Power XL- Issue #2- My Article

[PowerXL]

Power XL Issue #2
By: Coach XXX



Q: I have been bodybuilding for 5 years and my favorite lift is the bench press. I like to max out on the bench at least once a week. My best bench is 350 but I have been stuck there for a long time and nothing is making it increase. I have heard that is not a good idea to do but I really like trying to see if it is going up or not. I am very slow when going for a max and was wondering why this is? It seems to take forever to complete the lift as I am fighting it all the way. I do about 20 sets for chest and was wondering if this was too much when looking to increase my strength. Thanks for all your help

Sincerely,
Vito Crisafulli

A: Hey Vito it’s good to hear from you. Now looking over your question about your training problem all I can say you are going now where fast because you don’t have a clue on what the hell you are doing. Sorry to be so blunt but the fact remains you are not training properly and your ass monkey program is not going to increase your strength in the bench press or anything else. If anything you are actually doing the exact opposite of what you should be when looking to increase your bench. Let‘s take a quick look at some of the different mistakes that you are making



Mark Fritz attempts to bench press 330 pounds as head judge Daniel Kelsey closely watches. Fritz’s best lift was 290 pounds.

If you are struggling this then you don’t know what you are doing!



Mistake # 1 Maxing Out Too Often

Your first mistake is that you are maxing out on the bench press way too often. Think about it here for a minute. You are actually telling me that you hit an all out max once a week. Why the hell would you do that? Do you really think you are going to get stronger from week to week? You really don’t have a clue when it comes to the strength sciences and your training shows it. Even powerlifters whose goal is to constantly get stronger only max out on a contest lift probably every 12 weeks or so. So why are you doing it every week? The only thing that this is going to do is set you up for a nice Pec tear. Stop maxing out as this is the first thing that is destroying your strength progression

Mistake #2 Training at Too High of a Max Percentage

The second mistake with your bench press training is that you can’t train more than 6 weeks with over 90% of your max on any lift, and expect it to increase your strength. This will not happen at all I guarantee it and your strength level will actually decrease. Training with too high of a percentage of your max will cause overtraining and wear out your nervous system. This is why most of my bench pressers use only 50-65% of their max during most of their training and still get stronger. Don’t get fooled into thinking that you always have to bench heavy to get a bigger bench, it’s just not true.



Kyeyahn BeLanger attempts to lift 300 pounds during the Fort Meade 2nd Annual Bench Press Competition. The event was held here at Murphy Field House June 14.
Training too heavy too often will lead you to failure!



Mistake #3 Not Training for Explosive Strength

Since you lift heavy every chest workout and max out you are only training one part of your bench press. You are working on your max strength, yet you are not focusing on your explosive strength. If you want a massive bench you have to train for speed even more than you think. If you don’t, the bar will either staple you to the bench or it will come up very slow. The way that I train my athletes for speed is to perform 8 sets of 3 repetitions with 55-65% of their 1 rep max in the bench. You should rest no longer than 45 seconds in between sets. This will cause you not only to be a faster more explosive lifter but it will also increase your conditioning so that you can handle increased volume.

Mistake #4 Not Benching with an Explosive Technique

Another blunder that you are not aware of is the fact that you are not performing the bench press in an explosive manner. This is very important in improving your 1 rep max in the bench. You need to make sure that each and every repetition is done with compensatory acceleration. Just in case you are not in the know, compensatory acceleration training or what is known as “CAT” is a scientific term for explosive training. This form of training is best performed in the 55% - 80% range of your 1 rep max. It is in this percentage range that the greatest amount of power is generated for each specific lift. The proper way to perform CAT involves two phases. You must lower the weight (eccentric contraction) with a normal controlled tempo or speed. Once the bar touches your chest, you must very quickly change directions and explosively move the weight upwards (concentric contraction).


If you are not training to be explosive then you will always be slow!

Mistake #5 Where is the Volume?

Man how many mistakes do I have to go through with this disaster program that you are following? Another one of your problems is that your overall training volume is way too low. One rule of thumb for increased power is that you have to continually improve your volume or total workload for your bench press workout for you to get stronger. When your volume load is low, you can only expect to have a crappy bench press. With the above scenario that you sent me, you perform one set at 135 for 8 reps, 225 for 5 and then 315 for 3 reps and then 350 for 1 all out max. If you calculate your total volume you are lifting a total of 3,500 pounds per bench press workout. By following the above outlined principle, using 205 pounds for 8 sets of 3 reps (65% of 315) with 2 warm up sets at 135 for 8 reps and 185 for 5 reps, you are lifting 7,075 pounds per workout. As you can see you are doing over double the amount of volume in the second properly designed plan compared to the all out mess of a training program that you have designed. So which one do you think will get you the results you are looking for?




Train hard but train smart for that big bench!

Mistake #6 Overtraining but going Nowhere!

Lastly, you are over training your bench press due to the fact that you are using too high of a percentage of your 1 rep max for extended periods. Think about it for a second. You are not doing enough total work or volume but in the end you are overtraining and not getting results. Do you see how much your program sucks the big one?

What you need to do is take some time off from heavy benching and focus on your speed work on one day. This will develop your speed and explosive strength. On the second day you should concentrate on working with maximal weights but not on the bench press. This should be on exercises that mimic the bench press and work sections of the lift that are your weak points. Here you will perform one of the below exercises for no more than 3 weeks in a row working up to a one rep max, each week trying to set a new PR. This includes exercises such as board presses, floor presses, reverse band presses, cambered bar presses, close grip lockouts and many more.


Try new exercises to take your bench to the next level!

Conclusion

Ok as you can see here you need a total revamp of your bench press training. Like most bodybuilders even though they may sport a big chest very few of them actually know how to properly increase their bench. Hell most of them don’t even know how to bench properly but that is another column in itself. Throw that shitty routine that you probably got out of some magazine in the trash since it didn’t help you out very much. Now give my tips a try and you are going to see a major difference in your results in even the first month of training with some science behind you not just an inflated ego!


Keep following your program if this is the kind of max you want!