Ideas for a bench routine....

[masterslifter]

So, I haven't posted here in a long time. But, I wanted to hit up the other master's lifters here to see what you fellas are doing for your bench press routines.

As of late, I'm hitting the bench press itself on Wednesday with assistance and on Saturday I do a closer grip bench with DB inclines and shoulder work. 

My bench has stalled. I have no real sticking point to speak of as I work pretty much everything from top to bottom: flat bench, mid range work with boards at various heights and bottom end work. 

I moved my grip in to save my aching shoulders and now my shoulders no longer hurt when I bench but its affected the amount of weight I can bench. I suppose my thumb and forefinger are about one inch or so from the center knurling on the bar, so its a fairly close grip. 

At 54, I simply don;t bench press as much as I used to and not as much as I should. I read a while back that older lifters should keep their percentages fairly high, around 80% otherwise they end up back cycling too far. 

Can you guys share what you're doing for the bench press - exercises, sets/reps and amount of times per week you're benching?? 

I'm also a full meet lifter, so I Deadlift on Mondays, Bench on Wednesdays, Squat on Fridays and light bench on Saturdays. Anyone doing anything similar, or having good results doing something different? 

Thanks....and Cheers!

John

[Ryan]

I've had some success with Gillingham bench routine, but replacing the prescribed second bench day of the week with my own second day which includes much more volume than what's otherwise called for.

So on my second (or volume bench day), I usually aim for 40-50 reps in the day's work range. Generally the volume days are with work sets in the 67-72% range.

I am also a fan of incline work and some overhead press work, however I only do close grips sparingly and I haven't noticed specific triceps work to make any impact in my numbers at all.

Generally speaking, I train as closely to how I compete as possible.

With that said, I'm a 40yr old 198 who benches 340 so although that's respectable, it's far from outstanding, so you might want to wait for others to chime in too. lol

[masterslifter]

Ryan....thanks for the info! Your bench is a Duckies sight better than mine! LOL!! My bench is horrible...so horrible I'll spare you the numbers....LOL!! But, yeah, I've used Gillingham's routine before. I don't remember if it worked or not. I just recently re-read it while looking for a new routine. I might just have to give it another go.

Cheers!

John

[masterslifter]

Ryan....thanks for the info! Your bench is a Duckies sight better than mine! LOL!! My bench is horrible...so horrible I'll spare you the numbers....LOL!! But, yeah, I've used Gillingham's routine before. I don't remember if it worked or not. I just recently re-read it while looking for a new routine. I might just have to give it another go.

Cheers!

John

[Ryan]

No problem John.

I've noticed differing results form the Gillingham routine in the half-dozen or so times I've run it, and they usually boil down to one of two things:

1.Programming honestly, meaning using your actual "right here and now" max, or even underestimating by 5%

and

2. How hard I work on the volume (or 2nd) bench day. If I really bust it on these days, the program usually yields at least a slight max increase (5lbs or so as of late).

But yea, in general, the way the program's written I think it is pretty solid.

Tell you what though......there are couple of guys on here with insane benches (Toolpod comes to mind); the guy's flirting with a 500lb bench @220bw and that's with a repaired shoulder. He and others here like George swear by that Buckeye routine, and Woody who goes by "3speed" knows a thing or two about programming also.

Just wanna give you some options.

[masterslifter]

Ryan....

Cheers!

Yeah, that Buckeye Routine seems really solid for all three lifts. I've been using it for my bench and you're right, it feels solid. I'm going to try it for my squat and deadlift as well and see how that goes.

[osu122975]

My schedule is set up the same way as yours. I will skip training days if the body just doesn't wanna cooperate or I feel it needs more rest, but I follow the same MWFS schedule. They say something is better than nothing and I disagree with that. I'd rather take the extra rest than do something but that's what works for me.

For all my lifts, including bench, it ALWAYS depends on how the weight is moving for that session. I have a goal in mind always which is generally a particular amount of weight I want to handle but never sets and reps. I pretty much never miss bench sessions but my body has always hated squatting and pulling so I'm not as frequent with them and its a good thing because the more time away from those lifts I have (within reason) the stronger and more rested I am when I train them.

I've never liked programming. For me, most of its too rigid.

The bench can be tough to move without either drugs or extra body weight. Not saying its impossible, but if your rest, diet and technique are good, what else is there to gain other than 5lbs a year on the max if you've been at this awhile? At some point, its all gonna stop going up.

For me the choice was simple, gain body weight and improve my leverages. I'm not at the point of diminishing returns just yet so I keep going until then.

Training the bench I basically bench raw, use a slingshot and do hammer curls. I used to do all the extra stuff but it never really seemed to help. I got better at the lift doing the lift. I used to do a lot of high rep/light weight assistance work, which I'll probably go back to once this comp phase is over with. I use lots of bands doing assistance work when not doing meet prep.

[masterslifter]

I've noticed that too, about the assistance work. Too much is no good. Too little and you run the risk of an imbalance somewhere. For me, if I don't do specific shoulder, back and triceps work my bench stalls. I have to find the right balance and that's been difficult, but not doing assistance work isn't a good thing for me. I've tried benching three times a week too in a heavy day, light day, medium day concept which works as long as I don't do much else, and since I enjoy squatting and deadlifting, and there's only seven days in a week, where do you put those lifts unless you drop the seven days a week calendar concept? Many masters I know who have amazing bench presses are single lift only guys. I wish I could get the best of all three worlds. LOL!! I know there is no magic program out there or a one size fits all routine for the masses that's guaranteed to build an amazing bench press. I think as you said though, that gaining wait will improve leverages.

I had success recently with a singles routine similar to what Ernie Frantz used to do with his guys. Hit the lifts with singles and treat them as "lifts". Fill in with assistance work to build the muscle needed to move the lift up.

Cheers,

John