3 Step to a 300lb Bench press.
I recently spoke to someone at the gym about my goal to have a 300lb bench press by year's end. After telling him I only weighed 165-170lbs and didn't plan on gaining weight, he asked about my plan. So, I laid out a few steps and decided to share some here. This is a broad overview..
#1 – Initial training response – I didn't touch a barbell in years before setting this goal in January. I did some banded push-ups and dumbbell bench pressing but no barbell work. At first, I will just get strong from not doing the movement in the recent past. My first phase will be utilizing a strength program by Jim Wendler, known as 5/3/1. A tried and true program. Vaguely it's a program based on your 1RM (1 rep max or estimation of how much weight you maximally can lift once). Simply put, one week, you do reps of 5, the next 3, and then you hit singles the next. The weight increases at your reps get lower week to week. I know. This is very vague, espeically if you're familiar with the system… I will also utilize Prilepin's chart to set how many reps I will hit during each bench day. Much more on these fantastic resources later, but I will continue with the program until I hit a plateau. Nothing fancy in this phase. Just slowly adding weight to the bar until I'm stuck..
#2 – Add in a dynamic effort bench press. If you've ever seen someone do bench press with bands or chains, they are usually doing some type of dynamic effort work. The dynamic effort bench press is done at 40%-70% of your 1RM (1 rep max). It's not about heavy load. It's about speed. If the barbell slows too much, and you can’t finish a rep.. it's too heavy. This training can help increase your maximal strength by improving your rate of force.
#3 – Introduce creatine monohydrate. Creatine has MANY health benefits, but it's most well-known for its help in strength. This is done by increasing our body's storage of ATP-PC (does anyone actually care what this stands for?). Really simply put (and I mean really) ATP-PC energy system is used for rapid energy production, such as speed and power. This energy system is short-lived. Good for only a rep or two and lasts just a few seconds (That's what she said). In other words, creatine will help my strength and power…
Week 2 hitting my 85% for 3 reps (195). The first few weeks I will be bumping up from 1 rep max pretty consistently from a strong training response of not touching a barbell in years. This excitement of increasing weekly won’t last..
I started running under a similar blueprint. First, I just focused on becoming a better runner. Once I could run distances of 15-20 miles without being sore or beaten up for a few days, I added in more challenging runs (more hills & technical trails). After that, and recently I started to incorporate intervals / Fartlek work. All this has been done through the last 3 years. I can be very patient...
The only curveball is I have 1 year to get my 225lb bench to 300... Wish me luck...
One problem I see as a trainer is when people set a goal, they throw everything at it. This is why a good program is done in phases, regardless if its strength or endurance. It's better to slowly add to let your body adapt to each new training stimulus. Otherwise, you're just throwing shit as a wall hoping something sticks...
Much love.