Destroy the Opposition: Programming for Powerlifting

by Jamie Lewis

  For perhaps three years I rarely benched at all, and my bench press didn't backslide all that much due to ancillary growth in other areas, but it didn't increase either. Thus, as I found it necessary to bench press for competitions, I discovered something— the more I did it, the better I got. That's not to say one should bench every day and expect to rival Scot Mendelson in a year. It did work for Bev Francis, however, and all of us likely know some beach-muscle laden freaks in our respective gyms with wildly disproportionate benches who obtained them with hyper-frequent benching. Thus, increased frequency bears investigation.

  As seems to be most common, I generally bench twice a week, with one workout consisting of extremely heavy triples, doubles, and singles, followed generally by a touch-and-go death set, and a second workout consisting of sets of 5 and 3. In the second workout I focus on explosiveness, whereas on the first I focus on simply moving the most weight possible.

  At the very least, you should consider twice a week benching. Before those among you who are still clinging to the belief that you’re a special snowflake because you’re so drug free that you think the International Olympic Committee’s ridiculous testing protocols are lax and you spit on straightedge kids for not being drug-free enough, settle the fuck down. This lesson applies to you as well. Just because you’re natural does not mean that you’re an emotional and physical cripple, so your incessant whining is unwarranted. Take, for instance, the case of Marvin Eder. Eder lifted in the pre-steroid era and pulled off a 515 bench at a bodyweight of 203 on a rickety, home-built bench, and he usually cleaned the weight from the floor and then began benching. Eder benched two or three times a week and usually used a 5x10 protocol when benching. That means he did between 100 and 150 reps on the bench every week (Carson and Robson).

  With that out of the way, I have not decided if the benefit of twice a week benching comes from improved form (as Ken Fantano would insist), comfort with the lift, increased strength from the frequency, or a combination thereof, but the why does not matter nearly as much as the what. If we learn nothing from history, we are doomed to repeat it, and there's plenty of shitheads throughout history with shitty benches who ignored the methods of the greats. Let us not repeat their inexcusable mistake, shall we?

  Bench Press Support Staff Worth A Shit

  Though each of the aforementioned greats had their own take on which assistance lifts were best, there are at least a couple that stand as standards. Additionally, I’ve got a couple of favorites of my own worth recommending that have helped my bench press considerably in the last year. Though you might be inclined to separate these exercises by bodyparts, the chest, triceps, and shoulders work so synergistically that dividing them out by bodypart’s rather pointless.

  Close Grip Bench Press. Most of the aforementioned greats in bench pressing relied heavily on close grip bench presses as one of their main, if not the main, support exercise for the bench press. Doug Young was probably the biggest proponent of the exercise of the lifters above I’ve listed, and I’m sure a number of the above included the close grip bench on their tricep day, as it places the majority of the stress on the triceps. I’ve personally noticed that since I began working hard and heavily on the close grip bench, both my regular grip and reverse grip bench presses have gone up dramatically, and I have far less tendency to raise my ass off the bench as well.

  Recommended Rep Range: 2-10 reps. I will occasionally go for a max single, but it’s more for fun than anything else. Otherwise, I typically keep my reps in the 3-5 range for sets ranging between 4 and 10, depending on my mood and how I feel.

  Form Tips: I recommend strongly against taking an extremely narrow grip on this exercise. I typically grip the bar right where the knurling starts, and do not recommend going closer than that, as it strains your wrists and flares your elbows. As you’re attempting to focus on the triceps, this is definitely an exercise on which you want to pin your elbows in as close to your sides as you can while performing this lift. Otherwise, it’s done with exactly the same form and setup as your regular competition bench press.

  Weighted Dips. Though I know some people will dispute the utility of this lift, I’ve found that the strength to be gained from what’s been described by various authors as the “upper body squat” spans a number of lifts. Rick Weil seemed to agree, and as his bench was perhaps the most impressive of those I’ve listed, it is something to consider. Most gyms have absolutely shit weight belts (I broke three belts in three weeks in a gym in Austria doing weighted dips), you might want to invest in a high quality dipping belt. They’re typically inexpensive, and they’ll make your life much easier in the long run. As with straps, I’m partial to Spud Inc’s dip belt. Get yours wherever you want- no one’s paying me to promote their gear- Spud’s stuff is simply the only stuff on Earth that seems to hold up over time.

  Recommended Rep Range: 2 – Infinity. Quite frankly, there’s no upper limit on these, and I’ve found myself in a zone with 45 lbs hanging off my belt wherein I’ve gotten upwards of 50 reps. As per usual, I typically go heavy on these, but it’s fun to ratchet up the reps on these every now and again and go for a sort of an upper body jog with weighted dips.

  Form Tips: Quite frankly, this exercise is pretty hard to fuck up. I prefer to go very deep on these and stop just short of lockout, but people with shoulder injuries would likely vomit from the pain if they tried that. Thus, do whatever feels comfortable. If you cannot do a single unweighted dip, you’re obviously going to have to start somewhere. This technique will work for those of you who want to work ultra-heavy weights you cannot quite handle with weighted dips as well- negatives. Jump to the top of the dip position and lower yourself as slowly as you can. When you’re to the point where you’re just crashing to the ground, do a couple of reps wherein you just hold yourself at the top as long as you can. Within a couple of weeks you’ll be dipping (or dipping with the weight for which you were training) with no problem.

  Tricep Extensions. These come in a wide variety of shapes and flavors, so it really just stands to you to find one and hammer the bejeesus out of it. I personally prefer standing cable rope pushdowns, but others prefer skullcrushers, French curl (standing overhead tricep extensions), or seated dumbbell overhead extensions. I frankly think the latter is an exercise that clearly defines one as a knownothing in the gym, but I’m quite certain there has to be a useful lifter out there who does them. Nevertheless, I think it’s a bullshit exercise and is likely far more injurious to the ligaments and tendons in your elbows and wrists than it is beneficial to your tricep strength.

  Recommended Rep Range: 4-100. I’d not bothered with much of anything over 25 previously, but after hearing about Vince Urbank’s use of 100 rep sets for tricep and bicep strength, I’ve started including ultra-high rep sets to speed recovery. Generally, however, I stick to 8-15 reps per set on extensions to make them a general conditioning movement.

  Form Tips: As a general rule, I’d avoid explosive movements on these, as they put a lot of shearing force on your elbow due to the extreme angle of flexion. Other than that, just have at it.

  Cable or Band Crossovers. This probably will come a great shock to many of you, but I realized this year that the only thing that kept my bench from disappearing altogether when I tore my tricep was the fact that I did band crossovers religiously while in a cast. Since then, I reintroduced cable crossovers into my workout as an early morning flushing exercise to speed recovery and seem to have benefitted from their inclusion quite a bit.

  Recommended Rep Range: 8-15. This is just to flush your chest with blood.

  Form Tips: Read the machine. It will tell you everything you need to know.

  Greater shoulder strength cannot be undersold for bench assistance. Not only does increased shoulder strength confer awesome fucking shoulders, but it improves your bench. I'll allow my vanity to take over for a second and I'll impart a bit of what I've learned about the human body over years of seeing jacked people in the gym— if you've got
striated, vascular shoulders, the rest of your body could look like dogshit and people will still think you look phenomenal. I've been mocked by a variety of chicks in the past for my obsession with my shoulder striations, but they know as well as I that they give the impression of massive strength (in addition to looking cool as fuck).

  Vanity aside, increasing shoulder strength will always, in my opinion, lead to increased bench strength, though the obverse is definitely not true. There are three exercises I utilize at a minimum of four times a week to constantly improve my shoulder strength:

  Klokov Press: Known over the years as behind the neck snatch grip strict press, or somesuch unwieldy nonsense, Paul from Lift-Run-Bang and I have taken to calling them Klokov Presses in honor of the Russian monster himself. There's a video I've posted before of Klokov doing this press, and it's done more to popularize the movement than any other mention or example in history. Klokov's a fucking beast, the lift is a bitch, and you will get stronger doing it.

  Recommended Rep Range: 1-10. There is nothing more agonizing than a heavy single on a Klokov Press, and those singles will help inure you to the agony of grinding out hard reps in meets. As such, they definitely have a place in training. Additionally, higher rep sets are useful for building general shoulder strength and opening up your shoulder girdle. Thus, you should include a range of reps on Klokovs.

  Form Tips: To do a Klokov Press, you will unrack the weight as if you are going to squat it, but with the same grip width you would use for a snatch (somewhere between your pinky on the outside edge of the knurling to your pinky against the collar. Then, you will press the weight overhead with your legs completely locked. That’s right- you will use no leg drive whatsoever. The first time you try this, it will be extremely difficult to adjust to the feel of this exercise, so start very, very light. This lift is a grinder from start to finish, so be prepared to gut out some slow-moving overhead presses when you try these.

  Military Press: I am not referring to the colloquial version of this press, but instead the real fucking deal, as they did in the days before the widespread use of electricity. Like the Klokov Press, these are true man-makers, and really help with building tricep and shoulder strength. As such, they’re a great addition to pretty much any workout day, and due to the fact that the strict nature of the lift limits the weight you can do, you can do them extremely frequently.

  Recommended Rep Range: 1-10. Same deal as Klokov presses.

  Form Tips: This is a fairly simple exercise. The name, “military” refers to the position of your body during the lift- you should be standing rigidly upright, with your heels together, as if you were standing at attention in the military. You start with the weight in the “rack position” on your chest, and then press it steadily upward without any body English at all.

  Behind the Neck Push Press: I suppose I’ve been one of the driving forces behind the popularization of this exercise, but I actually picked it up from a video in which Mariusz Pudzianowski did it with 405 lbs. for reps. I figured if it was good enough for him, it was good enough for me. Since I started doing them, I noticed that they help my hip drive in any movement that requires it, have packed a shitload of muscle onto my shoulders and traps, and my bench has gone up. Thus, they’re definitely worth doing.

  Recommended Rep Range: 1-5. The more reps you do, the more tired you get, and the higher the probability you cripple yourself by falling into something or dropping the bar in the wrong spot. Thus, keep the reps low.

  Form Tips: The biggest tip I can give you is to clear your mind of fear before you start the lift. Fear is a killer on this one- you’ll drop the weight wrong, quit on lifts you could finish, and generally suck. To clear my mind, I bounce the weight on my back a bit before putting weight overhead. This might be wishful thinking, or what the teeming, unwashed, idiot hordes on the internet refer to as “broscience”, but I think the force of the weight on my back causes a response in my CNS in the form of an adrenaline dump. Dip your hips 4 to 6 inches, then drive as hard as you can skyward. Once the weight is overhead, hold it for a couple of counts. The hold at the top seems to result in a great strength transfer. From there, you can either return it to your back or dump it forward onto the floor if you’re using bumper plates.

  Of Questionable or No Value:

  There is no reason on Earth, in my opinion, to do lateral or front raises, unless you just hate the shit out of your rotator cuffs and wish to hasten their demise. I realize some of the greats have done them, but I’ve personally found them to be fucking worthless. Face pulls and rear delt machine lateral on the pec deck machine are worth doing on a regular basis, however, and I include them in my light morning workouts a couple of times a week for high reps (12-20 reps).

  I have found no value in the decline bench press whatsoever. It’s a vanity lift for people who suck at benching, nothing more. All of the same muscle groups are activated in the flat bench press, and the flat bench has a greater range of motion.

  For raw benchers, I’m strongly of the opinion that board presses and band presses are totally valueless. Those two exercises are specifically designed to mimic the increased load throughout the range of motion of a shirted bench, and in no way translate to raw benching. If you want to do a shortened range of motion, I think that partial repetitions in the rack are a far better option, as you have to generate far more force to move an immobile object that you do one that’s already moving, and that greater force can be used to build strength in positions that are sticking or slowing points in your lift. If you have sticking or slowing points, set the pins in the squat rack at that point, then bench from there with your competition bench form. Be forewarned- it is very uncomfortable to do so.

  Dumbbell bench presses are worthless. Leave them for people who are too embarrassed to have people see them perform a barbell bench press. If you’re weak, they serve no real purpose in improving your bench press, and increase your risk of injury for no reason. If you’re strong, you’ll just require a bunch of friends standing around you handing you dumbbells, which is annoying. Stick to barbells.

  Other Important Considerations for the Bench

  Find Your Best Form. This is the hardest part, and the part with which I cannot help you. No one can, really, other than yourself. If you look at the first post in this series, you'll see no two great benchers have the same form. Jen Thompson has lauded other benchers in interviews for their elbow flare, much to Louie Simmons' apparent consternation. You can rest assured for each accepted bench form platitude you uncover, you'll find several amazing benchers that not only violate the precepts set forth, but do so like they're gang raping the broad in Last House on the Left after making her piss her pants. On a wholly unrelated note, the actress in the original actually pisses her pants in that scene, making it ten thousands times as hot as it already was. Thus, pretend you're Wes Craven— you have no budget for special effects, and are going to have to figure out how to make it happen by your motherfucking self. Though specific form tips generally don't apply across the board, certain methods do seem to apply across the board:

  Stay tight. During my last meet I texted with Paul from Lift-Run-Bang quite a bit, and utterly ignored his advice in this regard. On my second attempt, which was light, I missed the lift because I laid down on the bench like I was about to take a fucking nap. That was a mistake. Since then, I've set up and performed every single bench press exactly the same way— tight setup, shoulder blades retracted, and fully tensed. Because of this, I've found that I perform much less erratically on the bench, and feel stronger on every heavy attempt.

  Drive with your legs. You'll read a lot of bullshit about proper placement of your feet. It's all nonsense— you'll figure it out with trial and error, and the occasional strained thigh muscle. That's right, if you drive correctly with your legs, they actually get that involved. Dig in with your feet and try to push the floor away from you when you're pressing the bar upward. You'll get a transfer of power, a veritable shockwave as Ken Fanta
no described it, and that will help move the bar.

  Grip the fuck out of the bar. I've never gotten anything out of trying to "snap" the bar in half, as Westside guys seem to claim to attempt. I have noticed, however, that if you grip the shit out of the bar, it will help you maintain tightness in your upper body.

  Fill In The Blanks. Whether it's face pulls, which appear to be the darling of every shitty lifter on the planet, or something else you've identified as needing extra attention, most of you are going to need to do more accessory work that you'd like to think to eliminate sticking points. In my previous entry about Rick Weil, I included his prescriptions for failed bench presses at certain points in the lift. Other lifters, like Bill Kazmaier, for instance, believe that hammer curls are essential for a great bench press, while I realized that my pectoral development was lacking and started banging out high rep sets of cable crossovers to rectify the issue. I do think that frequent, high-rep work on supporting muscle groups are a good idea to strengthen tendons and increase blood flow to those regions, so you might want to consider some high repetition sets of rope pushdowns to flush out your triceps, among other things.

  Are any of the above a panacea for an ailing bench press? No, because there is no one easy way to make a shitty bench press excellent. The above recommendations, however, can certainly get you back on the path towards a respectable bench press. There's very little that's universal about weightlifting, but the above seems to be pretty standard across every good bencher's routine and technique. Thus, it's time to stop fucking about, sack up, and start benching hard and heavy if you want to get respectable at that lift. Go bench, because somewhere there’s a tiny blond haired broad out-benching you on every single set.