Please Scroll Down to See Forums Below I am primarily a BB but I wish to increase my strength. My max bench is only 300lbs and it has been that way for about three years. I had a shoulder injury for about a year and a half of that, but I am back to about the same max now. I have dropped fly type exercises because they aggravated the shoulder and I normally do 4 sets of flat bench, and then 4 sets of inclines once a week, and do my shoulder workout the same day. I usually do some kind of pyramid. I have trained seriously for about 6 years and supplement only creatine, glutamine, and protein powder. I am 5'8" and weigh a little over 200lbs and have achieved most of my upper body size goals. I need to know a effective routine including warmup and especially rest between sets. Should I train chest more than one time a week? Do I have the capacity for much improvement because I am 40 and don't juice? I want to get stronger rather than bigger as the weight I am at now is already a bit of a liability for some of the sporting activities I am getting involved in. Any thoughts at all would be really appreciated.
What routine works to improve max bench?
- Thread starter nuck
- Start date
You definitely have the capacity to get stronger. Everybody does.
There are tons of routines out there. Most powerlifters are constantly trying new training cycles and finding new things to build their strength. Even the elite lifters are open to trying something little different. Since everybody is different you are going to have to do some experimenting. After you do a few different cycles you can start piecing together something that works well for you.
I have found in many cases that less is more. Always leave the gym with some gas in your tank, don't work out for a "pump" or to failure, and get plenty of rest. This is not like the BB routines and is tough to switch to, but for most new lifters it is the best. Your body also needs the extra time to get accustom to handling larger poundage. Benching more than 1 time a week can possibly lead to injury in a strength peaking cycle. I suggest subscribing to powerlifting magazines if you want to get different ideas.
There are tons of routines out there. Most powerlifters are constantly trying new training cycles and finding new things to build their strength. Even the elite lifters are open to trying something little different. Since everybody is different you are going to have to do some experimenting. After you do a few different cycles you can start piecing together something that works well for you.
I have found in many cases that less is more. Always leave the gym with some gas in your tank, don't work out for a "pump" or to failure, and get plenty of rest. This is not like the BB routines and is tough to switch to, but for most new lifters it is the best. Your body also needs the extra time to get accustom to handling larger poundage. Benching more than 1 time a week can possibly lead to injury in a strength peaking cycle. I suggest subscribing to powerlifting magazines if you want to get different ideas.
Powfit -- I will respectfully have to disagree with you. You can bench more than once per week. Everyone knows about teh westside'ers benching twice per week. I have trained strictly westside for the past year, but before that I trained "conventionally". I bench twice per week then also with no problems. You just can't go in and hit max lifts everyday.
Even the great benchers of today - and there are some great ones -- that don't train westside, bench more than once per week.
Even the great benchers of today - and there are some great ones -- that don't train westside, bench more than once per week.
1-dawg, we are not really disagreeing. The Westside method works great for some people, but I was referring to novice drug free powerlifters in his age group. People following the Westside methods are generally more experience lifters. And since he has had a shoulder injury and I do not want to write a 10 paragraph article talking about Westside methods, so it is safer to bench 1 time per week. Many great lifters also bench only 1 time a week.
The tricky part is looking at his history. He has been a BB for a while. It is going to be tough for him to switch to a light workout 2 times a week. It would be an easier switch for him to go to working out a little tougher once a week and experimenting with other methods later. We do not want nuck to injure himself or do to easy a workout twice a week and lose interest.
Train hard and train smart.
The tricky part is looking at his history. He has been a BB for a while. It is going to be tough for him to switch to a light workout 2 times a week. It would be an easier switch for him to go to working out a little tougher once a week and experimenting with other methods later. We do not want nuck to injure himself or do to easy a workout twice a week and lose interest.
Train hard and train smart.
ViperHMS
Well-known member
Check this web site out. I tried it and was really surprised by the results. It incresed my bench by 50lbs and I even had a sholder injury that kept me out for 2 weeks and I still finished with the increse.
http://www.musclemedia.com/training/bench/tableindex.html
I also went from doing the fridays workout with 60lb. dbs to 80db by the end of the program. Check it out and let me know what you think!
http://www.musclemedia.com/training/bench/tableindex.html
I also went from doing the fridays workout with 60lb. dbs to 80db by the end of the program. Check it out and let me know what you think!
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