Which Program Has Your Bench Done Best On?

Training Powerlifting
21

I’ve never really been good at following a written program, would usually just go in and get at it. I would usually bench twice a week and each time I’d do about 7 sets of 3 and end with a heavy double. The last two sets of three would usually 75-85% while the set of 2 being 90%. On my second bench day, I’d cut back the weight and maybe only do 3 or 4 sets and have a bigger focus on getting my shoulders stronger by doing military press, band pull aparts, things of that nature.

My military would be similar, but I would do 2x5, 2x3 then maybe a set of 2 if I was feeling good. Every now and then I’d through in a rep day for shits and giggles. This is what worked for me. I went from 235 pause to a 295 pause. Tore my AC joint 3 months ago, so I haven’t really benched since then.

22

How would you guys recommend linear progression for a novice at my stage of development

all my lifts are intermediate, nearing advanced, except for bench press which is still novice …lol

I am 195 pounds, 16 yr old

Bench-190, probably have strength for 195
squat-335x3
deadlift-375x3

i have been doing full body 3x a week but i have had massive amounts of trouble progressing on bench while everything else is going pretty well

I am gaining weight steadily

sticking point is right in the middle, so like shoulders/chest as a weakpoint (my chest is fairly big (relatively) but shoulders are tiny, so they are probably weakpoint

for shoulders ive been doing military press every other workout (so 1-2x a week) I try to get 25 reps in as few sets as possible
today i did 105x7 on the first set

so im obviously still at the point where I can make linear gains, but it just isnt coming on something like 3x5 or 5x10, so i would love some advice

thanks, tyler

23

[quote]Captain Wheels wrote:
How would you guys recommend linear progression for a novice at my stage of development

all my lifts are intermediate, nearing advanced, except for bench press which is still novice …lol

I am 195 pounds, 16 yr old

Bench-190, probably have strength for 195
squat-335x3
deadlift-375x3

i have been doing full body 3x a week but i have had massive amounts of trouble progressing on bench while everything else is going pretty well

I am gaining weight steadily

sticking point is right in the middle, so like shoulders/chest as a weakpoint (my chest is fairly big (relatively) but shoulders are tiny, so they are probably weakpoint

for shoulders ive been doing military press every other workout (so 1-2x a week) I try to get 25 reps in as few sets as possible
today i did 105x7 on the first set

so im obviously still at the point where I can make linear gains, but it just isnt coming on something like 3x5 or 5x10, so i would love some advice

thanks, tyler[/quote]

Read the above statement I wrote. Stop the accessory work and just bench. Push heavy singles 85-95% range. No multiple rep sets past 80%. It will work. Do that for 6-8 weeks. Guarantee improvement in the 1RM provided your diet and rest are on point.

24

[quote]osu122975 wrote:

[quote]Captain Wheels wrote:
How would you guys recommend linear progression for a novice at my stage of development

all my lifts are intermediate, nearing advanced, except for bench press which is still novice …lol

I am 195 pounds, 16 yr old

Bench-190, probably have strength for 195
squat-335x3
deadlift-375x3

i have been doing full body 3x a week but i have had massive amounts of trouble progressing on bench while everything else is going pretty well

I am gaining weight steadily

sticking point is right in the middle, so like shoulders/chest as a weakpoint (my chest is fairly big (relatively) but shoulders are tiny, so they are probably weakpoint

for shoulders ive been doing military press every other workout (so 1-2x a week) I try to get 25 reps in as few sets as possible
today i did 105x7 on the first set

so im obviously still at the point where I can make linear gains, but it just isnt coming on something like 3x5 or 5x10, so i would love some advice

thanks, tyler[/quote]

Read the above statement I wrote. Stop the accessory work and just bench. Push heavy singles 85-95% range. No multiple rep sets past 80%. It will work. Do that for 6-8 weeks. Guarantee improvement in the 1RM provided your diet, technique and rest are on point.
[/quote]

25

none, Thibs clusters helped once I stalled out. My bench is horrid.

26

[quote]Captain Wheels wrote:
How would you guys recommend linear progression for a novice at my stage of development

all my lifts are intermediate, nearing advanced, except for bench press which is still novice …lol

I am 195 pounds, 16 yr old

Bench-190, probably have strength for 195
squat-335x3
deadlift-375x3

i have been doing full body 3x a week but i have had massive amounts of trouble progressing on bench while everything else is going pretty well

I am gaining weight steadily

sticking point is right in the middle, so like shoulders/chest as a weakpoint (my chest is fairly big (relatively) but shoulders are tiny, so they are probably weakpoint

for shoulders ive been doing military press every other workout (so 1-2x a week) I try to get 25 reps in as few sets as possible
today i did 105x7 on the first set

so im obviously still at the point where I can make linear gains, but it just isnt coming on something like 3x5 or 5x10, so i would love some advice

thanks, tyler[/quote]

Maybe I’m crazy but I had a bitch of a time increasing my bench press and other upper body lifts until I was in my really late teens/early twenties. Where when I was still in puberty I had no issues increasing my squat and pull.

Not that I’m very strong now, but I would bet I’m not the only one to experience this.

You need volume. I made great gains doing something like this when I was a freshman in college.

Goal 20 reps in 3 sets before you increase weight, but every workout you hit 20 reps with your working weight. no matter how many sets. The numbers are arbitrary. There is no magic to 20 reps in 3 sets, it’s just for an example.

week 1:
200x5
200x5
200x4
200x3
200x2
200x1

Week 2:
200x6
200x5
200x4
200x4
200x1

And keep going until you get something like

200x8
200x7
200x5

Then add weight and start over.

27

osu122975, that’s an interesting way to train. This makes me wonder if power is much more important to building strength than we normally think. People with a lot of experience like Mike Tuchscherer auto-regulate based on bar speed of a heavy weight which is equivalent to peak power.

I have also read articles by Greg Nuckols that discussed studies based on bar speed and increased frequency. For the bar speed study, training volume and set/rep scheme for participants were kept constant and the only variable that changed was bar speed. One group used max bar speed and the other group used half their max bar speed. The group that used the faster bar speed had twice the gains compared to the group that trained at the slower bar speed.

For the increased frequency study, training volume and set/rep scheme for participants again were kept constant and the only variable that changed was frequency. The group that trained with increased frequency had better gains. My guess is the group with increased frequency felt more recovered and likely displayed greater power output throughout their training.

Taking a look at oly lifters, they also train for peak power. The difference between powerlifters vs. oly lifters is displaying maximum strength vs maximum power on the platform. Top oly lifters still have incredible squat strength and if they actually peaked by leaning more towards the strength end of the speed-strength spectrum for their peaking phase, you could see squat numbers rivaling that of top powerlifters.

This stuff is pretty fascinating and I’ll definitely keep this in consideration in the future.