Destroy the Opposition: Programming for Powerlifting
Page 3
"The push is that part of the lift between the drive and the lockout. Momentum is obtained from the lats in the drive, and then the front deltoids must take control. Front deltoids will move the weight, so train them as a separate body part. Steep incline presses will isolate the front delt if the bar is kept in close to your face and driven back towards the uprights. Seated dumbbell presses are not only great for the delts, but also one of my favorite exercises. This is performed seated straight up driving the weight with palms forward 3 sets of 5 reps on both of these exercises is plenty. Also only train them once a week. I have trained this way for three years, each body part once a week and made maximum gains on every cycle. This type of training also keeps injury to a minimum."
"Now we come to one of the most frustrating parts of the bench press, the lockout. I have seen many lifters miss what appeared to be an easy lift, right at the top. There are two reasons for missing a lift at lockout; fatigue, which can cause bad form, or not enough tricep strength. If your gym does not have a dip bar, tell the owner to get one. Weighted dips are the best exercise for lockout power available. Close grip benching puts too much strain on the wrists and hinders complete tricep movement. Doing weighted dips with heavy weight, however, will not guarantee a powerful lockout. Remember the other reason I stated for missing a lockout? Fatigue. I had pushed 3 sets of 3 reps with 285lbs in the weighted dips in training, yet I was having a lockout problem. After a lot of thought I realized my problem was not strength, but tricep fatigue. My triceps were pumping too fast. To correct this problem I dropped the weight on the bench after doing negatives, down to 405 and did reps until failure. By the time I could perform 10 easy reps, my sticking point was gone. Now, I am not saying you should drop to 405, but 80% of your maximum lift is a good place to start. For example the 400lb bench presser would start with 320 to 325ls and try that for a week or two" (Rick Weil Bench Press Routine).
Quite frankly, I don't know if that's a reprint from Weil's book, an article he one wrote for another publication, or something he did for Critical Bench, but it's informative as hell and a great primer for troubleshooting a piss-poor bench.
Jennifer Thompson
Seeing a good woman benching is about as rare as seeing a John Wayne impersonator in a gay pride parade. In spite of this, Thompson hit 300 raw a couple of months ago in the hyper-critical USAPL. Given that she competed in a federation that seems to revere Josef Stalin as the godfather of fun, you know there was a motherfucker out there with a micrometer and someone measuring the weight on the bar to the nanogram.
After she lifted, she was probably polygraphed, strip-searched, beaten with reeds, polygraphed again, and then piss-tested for everything short of protein excreted in her urine. I'm sure even after all of that they chased her around screaming "liar!" at her and pelting her with rotten vegetables until her blood tests came back negative. Those motherfuckers are as unfun as they are men-out-of-time, since they would have been far more at home in early 20th Century Europe, when being a fascist made you cooler than Rob Van Winkle in "Cool As Ice". In any event, you know Thompson's lift is legit if it happened in a USAPL meet, and she claims to have hit 315 in a less-jackbooted meet at some point.
Thompson's approach is completely unique, from what I've seen. Instead of alternating speed and heavy days, she's got alternate speed and heavy weeks. According to Jennifer, "My heavy week involves static holds and heavy set work. My speed week uses bands and I work on my single max lifts. When I have a long period between competitions I do a 12 week workout that starts with exercises at 10 reps and works it way down to 5 reps. I use this to build up my base strength" (SPL). Interestingly, the weight isn't as important as the speed of the lift for Thompson, and she will "drop 10 to 15 pounds on that exercise and work on the speed of the lift" if she's not improving from workout to workout (Ibid).
Her overall split looks like this:
Day 1: Chest
Day 2: Off
Day 3: Back, Biceps, and Calves
Day 4: Off
Day 5: Shoulders and Triceps
Day 6: Off
Day 7: Legs
Day 8: Off
*Abs are done as a warm-up on workout days.
(8-12 weeks on, then 1 week off. When restarting she simply lowers the weights and starts over.)(Thompson)
SPEED WEEK
Chest
Bench Singles (1 rep strict bench singles): 3 singles with 65%, 75%, and 85% of max
Increase one of your singles every lift if you get all 3
Bench (with bands or chains): 3 sets of 5
Set up the bands or chains to add resistance to the top of the lift to increase your speed through the sticking point.
Incline Bench: 2 sets of 5
Decline Bench: 2 sets of 5
Speed Bench Presses: 2 sets of 5
Strict (long paused explosive rep) Flies: 2 sets of 8
Stabilizer Push-ups (Push-ups on a stabilizer ball or board): 2 sets to failure
Shoulders and Tri’s
Military Press: 3 sets of 5
Upright Rows: 2 sets of 8
Side Lateral Raises: 2 sets of 8
Dumbbell Shoulder Presses: 2 sets of 8
Offload Bench Presses: 3 sets of 5 (Attach bands above the bar so that weight is taken off the bar at the bottom to help increase your transition into your triceps)
Closegrip Bench: 2 sets of 8
Tricep Extensions: 2 sets of 8
Pushdowns: 2 sets of 8
HEAVY WEEK
Chest
Heavy Hold (Unlocked bench press hold for 15 seconds) Bench: 3 sets of 5
Incline Bench: 2 sets of 5
Decline Bench: 2 sets of 5
Negatives: 2 sets of 2
Dumbbell Stabilizer Presses (Dumbbell presses while lying on a large stabilizer ball): 2 sets of 8
Shoulders and Tris
Heavy Hold (Unlocked military press hold for 15 seconds) Military Press: 2 sets of 5
Upright Rows: 2 sets of 8
Back Lateral Raises: 2 sets of 8
Dumbbell Shoulder Presses: 2 sets of 8
Heavy Lockouts (Bench press last 5-7 inches of lift): 3 sets of 5
JM Presses: 2 sets of 8
Weighted Dips: 2 sets of 8
Single-arm Pushdowns: 2 sets of 8
Ted Arcidi
One of a few powerlifters who appears to be more gloriously bearded lumberjack than human, Arcidi's been credited with being one of the greatest bench pressers in history. The records he set in the 275 and 308 weight classes have stood the test of time and are at this point almost 30 years old, making them about 900 years sounger than the redwoods he’s probably felled with a stern look and a gardening trowel when e’s not in the gym. Sure, Jeremy Hoornstra beat Arcidi's 275 record, but bear in mind, Arcidi hit 650 at 275 and 666 at 308 in full meets, which have been known to be a bit more taxing than a leisurely bench-only meet. Arcidi's methods will likely look somewhat familiar to anyone who's done a periodized routine, although his rep scheme differs a bit, and one of his bench days per week was a simple 5 rep scheme and his volume would make most internet gurus start checking the blood pressure and cortisol levels of his family and friends for signs of second-hand overtraining. Additionally, although Arcidi was not a bodybuilder, he did rock abs at over 300 lbs, went on to work in the WWE and WCWW, and was both Triple H’s and Chyna's strength coach long before DeFranco erroneously got all the credit for Triple H's physique.
12 Week Cycle
Weeks 1-3: 3 x 6
Weeks 4-6: 3 x 5
Weeks 7-9: 3 x 3
Weeks 10-11: combine sets of 3 and two reps
Week 12: meet day; open with a bench that you have done for at least four reps
Monday
Bench Press: 3 x 5/405-420
Behind-the-Neck Press: 3 x 5/260-300
Skull Crushers: 2 x 6/340-350
Standing Barbell Curls: 3 x 6/160-195
Lat Pulldowns: 3-4 x 10/240
Thursda
y
Bench Press: follow 12-week cycle
Behind-the-Neck Press: 3 x 6/225
Skull Crushers: 2 x 6/340-350
Standing Barbell Curls: 3 x 6/160-195
Lat Pulldowns: 3-4 x 10/240
(Do all heavy bench press sets with maximum poundages. Occasionally, do some forced reps. Rest for 5-6 minutes between bench press sets and 2 to 3 minutes between assistance work sets. Perform the last heavy workout ten days before the scheduled meet. Peak for only one or two competitions a year.)
Saturday
Squats: Your choice of sets and reps
Deadlifts: Your choice of sets and reps
Behind The Neck Press: 2 x 3/335-365
Jeremy Hoornstra
If there was ever a powerlifter who looked to be both good-looking enough and passably friendly to bang your girlfriend backstage while you were lifting at a meet and have you not end up too angry about matters, it's this motherfucker. Hoornstra broke Mike McDonald's 33 year old raw bench record at 242 with 661 press after nipping at its heels for a bit, and looks to have a long career of putting the record at 242 insanely out of everyone's reach ahead of him. Hoornstra competes in both bodybuilding and powerlifting, and sports arms big enough to make you consider heaving yourself off a fucking cliff.
Amusingly, Hoornstra's bench press routine is EXACTLY what you'd expect from a bodybuilder. This is probably why half of us are getting out-benched by alleged bodybuilders on a regular basis. Surprisingly, it's not done on International Bench Press Day (Monday), nor is it followed by a bit of biceps, just to get a pump on before the club. Instead, Hoornstra's split is a two a day schedule that looks like this:
Monday - Back, cardio (night)
Tuesday - Chest, Traps and Forearms (night)
Wednesday - Bi's, cardio (night)
Thursday - Shoulders, calves and abs (night)
Friday - Tri's, cardio (night)
Saturday - Legs
Biceps get their own day! I bet you fuckers didn't see that one coming. No stranger to volume, Hoornstra's throwing around a lot of weight for a shitload of reps with a variety of angles when he hits bench day, and rests no more than three minutes between sets. A typical workout looks something like this, but according to Hoornstra it varies greatly with his mood and enthusiasm:
Flat Bench Press
225 x 15
315 x 10
405 x 10
495 x 8
585 x 3
635 x 2
405 to failure
Incline Bench Press
315 x 10
405 x 8
495 x 5
495 x 5
Incline Dumbbell Flies
140's to failure for 3 sets (highest dumbbells the gym has)
Flat Cable Flies
Weight stack for 10 reps, 3 sets
Hammer Strength Chest Press
6 - 45's each side to failure, 2 sets
Scot Mendelson
In an effort to defy every stereotype one might hold about powerlifters, Scot Mendelson is one of the few 308 LB lifters you'll see rocking abs rather than a bleach-blong mullet, man-tits, and a massive gut. Mendelson is the current world record holder in the raw bench press with 715, making him one of the few guys in the circus-fat-man weight classes to double his bodyweight in the bench press. Mendelson also holds the equipped bench record at 275 with a ridiculous 1030 LB, a weight that may or may not have been represented by a Smart car precariously balanced on Mendelson’s meaty hands. Mendelson clearly knows his shit when it comes to big benches, and given that he's an NYU grad, he's likely smarter than you. As such, his recommendations for a big bench are certainly worth following:
1) Put your back into it: Big chests do not make big bench-presses. Proper technique makes the primary movers the back (latissimus dorsi), triceps, and rear deltoids. On a standard 15-17" bench, pull your shoulder blades together so the shoulders rest on, and not off, the bench's surface. This shortens the distance from the chest to full extension and eliminates your arms' weakest range of movement.
2) Lift with your legs: Put your body into a near-full arch when performing a maximal-lift bench-press: support your body on the toes or balls of your feet by putting your feet underneath your body and arching your back. Squeeze the bench between your thighs to stabilize your body and use leg drive to initiate the lift from the bottom.
Try to slam your heels through the ground on the decent to help keep your arch. This works for people who lift flat-footed and on the toes.
3) Train for triples: Dedicate one workout per week to the bench-press, performing 5-8 sets of 3 reps with 5-7 minutes between sets. Use 60% of your 1-repetition maximum (1RM), adding 5-10% per workout.
4) Emphasize triceps, rear deltoid, and brachialis development: Following the above 5-8 sets of bench-press, perform one exercise for rear deltoids, one exercise for triceps, and one exercise for the brachialis. Perform 3 sets of 10 repetitions with 2-4 minutes between sets.
Rear deltoids- Using a seated pec deck machine (used for crossing the arms in front of the body), reverse the motion by facing the opposite direction and moving your arms backwards.
Triceps- Choose either A) tricep extensions or B) board presses (place a 4x4 board on the chest and perform bench-presses within this partial range of movement).
Brachialis- The brachialis is a muscle on the outside of the bicep that supports arm movement at the elbow. Perform hammer curls (bicep curls where the thumb is kept pointing to the ceiling and the palm is not turned upward) to address this bodypart.
5) For safety, do not use a "false-grip", where the thumb is placed under, rather than around, the bar:
"Once I was bench-pressing with a false-grip and I got 584 lbs. to lock-out. The spotters thought I had it, so they took their hands away. The bar slipped, and 584 lbs. bounced off of my chest twice. I couldn't breathe properly for 2 months, but I had no broken bones-not even a bruise." Moral of the story: Hold the bar at shoulder-width with your thumb wrapped around the bar—safety is a precursor to efficacy and results.(Forum).
Mendelson's program seems oddly light and low-volume at the outset to me, but then again, he's a world record holder in the bench press and I'm not. This, of course, just points once more to the fact that it is going to take a lot of time, trial, and effort before you happen upon your best practices for the bench.
Bizarrely, Mendelson believes that much of his pressing power comes from his diet. One would think that diet would play a tremendously reduced role in the training of a person who specializes in a lift done while laying down, but Mendelson disagrees.
"He consumes 12,000 calories a day, including 7,500 calories via weight-gainer shakes alone, 40 egg whites, 5 pounds of red meat, tons of pasta, and vegetables to provide fiber. He aims to ingest 2 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight per day, and even more as a competition nears, which gives him in excess of 700 grams daily. He prefers to eat two hours before he works out, because any later than that and it’ll come right back up due to the pressures lifting such a heavy weight create in his body. After training, a shake is the easiest thing to get down; he usually has to wait a couple of hours before consuming a post-workout meal" (Wuebben).
Ken Fantano
Ken Fantano might be the greatest powerlifter of whom you've never heard. According to Marty Gallagher, Fantano was a fucking beast, squatting 935 for a double to his heels, and doubling 625, paused, on the bench in nothing but a t-shirt (Gallagher 65). Sure, Fantano was a fat fuck at 365 pounds, but the dude could move some weight. Not only was he a beast, Fantano analyzed the shit out of every lift to determine the best methods of performance for each, acting like a Six Sigma Black Belt of powerlifting in spite of the fact that he rarely competed. Here are a couple of the form tips the bench press Jedi Ken Fantano provided the assemblage at his gym:
Bring the bar as low on your chest as possible—"just above where the belly meets the sternum" (Gallagher 68).
Allow the bar sink into your chest sli
ghtly to get better drive, which loads the legs with more tension (Ibid).
Press the legs hard toward the torso. The leg jolt continues into the torso, ending in the chest. We purposefully create a jolt. The jolt, timed right and executed with power and push, creates momentum where there was none" (Ibid).
Use the incline bench to develop all of your strength for competitive benching, and do all reps paused (Gallagher 69).
Pausing reps on your chest in training is key— "If you don't pause your reps, you're wasting your time. If you don't have strength from a dead stop, muscle tissue won't get thicker" (70.)
Use 5 second pauses between reps to develop lockout strength (71).
In addition to focusing on the above pressing attributes, Fantano split his training into two distinct phases, and trained in marathon sessions with a two day split.
Phase 1: 12 weeks of training consisting primarily of Incline Dumbbell Bench— 4x6 (you need to make three sets of 6 with a given weight before you can move up).