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Post by powerstrength on Feb 16, 2008 11:56:44 GMT -5
I was just wondering if anyone knew what scot Mendelson does for his bench? What a basic routine would be? I read some articles on him, but everything was very vague on what he actually does. I know he wear a shirt most of the time but you have to admit he is one strong dude.
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Post by chancey on Feb 17, 2008 13:29:07 GMT -5
This is an old routine I dug up from when he hit 825. His raw bench was awesome then. At the time he was at 713 raw. Thanks to the now defunct Monster Muscle Mag for sharing.
Monday – Comp Form Bench Tuesday – Legs Wednesday – Shoulders & Back Thursday – Off Friday – Board Bench Saturday – Off Sunday – Off
Monday
Comp Form Bench (4-5 min between warm-up sets and 6 between shirted work, asterisked)
135 x5 225 x 5 315 x 5 405 x 3 495 x 2 545 x 1 605 x 1 740* x 1 785* x 1 805* x 1 825* x 1 835* x 1
Rear Delts by Reverse Movement on Pec Deck Machine
450 x 10, 3 sets
Close Grip Bench
525 x 5, 2 sets
Friday
Board Bench (single 4 x 4 board, ½” higher than your standard 2 board w/ 2 x 4s)
135 x5 225 x 5 315 x 5 405 x 3 495 x 2 545 x 1 605 x 1 730* x 3 785* x 3 805* x 3 815* x 3 835* x 3
Rear Delts by Reverse Movement on Pec Deck Machine
450 x 10, 3 sets
Standing Hammer Curls, palms facing each other
110 x 10, 3 sets
He alternates every week between shirt and no shirt until competition. The rear delt work is to ensure the shoulder blades can be held together on the bench throughout the entire execution of the lift, which elevates the chest. The hammer curls are performed to develop the brachialis which helps to stabilize and maintain proper positioning. Rest periods on works sets increased to 10-12 minutes, 6 weeks prior to comp. Rest periods between all assistance exercise sets are 4-5 minutes.
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Post by craigrog on Feb 17, 2008 19:49:52 GMT -5
Here's a post I found on the web quite a while ago. Be sure to see #3: It's difficult to imagine a 314 lb. man with a six-pack. Then again, it's difficult to imagine any human being bench-pressing over 800 lbs.
Scot Mendelson is an NYU graduate and the world's top bench-presser, with 5 world records and a 782.6 lb. bench-press in competition. He has bench-pressed 830 lbs. in training, more than most professional athletes can squat and deadlift combined.
Although Scot can squat 1,000 lbs., he emphasizes: "I'm a bench-press specialist." For aspiring bench-press specialists and every athlete interested in developing upper-body power, Scot offers 5 tenets he has used to become one of the strongest men in history:
1) Put your back into it: Big chests do not make big bench-presses. Proper technique makes the primary movers the back (latissimus dorsi), triceps, and rear deltoids. On a standard 15-17" bench, pull your shoulder blades together so the shoulders rest on, and not off, the bench's surface. This shortens the distance from the chest to full extension and eliminates your arms' weakest range of movement.
2) Lift with your legs: Put your body into a near-full arch when performing a maximal-lift bench-press: support your body on the toes or balls of your feet by putting your feet underneath your body and arching your back. Squeeze the bench between your thighs to stabilize your body and use leg drive to initiate the lift from the bottom.
Try to slam your heels through the ground on the decent to help keep your arch. This works for people who lift flat footed and on the toes. Just ask the Metal Militia guys.
3) Train for triples: Dedicate one work-out per week to the bench-press, performing 5-8 sets of 3 reps with 5-7 minutes between sets. Use 60% of your 1-repetition maximum (1RM), adding 5-10% per workout.
4) Emphasize tricep, rear deltoid, and brachialis development: Following the above 5-8 sets of bench-press, perform one exercise for rear deltoids, one exercise for triceps, and one exercise for the brachialis. Perform 3 sets of 10 repetitions with 2-4 minutes between sets.
Rear deltoids- Using a seated pec deck machine (used for crossing the arms in front of the body), reverse the motion by facing the opposite direction and moving your arms backwards.
Triceps- Choose either A) tricep extensions or B) board presses (place a 4x4 board on the chest and perform bench-presses within this partial range of movement).
Brachialis- The brachialis is a muscle on the outside of the bicep that supports arm movement at the elbow. Perform hammer curls (bicep curls where the thumb is kept pointing to the ceiling and the palm is not turned upward) to address this bodypart.
5) For safety, do not use a "false-grip", where the thumb is placed under, rather than around, the bar: "Once I was bench-pressing with a false-grip and I got 584 lbs. to lock-out. The spotters thought I had it, so they took their hands away. The bar slipped, and 584 lbs. bounced off of my chest twice. I couldn't breathe properly for 2 months, but I had no broken bones-not even a bruise." Moral of the story: Hold the bar at shoulder-width with your thumb wrapped around the bar-safety is a precursor to efficacy… and results.
Train systematically, train intelligently, and follow the guidelines of the world's #1 bench-presser to actualize your true genetic strength potential.
Authored by Adaptagenix DC Staff
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Post by powerstrength on Feb 17, 2008 21:49:40 GMT -5
Thanks for the help and the articles. On the second post he mentions benching one day and doing one day of assist work. Is that correct? I agree his raw bench is pretty awesome.
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Post by chancey on Feb 18, 2008 20:11:25 GMT -5
He was laying out one workout with those assistance work.
Keep in mind this info is way old and I'm sure his training has evolved quite a bit but I'd be willing to bet he still has the same core values.
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Post by Eagleface on Mar 5, 2008 9:49:03 GMT -5
From Muscle & Fiction 2006:
BARBELL BENCH PRESS WARM-UP 3-5 sets of 1-5 reps
BARBELL BENCH PRESS 5 sets of 3 reps
CLOSE GRIP BENCHES 2 sets of 5 reps
SINGLE ARM REVERSE PECK DECK FLY 3 sets of 10 reps
SEATED CABLE ROW OR CHEST SUPPORTED ROWS 3 sets of 10 reps
*Scott does this workout, or a version of it, twice a week for the first eight or nine weeks of his 12-week precompetition proram; the last 3-4 weeks he trains just once a week to peak out.
BENCH TIPS >>> Mendelson doesn't simply repeat this exact routine for 12 weeks. In addition to altering the support work slightly, he might do triples for 3-4 weeks, then progress to doubles, then to singles by the tail end of the program. All the while, he increases the weight as he gets stronger.
TRAINING SPLIT TUESDAY Bench Press + supporting muscles (triceps, rear delts, back)
THURSDAY Legs
SATURDAY Bench Press + supporting muscles
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Post by billyde1 on Apr 15, 2008 19:19:11 GMT -5
Is a Scott Mendelson workout really advised for a natural raw lifter?
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Post by chancey on Apr 16, 2008 4:59:02 GMT -5
He is the world record holder for the raw bench.
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Post by billyde1 on Apr 19, 2008 10:02:26 GMT -5
I know who he is. I've been around a long time.Raw maybe referring to support gear. I used the word "natural". I wouldn't think the routine would be applicable for a natural lifter, or at least, that's what I asked.
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Post by thatnuckolskid on Apr 19, 2008 20:04:32 GMT -5
i don't see why it wouldnt' be used by a drug free lifter. it seems to be pretty low volume to me with plenty of time to recover without using drugs. now, drug free i doubt you'd see mendelson-like results, but i dont' see why it woudlnt' still work.
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Post by chancey on Apr 21, 2008 7:50:44 GMT -5
I thought you were talking gear not "gear". I agree that it's a very doable routine.
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