out how to make it seem not aggressive (without spamming emojis). That’s why I put my disclaimer after my first post! LOL ROFL GIGGITY ← Does this work?
Anywho, no hard feelings from this side of the keyboard, just a friendly discussion on a debatable topic. I have respect for you on here as someone who is knowledgeable (especially when we dabble into the DC world) and not afraid to spread it around to those who ask.
Keep on keepin’ on.
As a person who grew up with just terrible grip strength I can’t imagine doing a pullup with just two fingers. This is very impressive to me
A chain of unfortunate events, glad we got it cleared up!
It’s really hard to get in just the right amount of emojies, lols and whatnot so that the other person gets that you’re not serious but you don’t come across as cringy or emotionally hurt. It’s always a goddamn gamble, especially when you don’t use those things in your everyday life. (At least I don’t)
I’m glad to hear that, and I’m telling you the same. I really respect you and as a strength athlete (talking powerlifting and strongman stuff here) you’re lightyears ahead of me. It’s really impressive what you can do when you decide to focus on something, so just keep grinding man!
There’s an older guy that goes to the same gym as I do who apparently was known for being able to do a single finger pull-up with one arm in his youth. Just imagine the amount of grip, bicep and back strength that requires, it’s insane!
For me personally, I feel that the pull-ups with fat grips have been a great grip builder, along with rack pulls with the fat grips on. The hardest thing with pull ups with limited amount of fingers is the sheer weight that’s hanging off of such small part of your body, it’s pretty painful really.
I’m sure you can get there too if you really want it, just keep practicing man!
Daily log:
Weight:
84.5kgs/185.5lbs
Nutrition:
1470 Calories
220g Protein
80g Carbs
30g Fat
Training:
Upper body:
1a Clap pushups
3x3
1b Explosive sternum chins
3x3
2a Overhead press
2x3
increase weight
A double
increase weight
A single
increase weight
A single
decrease weight
A triple
2b Weighted pull ups w/fat grips
5x6
1 set of 20 w/BW
3a Board press
5x6
3b Smith machine rows
5x10
4a Standing cable skullcrusher
4x11
4b EZ-Bar curl w/fat grips
3x12
decrease weight
1x15
5a Rear delt flies
3x20
5b BTN Press on smith machine
3x10
5 minutes of cardio
Notes:
Going into this workout I knew I wasn’t going to hit an incline bench PR, so I decided to switch it up I’m order to get some benefit from this. (Overcoming the biological law of accommodation by changing the exercise)
Got a 90kg/200lbs single on OHP, which given the fact I haven’t done the lift consistently in months I’m pretty happy about.
Paired it with weighted fat grips pull ups, as usual. Decided to throw in a smooth set with just bodyweight at the end. Got 20 reps with the fat grips on and maybe 2-3 left in tank.
I’m board press I went up in volume compared to last time, my chest fired a lot better than before, maybe the extensive stretching yesterday helped. I’ve been getting a bit tight as of late and it’s never good for your presses.
On smith rows I went up in both weight and volume, felt pretty good and didn’t irritate my lower back at all.
On curls I went with the same weight and sets/reps as last time but with considerably cleaner form. Also I did one extra set with a but lighter weight there. I feel that when working such small muscle as the biceps are on a diet it’s important to keep the volume rather low but really hit them hard with a but heavier weight while still keeping the tension on the muscle. If you are performing the movement with your low back and traps you’re set to lose mass in there. So low-ish volume, high intensity, focus on the biceps.
Behind-the-neck press on smith machine is a movement that really changed the way I looked years ago, but back then I didn’t realize it. I was just doing these every other day (unwashed doing golden six) and in two weeks time I saw notable increases in shoulder size but I couldn’t figure out why exactly. (I was like 14 or 15 at the time) I’ve been trying them again lately and if nothing else is happening, my pumps are pretty great.