May 19th Bench Press Workout
My training all around has been going pretty well, but my bench press training is going a little bit sideways. Some weeks I have ultra strong work outs in the bench press, but my auxiliary lifts just stay at the same weights. Yet other weeks my bench press goes down, while all of my auxiliary lifts flat line.
Today was the first time in a long time I actually felt stronger then normal for the entire bench press work out.
Possible Reasons for an increase in my Bench Press routine
Increase in Squat and Deadlifts
While my squat and deadlift routines were working I wasn’t pushing them as hard as I could have been. Many times I would only do one of the two routines because I had a bottle of crown waiting for me better things to do. So in the past few weeks I have been forcing my self to train more consistently. That means make it to the gym always, and do more auxiliary lifting to support those lifts. The gains I have made previously were amazing, but until I decided focus like a machine on those 3 routines my bench press was doomed to get stale.
New Supplement – Gaspari PlasmaJet
A second thing I am doing differently is taking Gaspari PlasmaJet. It’s been amazing for me and has really helped me with recovery times, I have always enjoyed Nitric Oxide products but this one takes the icing on the cake. Any thing that has allowed me to squat heavier weights with out the after day leg soreness gets my endorsement. You can read up on it on the Gaspari Nutrition Website.
Direct Links:
Gaspari PlasmaJet USA Information and Ordering
Gaspari PlasmaJet Canada Ordering
What’s my typical bench press routine right now
I have been trying to avoid doing heaving singles and doubles for now. I will be doing that soon enough but right now I need to pack on the muscles and build a solid base. After all it is impossible to go heavy every week.
Bench Press – 2 warm ups and 3 – 4 work sets
Reverse Grip Bench Press – 3 sets
Standing Dumbbell Shoulder Presses – 6 sets
Standing Dumbbell Lateral Raises – 3 sets
Bent Over Dumbbell Lateral Raises – 3 sets
Generally for the bench press I will warm up with 135lbs for a set of 8, then 225lbs for a set of 8. Then I will jump to 275lbs and bench press as many reps as I can 5-8 for 3 sets. Some days I may go a little heavier but I have been focusing on form. I then use the reverse grip bench presses to tire myself out using 225lbs for 3 sets of 8 reps. The rest of the shoulder work I used dumbbells in the 45lbs to 75lbs range.
Now I plan on doing this type of bench press routine for another few weeks, then I will go on a strength peaking routine. Basically I will hold onto it as long as it stays productive for me right now. Previous to this I was about to change my routine up since I wasn’t making the fast gains I wanted. So the fact I am getting gains again is very nice, but I have been on it so long that changing it up soon would be the best idea.
The Bench Press Plan of Attack
Now when most people get stale on a routine they think “lets change exercises”. While there is nothing wrong with this there are so many ways to alter your training with out changing the movements. The movements I do are for the specific sport of powerlifting so I prefer to keep them the same.
I plan on switching over to a 6 week peaking cycle. The first week being the lightest and most reps and the last week being the maximum bench press I can do for a single rep. One week one I will being weights I can use fairly easily so it acts as a rest week for me. As the weeks progress it will get harder and harder, at some point I will be pushing weights I am not accustomed to. This is what a peaking cycle is all about though, forcing your body to bench press heavier rather then the normal high rep routines for endurance.
After the peaking cycle concludes I can go back to bench pressing for reps, but I should see an increase in the weights I am using. There really isn’t any reason I shouldn’t be able to start using 295lbs for sets of 5-8 reps. In fact I could use a similar peaking cycle on the Squat and Deadlift at different times to help progress my over all results even further.
When I have my peaking cycle for the bench press all designed I will be sure to post it here for you all to get an idea of how to go about peaking.