Hello Bob
At this site--->
www.butenko.org/workout.htmThere is a "beginner" program that I have used twice...I say "beginner" because it is a high volume program from Boris Sheiko...coach of the Russian powerlifting team
here is the exact one I used
www.zyworld.com/powerlifting/sheikotraining1.htmA short synopsis....we have almost the same exact stats.....I am 38...been lifting fo rlike 23 years, on and off of course...just started PL last year with no intention of competing...to be honest I just wanted to get my bench up to where I "could work out with 225", lol......I thought that would be the coolest thing in the world, hehe
my all time max was just 225x2 which was like in '94 or 97'.....and last year when I tried I couldnt even triple 205
so I started a simple 3x5 once a week program...in no time I was at 245 for 3 sets of 5.....so I decided to max and see where I was....got 275 then a couple weeks later got 290.......touch and go
I was funny because when I started working on my bench, even 275 was sort of a "long distance" goal....I wasnt even sure I could reach it...and then I wouldnt even really consider 315 because it just seemed impossible
so then I started studying powerlifting more etc and discovered westside....so I tried that for 4 months and my bench totally stagnated....I got crushed several times trying to get 300.....at the end of that period I did my first bench meet and having never done any paused benchign I only managed 275 and missed 280....that was on Sept 10th
on sept 12th I started the beginner program I linked to above....also I paused every rep in training
here is the exact way I did it
I did the first 3 weeks of the Sheiko program (the program is 4 weeks but I had a meet scheduled so I had to cut out the 4th week...generally in those programs the 4th week is sort of a deload anyway so if I did the program now Id probably again do the 3 weeks then my own little deload week)
then I did a deload week where I just benched moderately once
then I did one week of "peaking" which basically means I just did some singles...I did 275 for 3 singles on Monday..the first single was hard and I was sort of discouraged but then the next 2 were easier.....Wed I did some singles on inclines.....Saturday I did 2 singles with 280....so that was actually a paused record for me and the singles felt fairly easy
so then I just benched easy on Monday and came in that Friday night to test for a new max
got 315 paused
so that is a 40lb gain on paused bench for basically 6 weeks of work counting the deload weeks
if you followed the program basically you would just ignore the squat and dead stuff....you could just do your leg extensions instead of the squats and then on Wed instead of deads do some back work such as lat rows
the basic idea of the program is that it is high volume but only low or medium intensity....generally the russians do a "prep" phase program like this one....then they do a "peaking" program where the overall volume comes down like 20% but the intensity goes up slightly......so when I did it I did the 3 weeks of the prep program then a deload week to recover then my own "peaking" phase
IMo once you have done the 3 weeks you have already accomplished the main work...you could then take a back off week to recover (youll need it)...then some sort of peaking phase for a week or two....DONT overdo the peaking...as I said IMO the work is already done and the gain is already set up by the 3 high vol weeks...the peaking phase is just to focus it a little and get you used to heavy singles again after all that medium intensity work
dont forget to deload again some before testing for a max.....I think the average lifter does his last heavy bench a week out from testing then he might do a light bench after that 4 or 5 days before testing
if you were to do the 3 week program and then test on the last day of the program it probably wouldnt go so great...at that point the body is WAY behind the recovery curve (unless you are used to really high volume) so the gains are delayed until you do that delaod week...after the deload week the gains start coming and then you do some sort of peaking phase to focus the gains into a peak single
after I got the 315 I turned around and did the same program again (probably a mistake, should have went to something else for a while) and the second time through I only got like 7.5 lbs taking me to 322.5.....the second time through I am almost positive I overtrained the peaking phase by doing heavy negatives etc....next time through I wont push that hard while peaking
I did make good gains the second time through on squats and deads though
here are my gains over those two sheiko phases
squat from 365-425
bench from 275 paused to 322.5 paused
dead from 405 to 445
lifetime drug free
I had a log posted for that whole time period if you are interested....the sheiko started on Sept 12th
www.powermagonline.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=10;t=000375;p=4oh btw....the Russians list sets and reps backwards from what you might think....so when it says for instance 60% 6Õ2 it means 60% of your max for 2 sets of 6, not 6 sets of 2
holler back if you want to try it and/or if you have any questions about it jusjoking@hotmail.com
Randy