Best assistance and accessory exercises for Bench Press.

[Cormac]

Just wanted to get everyone's opinion on which assistance and accessory exercises have the best transfer for increasing Bench Press. I plan on really bringing my bench press up to par as my next goal. My thoughts would be Over head press, pause bench for main assistance and chest fly, band push down for higher rep secondary assist. Would a template like a) Main Bench b) Row c) Overhead press d) band push down e) curls an effective way of achieving this goal. Any advice is appreciated.

[Ryan]

Dec 15, 2014 17:53:44 GMT -5 Cormac said:

Just wanted to get everyone's opinion on which assistance and accessory exercises have the best transfer for increasing Bench Press. I plan on really bringing my bench press up to par as my next goal. My thoughts would be Over head press, pause bench for main assistance and chest fly, band push down for higher rep secondary assist. Would a template like a) Main Bench b) Row c) Overhead press d) band push down e) curls an effective way of achieving this goal. Any advice is appreciated.

I personally wouldnt view pause-bench as an accessory movement. There are those who might disagree, but I believe you should be doing at least SOME pause work in every bench session and somewhere within your work sets at that, no exceptions.

As far as "accessory" work that I do or have done which has shown some carryover (and incidentally I notice less carryover from bench accessory work than anything I've done for sq or dl), here are my suggestions, and in this order:

1) Close-grip bench
2) Incline bench


I have tried various other movements, some which are also compound movements like the above, and others that are triceps-focused, but frankly I can throw them all in a hat and pick which one I like on a given day, because they haven't done anything for my bench numbers (i.e. weighted dips, floor presses, any free weight or machine-assisted triceps movement, etc).

The moral of the story for me has been to hone technique and train as close to how I compete as possible. Now of course there are others on this forum and elsewhere who might have other suggestions, so I'd definitely shop around for opinions because as with any art form, your individual mileage may vary.

-Ryan

[osu122975]

Cormac,
Singles my friend. Don't forget to push some heavy paused singles. Work the 85-95% range. Focus on having perfect technique. Do this for 3-4 weeks then back off for 4-8 weeks of normal training. Normal training would be 5-10 reps in the 60-80% range.

Something like 60%x5x10 65x5x8 70x5x5 75x5x3 = 4 weeks training then do the same thing the next 4 weeks and kick out the 75x5x3 and do 80x5x3 instead.

Stay away from any heavy assistance work. Light weight and high reps for the biceps, triceps, delts and upper back. It will allow a good pump to the muscles you just worked feeding it all the nutrition you give your body accelerating recovery.

If you're bench only, 3-4 days/wk. If full power, 2 days wk.

I've also done this w/ success. Very simple and very effective:

Week 1
Start at 50% of max. Do sets of 5 adding 10lbs per set. When you come to a set that you know you won't get the 5 reps with, stop w/ the last set you got 5 with.

Week 2 - same thing only do sets of 3
Week 3 - same thing only do sets of 2
* Then just repeat the cycle starting w/ sets of 5 again.

Get busy getting that bench up! It works.

[Cormac]

Thanks for the tips lads, i'l start implementing this stuff. Osu I like the way the first program you recommended starts off with really high volume and then the intensity starts to rise and the volume lowers as the weeks progress. My question would be at the end of each 4 week cycle do I readjust my max and use percentages based on that? or do I start at 65% and work up to 80% 5x3? Thanks for the advice it's time I make the bench press a lift I can be proud of because it's something I enjoy doing.


I'm currently 5 foot 9 and 180ish pounds and very lower body dominant mass wise. Literally I have the glutes of a 220lb man. So adding some mass to my upper body, tri's bi's shoulders pecs upper back should help me up my bench press aswell.

[osu122975]

Dec 17, 2014 16:14:30 GMT -5 Cormac said:

Thanks for the tips lads, i'l start implementing this stuff. Osu I like the way the first program you recommended starts off with really high volume and then the intensity starts to rise and the volume lowers as the weeks progress. My question would be at the end of each 4 week cycle do I readjust my max and use percentages based on that? or do I start at 65% and work up to 80% 5x3? Thanks for the advice it's time I make the bench press a lift I can be proud of because it's something I enjoy doing.

Lots of people have success using linear periodzation, which is what this is.

Do the 8 weeks and test on the 9th and 10th weeks.

Weeks 9 and 10 may look like this:
50%x5 60x3 70x2 80x1 85x1 90x1 95x1 100x1

Train twice a week during the two week strength phase. Take realistic attempts. Let's say your current max is 250lbs. When you get to the first workout of the 9th week, attempt 255. If that goes smooth, the next session try 260-265 and so on and so forth. Then adjust your percentages according to your new max. Be patient. It all takes time. Trust the process. Don't be in a hurry.

[Cormac]

Awesome i'm excited to try this out . You're advice is top notch, the last few months I have been following your deadlift advice pulling 10-15 singles 80-85% range (1 minute rest between singles) with focus on set up and technique and my Deadlift has shot up as a result. I'm going to prioritize my bench for a while and see what I can do with it.

[yankees]

Heavy tricep work - dips, close grips, swiss bar work, extensions ..... more volume seems to work best for me

Just my 2 cents bro