Analysis of A Bench Press Routine

It started with my incline bench workout a few days ago.

My flat bench press routine was just like it, but substitute 200 lbs in place of 185 lbs: 95x10, 115x8, 135x6, 155x4, 175x2, 200x1.

I design my own workouts for squat/deadlift that work, so why was I looking for bench press programs on the internet? Never cared much for the bench, really. But in boot camp, bench presses helped me build my pushups, and . . . well, I'm still in the Navy, so . . . . .

Besides, I need a bench press I can brag about . . . LOL.

I did numbers for the heavy day of Patrick Nyman's Prilepin bench program, heaviest week: 3 sets of 2 at 90% 1RM, based on a 300 lbs bench. I also did the numbers for a standard Westside Progression I might use, up to a 300 lbs max attempt:

Prilepin Day 90%; 1RM Westside
70 lbs x 6=420 lbs; 70 lbs x 6=420 lbs
95 lbs x 4=380 lbs; 95 lbs x 4=380 lbs
115 lbs x 3=345 lbs; 115 lbs x 3=345"
140 lbs x 3=420 lbs; 140 lbs x 3=420 lbs
165 lbs x 3=495 lbs; 165 lbs x 3=495 lbs
190 lbs x 3=570 lbs; 190 lbs x 3=570 lbs
215 lbs x 3=645 lbs; 215 lbs x 3=645 lbs
235 lbs x 3=705 lbs; 235 lbs x 2=470 lbs
270 lbs x 2 x3=1620 lbs; 260x1, 280x1, 300x1=840 lbs

Total Tonnage: 5600 lbs; Total Tonnage: 4585 lbs

What you see is that for me to be able to lift 300 lbs, I need to be conditioned enough to bench a volume of 4585 lbs to 5600 lbs in a workout. At least 6-15 of those lifts need to be in the 80-90% range, and/or at least 3 lifts above 90%. Now, do the numbers on my workout: I don't even crack 3900. You could have poured creamer and sugar in your coffee, stirred, and taken a taste while 200 went up! 1 lift above 90% 1RM, 2 above 80% 1RM, and they were slow. I'm the poster child for no bench GPP and no bench speed.

What to do?

I figured that I had dedicate myself to this lift to perfect it and build GPP. I also needed to teach myself speed. So I took the Prilepin bench program and made the heaviest week 70%. The first six sets of the progression matched those of the other two for volume, and the last sets of mine match the last sets of Prilepin's at 90%. In the 60-70% range of my progression, I kept the optimum number of reps at 24:

Prilepin Bench Day (Heavy); Heaviest Day (200 lbs 1RM):

Wk 1 (69%): 5 sets of 4 reps; 45 lbs x 10=450 lbs
Wk 2 (60%): 5 sets of 4 reps; 60 lbs x 6=360 lbs
Wk 3 (66%): 5 sets of 4 reps; 75 lbs x 5=375 lbs
Wk 4 (70%): 5 sets of 4 reps; 95 lbs x 5=475 lbs
Wk 5 (60%): 5 sets of 4 reps; 110 lbs x 5=550 lbs
Wk 6 (66%): 5 sets of 4 reps; 125 lbs x 4 reps=500 lbs
140 lbs x 4 reps x 5 sets =2800 lbs
Total Tonnage: 5510 lbs

On the working sets, you're probably wondering, "why not just do 4 sets of 5?" If you read the Prilepin article in my blog, you'll see that while they both have the same Intensity at Number of Lifts (INOL) of around .833, 5 sets of 4 splits it into less intense sets. Remember, I want conditioning without losing too much speed (reps at this range should be 3-6 per set.). In this manner, I lift with the same work as a 300 lbs bench presser but at lower intensity. Does this mean that I will lift 300 lbs in 6 weeks? No! I will still have to lift somewhere down the line at percentages above 85% and approaching 100% so that my nervous system learns to apply more than 300 lbs of force. This is strictly conditioning.

After this cycle, I will take a max, then start this cycle anew but the percentages will be adjusted to show the heaviest week at 80%. Same thing after that cycle but the heaviest week will be 90% of 1RM. The volume will remain constant through all this. Then, I will start training closer to 100%, Westside style and switch to a new style bench press movement. My second day will be for speed using inclined pushups but that's another blog. Stay tuned!!