By Melody Schoenfeld, SFG II
As a competitive powerlifter, my bench has always been my Achilles’ Heel. It has always been the slowest to build for me, and has been a source of frustration for a long time.
While training heavy squats last year, I worked up to 190lbs (10lb short of a double bodyweight squat for me). Every time I squatted, however, I felt my right knee do a sort of arcing movement inward towards my body. And as much as I tried to prevent it, my right patella finally decided to give in and start tracking in ways it shouldn’t be tracking. I’ve learned a lot about how my quad muscles fire (or don’t fire) since then, but healing is slow, and I have had to lay off squats (and competing) for the most part for months at a time. While this has been frustrating, I certainly wasn’t going to stop training, so I dedicated all four of my training days per week to my bench press.
My training looks a lot like this:
DAY 1: Pyramid-type bench press
This looks more or less like this (you can always play with the rep schemes—I did):
- A weight you can press for, but not much more than, 10 reps
- A weight you can press fairly easily for, but not much more than, 8 reps
- A weight you can press fairly easily for, but not much more than, 6 reps
- A weight you can press fairly easily for, but not much more than, 5 reps
- A weight you can press fairly easily for, but not much more than, 4 reps
- A weight you can press fairly easily for, but not much more than, 2 reps
Then, if you’re feeling ambitious, go backwards through your pyramid and try to eke out at least one more rep at each weight.
DAY 2: Speed day
Work perfect, easy reps (anywhere from 60-75% of your max), emphasizing a longer pause at the bottom of the rep and an explosive movement off the bottom, for 3-5 reps per set. I will usually do anywhere from 5 to 10 sets of these.
DAY 3: Heavy day
Perfect reps around 80-90% of max, 2-3 reps, 3-5 sets.
DAY 4: I usually do a one-way pyramid on Day 4 (not heading back down the pyramid).
Every time I train bench, I do accessory exercises for triceps (skullcrushers, close-grip bench, tricep pushups with isometric holds, overhead tricep extensions, etc—one exercise per training day, 3 sets of 5 to 10 reps) and lats (isometrics with the SmartFlex, pullups, weighted pullups, rows of all kinds—one exercise per training day, 3 sets of 5 to 10 reps), and I train abdominals (wheel rollouts from toes, heavy side bends, heavy weighted situps, dragon flags, HLR’s, etc) and shoulders (KB overhead presses of all kinds, KB windmills, KB iron crosses, etc) a few times per week. Recently, I’ve been able to add back in heavy deadlifts, and some light squats when my knee allows it.
Other assistance exercises I like to add a few times a week (usually one per workout day) are:
- Heavy partials. I have safety chains on my rack, and I just hike the chains up to a desired point above the bottom of my bench (much like a block press). I have no training partners, so this works really well for me.
- Heavy negatives. I’ll load the bar 20+lb above my max and lower the bar as slowly as possible back towards my chest. I usually won’t do more than three total reps of these, and I rest for a minute or two in between each rep.
- Chain reps. I use loading chains to add progressive weight towards the top of my press.
Every 2-3 weeks, I test out my max.
In about 2 months of this program, my max bench press went from a very ugly 115lb (if I was lucky) to a very strong-looking 124lb. Today (at the writing of this article) I pressed 115lb for a double and managed a 125lb max. Not bad for a 104lb chick.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from a lot of trial and error it’s that there isn’t one program that works for everyone. I’ve played with a lot of different people’s methods before I put this plan together for me. I discovered that my body does well with this. If yours doesn’t, don’t despair. There is likely another plan that will work much better for you.
And if there’s one other thing I’ve learned from accidentally chopping off two fingertips last year (during which time I hit big PR’s in all three of my lifts) and having my squat setback this year, it’s this: Life is always going to throw you curveballs. Don’t let that stop you from reaching your goals.
Melody Schoenfeld is an SFG2 and certified strength and conditioning coach in Pasadena, CA. She is currently working towards her master’s degree in Health Psychology. She is the owner of Flawless Fitness (www.flawlessfitness.com) and Evil Munky Enterprises (www.evilmunkyent.com), and has achieved several California State powerlifting records for her age and weight class. In her spare time, she sings in three heavy metal bands and cooks a lot of really good vegan food.
