by Jamie Lewis
Phase 2:
Wednesday (This workout took four hours to complete)
Bench Press- 3 top sets with 40 lb increase between each set
Incline Dumbbell Press- 3 top sets of 10 reps with the same weight
Narrow Grip Flat Bench- 3 top sets with 40 lb increase between each set
Tricep Pushdowns- 3-4 x 15-25
Sunday
Squat- 3 top sets with 40 lb increase between each set
Deadlift- Work up to top set of 2-3 reps
Light Bench Press- 3x10 with 77% of projected 3rd attempt
It's an odd departure from the norm in terms of what the best benchers in history have done, but I thought his analysis of things you should bear in mind while benching bore repeating. Will I base my workouts on the recommendations of a circus fat man? Hell no, but his form tips seem to be key, and he definitely moved some weight off his flabby, gyno filled tits.
Bev Francis
In another time, Bev Francis would have ruled a clan of Amazons in southern Russia and been the terror of men for thousands of miles. As she was born out of time and place, she had to settle for being a ridiculously dominant athlete. Francis excelled in collegiate track and field, then dominated powerlifting, and finally ruled female bodybuilding for years. It's said that although she pulled a Seinfeld and made an early exit from powerlifting while still on the rise, had she continued in the sport Francis would have set records so ridiculous they'd have to ditch her weight class to encourage competitors to enter meets.
She's the Ed Coan of females, if Ed had switched to bodybuilding after dominating the 181s and never looked back. Her bench, 331 at 181, still stands as a record over 30 years after she set it, and only one chick has come within 20 lbs of it in the last 5. Save for her unfortunately masculine visage when she turned from powerlifting to bodybuilding, Bev's a broad with whom a man should want to breed if he were inclined towards producing the ultimate human.
Befitting the overall impression she gives as a human being, Bev Francis's training was essentially superhuman. It consisted of 6 or 7 days a week of heavy benching and squatting, with the addition of deadlifts at the six week mark before a meet. Every now and again she's have what she referred to as a "play day" on which she'd do nothing but curls, some pulley work, and some situps, but as a general rule her policy was "squat and bench until you shit blood". Her rep range was all over the map, according to Francis:
"Some days I would do sets of tens, some days I would do eights, sixes, fives, fours and threes, but I would always do a lot of sets. No matter what the rep range was I would always do at least a total of ten sets for each lift. Sometimes I'd do twenty sets" (Penman).
Oh, but that wasn't all she did, lest you think her some sort of shiftless layabout fit for the Starting Strength message boards. Nope— her ridiculously intense weight workouts were the tip of the iceberg. According to Francis:
"I used to get up in the morning at 5.30am, go for a four mile run. I'd come back, shower, breakfast, go to work (teaching physical education and mathematics) at high school. At 4 o clock I'd leave there, go immediately to the university where I trained. Usually my workout consisted of about a mile and a half jogging, shot putting for about an hour, then a sprinting workout - something like ten 200's, twenty 100's, five 300's. Then I would go to the weight room and spend an hour and a half in the weight room. Then I would go home, make dinner, shower and collapse into bed" (Penman).
Rather than cycling her program, she just let her body tell her when to back off. In the same interview, Francis stated that she would "would train until I broke down, either from injury or sickness", but that she trained that way because she loved it. She also ate to facilitate that sort of training, stuffing her face with fat and protein calories to fuel those insane training days.
"In fact at that time I had a very high fat diet. My favorite snack was salami and cheese. I used to eat a lot of red meat. I used to cook things in butter and I used to enjoy my sweets. I was never grossly fat though. I still had abdominals when I was nearly 180lbs. So I never carried a huge amount of body fat but I was very big legged and I carried a fair amount on my hips" (Penman).
Quite frankly, Francis wasn’t bad looking as a powerlifter, and was certainly more attractive than she was as a bodybuilder. As such, ladies, you might want to consider adopting such a diet if you’re serious about training. After she dropped out of powerlifting, Francis went on to be the runner-up in the Ms. Olympia and then into gym ownership, but word is she continued to train like a fucking lunatic and remained unbelievably strong throughout her career. If nothing else, her story's a feather in the gigantic pimp hat worn by the "train more, motherfucker" community as well as the “ladies is pimps, too” community, and is worth recounting for the simple fact that she out-benched most guys under 200 lbs.
Ken Lain
To simply state that Ken Lain is a bit of an underground character would be akin to stating that the dude crooning horrible pop songs on his acoustic guitar at your corner dive bar on open mic night isn’t quite a pop star. Though he’s totally unknown in wider circles, Ken Lain is mentioned among big benchers like he was some sort of god in the early 1990s. Thus, amongst motherfuckers wearing neon-colored string tank tops and Zubaz pants, Ken Lain is a god among men. According to one source, Lain benched 655 at 242 and 722 at 308, though I would assume that these numbers are single-ply as he doesn't hold records in either of those classes. In any event, Lain's program was far more palatable to more conventional lifters, as he had a heavy/light scheme along the lines of Westside. Somewhat surprisingly, he front-loaded his weeks more than Vivid girls front-load their bodies after a trip to the plastic surgeon, and tapered hard toward week's end, mimicking the aforementioned porn stars' tiny asses.
Monday: Heavy Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps
Tuesday: Heavy Back and Biceps
Wednesday: Legs
Thursday: Light Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps
Friday: Light Back and Biceps
Lain’s chest periodization routine was as follows, and apparently got his some huge numbers on the bench (WeighTrainer).
The routine is designed to add 10% to your 1 rep maximum in 10 weeks. Clearly, when he says heavy, he means fucking heavy. Ramping up from 98% of your 1rm's not normal by any training protocol I’ve ever seen. As such, this is clearly a program where Tookie Williams’ angel dust and PCP preworkout supplementation regime might come in extra handy (Wikipedia). I’m not recommending that any of you take angel dust prework, but I’m just saying— if you’re going to try this routine, a little dust wouldn’t hurt.
Lain took 5-8 minute rests on heavy days to recover from the beating he put himself through, and kept his rests to 3 on light days. He'd follow the bench with 2-3 supplementary chest exercises of 2-3 sets of 6 to 8 reps, and then the same for the smaller muscle groups. For his light days, he'd never exceed 80% of what he did on his heavy day. This, of course, would be heavy by most modern trainees' standards, but unlike modern trainees, Ken Lain wasn't a flaming pussy.
Ed Coan
There is no possible way, if you’re into powerlifting in the slightest, that you’ve not heard of Ed Coan. Record holder for the deadlift in 181, 198, 220, and 242, Coan was a hell of a bencher as well. He benched two and a half times his bodyweight in multiple weight classes, and hit 545 at 220 and 573 at 242, both of which are completely respectable lifts for a guy basically known as a deadlifter. Coan's program was fairly simple, if intense. He dedicated two days a week to benching and a third to bench accessories, so his program looked like this:
Wednesday
Bench Press- 7-10 x2-8
Close Grip Bench- 2 x 2-8 (60 pounds less than bench and paused on the chest)
Incline Bench- 2 x 2-8 (30 pounds less)
Tricep Pushdowns- 2 x 2-8
Coan didn't warm up after his initial lift, incidentally— he just slammed into his work sets like Hatebreed into a breakdown, with no fucks given.
Thursday<
br />
Behind The Neck Press- 5 x 2-8
Front Lateral Raise- 2-3 x 10-12
Side Lateral Raise- 2-3 x 10-12
Bent Over Lateral Raise- 2 x 10-12
Saturday
Light Wide Grip Bench- 2 x 8-10 reps
Light Dumbbell Flies- 2 x 8-10 or 10-15
Tricep Pushdowns- 3 x 8-10 reps or 2 x 2-8
Dips- 1 x 8-10
Preacher curls- 2 x 10-12
(This is a lightweight, muscle flushing, chest workout. Ed does a couple of quick sets with a weight about 60 percent of his max (340x10) with his feet on a bench. A few sets of light flyes and he is ready for triceps.)
Kind of like the legendary samurai Mushashi, Coan travelled hither and yon, generally making asses of his competition and leaving them bloodied and destroyed in his wake. I assume that unlike Musashi, Coan’s desire to dominate those around him didn’t stem from the fact that he was a filthy motherfucker who smelled like his shit his pants and was publicly mocked for it. Instead, Coan liked embarrassing people on the platform just for the sake of doing it. Coan ended up benching over 500 lbs in competition 45 times, in a variety of weight classes. That, in and of itself, is fucking impressive. Coan's program wasn't just a successful program— it was a program that was successful over a long period of time, like a powerlifting version of Nintendo. That's impressive, especially considering the number of torn pecs and triceps of which we hear occurring as a regular part of elite lifting.
Jim Williams
Jim Williams is roundly considered to be one of the greatest bench pressers of all time, and in the 1970s was THE bench press virtuoso. That’s pretty astonishing considering the level of preoccupation people seemed to have with that lift in the 70s, but it’s a fact just the same. Williams had perhaps the craftiest, if unbelievably stupid, method for clearing his schedule for training— he’d go to jail. Williams seemed to make a habit of robbing people, printing counterfeit money, or just generally being an asshole enough to spend his entire life going in and out of prison. He’d make the most of his stays in the pen, however, as he’d pretty much train around the fucking clock while in lockup. The hilariously religious (he was forever going on about Jesus, I’m sure even as he was ripping people off for their life savings) Williams benched more often than anyone else in this list of maniacs, Bev Francis included. As a result, Williams was the second man to break the 600 lb barrier on the bench and held the world record at 675 for years until the aforementioned Ted Arcidi broke it. Of note was the fact that when Williams set these records, there were none of the interminable rounds now prevalent in powerlifting. As such, Williams always did all three attempts back to back, as there was no one lifting heavier than he. Additionally, no body movement of any kind was allowed when he started benching, presumably to avoid a resurgence of the old timey belly toss and in a nod to Stalin that was apparently intended to presage the modern USAPL. Additionally, Williams is credited with inventing the plate front raise, which he regularly did with a 100 lb plate for ten sets of ten (Fernando).
Monday
Squat- free choice of sets/reps
Bench Press- 6 x 5 with 405 lbs; 1 x 10 with 350 lbs.
Incline Barbell Press- 3 x 4 with 405 lbs; 1 x max 225 lbs.
Lat Machine Pulldowns- 8 x 20 with 125 lbs.; 1 x 6 with 315 lbs.; 1 x max with 125 lbs.
Upright Rows- 4 x 10 with 100-225 lbs.
Dumbbell Shoulder Press- 10 x 10
Dumbbell Curls- 10 x 10 with 100 lbs.
Lying Tricep Extensions- 7 x 15 with 135 lbs.; 1 x 6 with 315 lbs.; 1 x max with 135 lbs.
Forearm Curls- Multiple sets to failure
Tuesday
Bench Press- same as Monday
Press Behind the Neck- 5 x 10 with 225 lbs.
Dumbbell Bench Press- 10 x 10 with 120 lbs.
Decline Dumbbell Press- 10 x 10 with 130 lbs.
Pullover Press- 8 x 10 with 135 lbs.; 1 x reps with 425 lbs.
Bent-Over Dumbbell Raises- 10 x 10 with 45 lbs.
Lying Tricep Extensions- 10 x 10 with 225 lbs.
Preacher Curls- 10 x 10 with 100 lbs.
Forearm Curls- Multiple sets to failure
Wednesday
Squat- free choice of sets/reps
Bench Press- 2 x 1 with 525-550 lbs.; 1 x 10 with 315 lbs.
Lat Machine Pulldowns to the Neck- 10 x 10 with 275 lbs.
Lat Machine Pulldowns to the Chest- 10 sets 10 reps with 275 lbs.
Upright Rows- 5 sets of 10 reps with 100-250 lbs.
Deadlift- free choice of sets/reps
Incline Dumbbell Press- 10 sets 10 reps with 135 lbs.
Front Squat- free choice of sets/reps
Jim Williams Front Plate Lift- 10 sets of 10 reps with 100 lbs.
Dumbbell Curls- 10 sets of 10 reps with 75-100 lbs.
Lying Tricep Extensions- 6 x 15 with 135 lbs.; 1x3 with 325 lbs.; 1x max with 200 lbs.
Tricep Pushdowns- Extremely heavy, but free choice of sets/reps
Thursday
Bench Press- 3 x 2 reps with 550 lbs.; 1 set of 10 reps with 315 lbs.
Lat Machine Pulldowns- 10 x 10 with 275 lbs.
Dumbbell Shoulder Press- 8 x 10 with 135 lbs.
Lying Shrugs- 10 x 10 with 150 lbs.
Standing Barbell Curls- 6 x 10 with 135 lbs.; 1 x 3 with 275 lbs.
Lying Triceps Extensions- 6 sets of 15 reps (135 lbs.) + 3 reps (275 lbs.)
Tricep Pushdowns- use entire stack: free choice of sets/reps
Saturday
Squat- free choice of sets/reps
Bench Press- 1 x 1 with 600 lbs.; 1 x 10 reps with 405 lbs.
Deadlift- free choice of sets/reps
Lying Shrugs- 10 x 10 with 150 lbs.
Dumbbell Shoulder Training- free choice of sets/reps
Lying Tricep Extensions- 6 x 15 with 135 lbs.; 1 x 3 with 325 lbs.; 1 x max with 200 lbs.
Tricep Pushdowns- use entire stack: free choice of sets/reps
Standing Barbell Curls- 6 x 10 with 135 lbs.; 1 x 3 with 275 lbs (Diana).
What This Should Teach You About Training The Bench
It should be apparent to you after reading the foregoing that there are only a couple of consistent features to the greats' bench routines:
They all benched at least twice a week
They all used moderately-high to high volume
They all utilized fairly low reps at least part of the time.
For regular readers of Plague of Strength, these features should be about as revelatory as the press releases about Ricky Martin’s homosexuality. With a few minor exceptions, the greatest lifters in history have all practiced their craft frequently, heavily, and enthusiastically. As such, it would stand to reason that one would have to do the same to obtain a huge bench. I discovered this myself over the last year through trial and error, and quite frankly, I regret ever abandoning the bench in the first place. Had I not done so, I would almost assuredly be benching over 400 now, rather than simply flirting with 400 like a sorostitute with a fratboy while waiting to see what car manufacturer is emblazoned on his key fob. I have, however, made great strides in the bench press in the last year and continue to do so, owing in no small part to the following changes to my workouts.
Changes Worth Making To Your Bench Routine
Paused Benching. There is perhaps no other change I've made in the last year or so that has had greater effect on my bench press than my conversion to 100% paused benching. My conversion occurred, oddly enough, as a result of my episodic incline reverse grip bench press fetish. As I mentioned in my post on the exercise, I was forced to do it from the bottom position because I never have a spotter. Though dangerous, probably ill-considered, and definitely irresponsible, I got my bottom-position reverse grip incline up to 330, which was impressive considering that at the time I did it, I'd not benched that much on the flat bench in competition.
After making an ass of myself in two consecutive meets on the bench, I resolved to apply myself to an effort to prevent my pa
rents from committing seppuku when seeing my bench press numbers. There are, after all, three lifts in powerlifting, and my obsessive focus on a single lift seemed to be doing me little good in terms of snatching the world record total. I began flat benching with a 2 second pause on every rep at the bottom, and my lifts began to increase.
When I increased the pause at the lockout as well, my max bench increased further still. Though this may not hold for non-competition benchers, I think it bears in mind that one should practice how one intends to play, ego be damned. Thus, if you intend to compete in powerlifting, put your ego aside (and holy shit, that's the most herculean effort one will probably make in increasing one's bench) and abandon touch and go bench presses for (at the very least) the first repetition of each set.
Increased Frequency. Certainly, practicing the lift at all has a massive impact. In my first year of lifting, I benched perhaps three times a week, and did weighted dips at least that often. I was consumed with increasing my bench at all costs, and made massive gains, going from 135 to 285 between my sophomore and the end of my junior years in high school. From there, my bench fluctuated up and down but hovered around 300 for over a decade. My bodyweight increased, but my bench didn't. At the time, I was still rocking a bodypart split like my name was Joe Weider, and I suffered the consequences. After a while, I abandoned the bench altogether for concentration on the lifts that actually moved, going back to the bench only in times of boredom or necessity (like for a meet).