Monster Bench

We hope you got a chance to read Part 1 of this series last month. If you didn’t and you can’t find someone who has a copy, the article is available online at HardcorePowerlifting.com (thanks to IRON MAN’s permission to reprint). The first year of this training mega cycle was for lifters who could max-bench 225 pounds but had yet to break the 315-pound barrier. This installment is for those who now have a max bench press of 315 pounds and want to break through the daunting 405 barrier. (Note: A max bench press is what you can bring down to a dead stop on your chest, pause and then drive to lockout with your butt on the bench throughout the entire lift.)

For the second phase of this bench-training odyssey, you’re going to be training twice per week, as opposed to once a week, which was the protocol during the initial 48-week 225-to-315-pound mega cycle. Your training sessions will gradually increase in per-set intensity, and your individual workouts will decrease in duration and volume as you progress through this cycle—but never to the point that you will become unconditioned. This will continue to be a power-building program with mass-building potential, so never fear that your physique will suffer from following our guidelines.

At this point in the program we’re going to set your one-rep max (without a bench shirt) at 315 pounds. Here’s the breakdown of the complete cycle into rounds of training intensity.

Week 1, Day 1
Bench presses: bar x 20, 85 x 20, 135 x 12, 160 x 10 x 10
On the work sets you use roughly 50 percent of your one-rep max for 10 sets of 10 reps each. This week should be kind of a break for your muscles and joints, so to speak, so enjoy the light lifting and focus on your technique and on getting motivated to train heavy.

5-board presses: 160 x 5, 185 x 5, 205 x 5, 225 x 5 x 2
This will seem really easy and pointless, but the goal is to concentrate on getting used to using the boards and pausing the bar on the boards for a second without relaxing your muscles.

Week 1, Day 2
5-board presses: bar x 20, 135 x 12, 185 x 12, 205 x 5, 225 x 5 x 5
Pause each rep for a second or two on the boards, but keep your muscles flexed throughout the lift.

Week 2, Day 1
Bench presses: bar x 20, 85 x 20, 135 x 12, 175 (roughly 55% of 1RM) x 9 x 9
5-board presses: 175 x 5, 185 x 5, 205 x 5, 225 x 5 x 2

Week 2, Day 2
5-board presses: bar x 20, 135 x 12, 185 x 12, 205 x 5, 225 x 5 x 5
Rack Lockouts (with the pins set at halfway between where the bar touches your chest and lockout): 225 x 5 x 5
Pushdowns (using various handle attachments): 6 x 12-20
The last few reps of each set should really burn!

Week 3, Day 1
Bench presses: bar x 20, 85 x 20, 135 x 12, 165 x 8, 190 x 8 x 8
5-board presses: 190 x 5, 205 x 5, 225 x 5, 245 x 5 x 2

Week 3, Day 2
5-board presses: bar x 20, 135 x 12, 185 x 5, 205 x 5, 225 x 5, 245 x 5 x 5
Rack lockouts (with the pins set at halfway between where the bar touches your chest and lockout): 225 x 5, 245 x 5 x 4
Pushdowns (using various handle attachments): 6 x 12-20.
The last few reps of each set should really burn!

Week 4, Day 1
Bench presses: bar x 20, 85 x 20, 135 x 12, 185 x 7, 205 x 7 x 7
Feel free to take more time for your rest periods between sets if your schedule allows for it.
4-board presses: 205 x 5, 225 x 5, 245 x 5
5-board presses: 265 x 5, 285 x 5

Week 4, Day 2
4-board presses: bar x 20, 85 x 12, 135 x 12, 185 x 5, 225 x 5, 245 x 5
5-board presses: 265 x 5, 285 x 5
Rack lockouts (with the pins set at halfway between where the bar touches your chest and lockout): 225 x 5, 245 x 5, 265 x 5, 285 x 5 x 2
Pushdowns (using various handle attachments): 6 x 12-20
The last few reps of each set should really burn!

Week 5, Day 1
Bench presses: bar x 20, 85 x 20, 135 x 12, 185 x 6, 205 x 6, 220 (roughly 70% of 1RM) x 6 x 6
4-board presses: 225 x 5, 245 x 5, 265 x 5
5-board presses: 285 x 5, 305 x 5

Week 5, Day 2
4-board presses: bar x 20, 135 x 12, 185 x 5, 205 x 5, 225 x 5, 250 x 5
5-board presses: 275 x 5, 295 x 5, 305 x 5
Pushdowns (using various handle attachments): 6 x 12-20
The last few reps of each set should really burn!

ALLWeek 6, Day 1
Bench presses: bar x 20, 85 x 12, 135 x 10, 185 x 8, 205 x 6, 225 x 5, 240 x 5 x 5
3-board presses: 240 x 5, 250 x 5
4-board presses: 275 x 5
5-board presses: 305 x 5

Week 6, Day 2
3-board presses: bar x 20, 135 x 12, 185 x 5, 205 x 5, 225 x 5, 250 x 5
4-board presses: 275 x 3
5-board presses: 305 x 3
Rack lockouts (with the pins set at halfway between where the bar touches your chest and lockout): 250 x 5 x 5

Week 7, Day 1
Bench presses: bar x 20, 85 x 12, 135 x 10, 185 x 8, 205 x 6, 225 x 4, 250 (80% of 1RM) x 4 x 4
3-board presses: 250 x 5
4-board presses: 275 x 5
5-board presses: 305 x 3, 315 x 3 x 2

Now that you’re working with your starting 1RM bench press weight, you don’t have to pause those particular reps. Instead, focus on really exploding with controlled motion off the boards as soon as you feel the bar connect. You want to start psychologically preparing yourself to blast 315 pounds back into the lockout position, as you’re going to be tripling this weight in less than two months.

Week 7, Day 2
3-board presses: bar x 20, 135 x 12, 185 x 5, 205 x 5, 225 x 5, 250 x 3
4-board presses: 275 x 3
5-board presses: 305 x 3, 315 x 3 x 2
Pushdowns (using various handle attachments): 6 x 12-20
The last few reps of each set should really burn!

Week 8, Day 1
Bench presses: bar x 20, 85 x 12, 135 x 10, 185 x 8, 205 x 6, 225 x 4, 250 x 3, 270 x 3 x 3
3-board presses: 270 x 3
4-board presses: 305 x 3
5-board presses: 315 x 3 x 3

Week 8, Day 2
3-board presses: bar x 20, 135 x 12, 185 x 5, 225 x 5, 275 x 5
4-board presses: 305 x 3, 315 x 3
Rack lockouts (with the pins set at halfway between where the bar touches your chest and lockout): 225 x 5, 250 x 5, 275 x 5 x 3

Week 9, Day 1
Bench presses: bar x 20, 85 x 12, 135 x 10, 185 x 8, 205 x 6, 225 x 4, 250 x 3, 285 x 3 x 2
3-board presses: 285 x 5 x 3
4-board presses: 315 x 3 x 2

Take day 2 off on week 9 and rest

Week 10 Day 1
Bench presses: bar x 20, 85 x 12, 135 x 10, 185 x 8, 205 x 6, 225 x 3, 250 x 3, 275 x 3, 300 x 3 x 1
3-board presses: 315 x 3 x 5

Week 10, Day 2
2-board presses: bar x 20, 135 x 12, 185 x 5, 225 x 5, 275 x 5
4-board presses: 315 x 3
3-board presses: 315 x 3
2-board presses: 315 x 3
Pushdowns (using various handle attachments): 6 x 12-20
The last few reps of each set should really burn!
Take six days off between week 10, day 2 and week 11, day 1

Week 11, Day 1
Bench presses: bar x 20, 85 x 12, 135 x 10, 185 x 6, 205 x 3, 225 x 3, 250 x 2, 275 x 1, 305 x 1
5-board presses: 315 x 1
4-board presses: 315 x 1
3-board presses: 315 x 1
2-board presses: 315 x 1
Bench presses: 315 x 3

At this point you will have tripled your previous one-rep max! Your new 1RM will be roughly 110 percent of 315, or 345 pounds. So go back to the beginning of the above 11-week cycle and start again but with 50 percent of 345—which is 170 pounds—and then add 15 to 20 pounds (about 5 percent) to each top set on your bench press and work through the 11-week training cycle again. When you can triple 345, your new one-rep max will be 380, and then six weeks later, when you can triple 380, your new one-rep max will be 415. You’ll be pressing four plates!

This entire program will take you 33 to 52 weeks to complete. Why more than 33 weeks? Because there will be weeks where you can’t complete the stated number of sets and reps. If that happens, drop day 2 of that week’s bench program, giving you more rest time. Then increase your calories and the number of hours of sleep you get per night, and retry that week’s requirements on the following day 1 in your cycle.

At the end of each 11-week training cycle you may also want to take a week or two off from lifting to give your body a break. This one-year program allows for that. So, to restate, you’ve got 19 weeks of “credit” for repeating day 1s and for taking time off for additional rest and recovery. Use those extra weeks wisely.

As for the assistance work in this program, you can walk into any gym in the country and see someone performing pushdowns, so there isn’t much point in my describing them here. Rack lockouts and board presses, however, are only common in powerlifting gyms. If you’re not sure about them, get an experienced powerlifter or bencher to demonstrate them for you in the gym, or at least follow these instructions carefully before going at it.

Rack lockouts. Place a flat bench in the power rack. Then set up the power rack safety rods so that, when the bar is resting on them, it’s about halfway between your chest and lockout. Perform your reps by pressing the bar to lockout, using the safety rods as your starting point. When you bring the bar back down, let it pause on the rack pins before pressing it back up into lockout.

Rack lockouts are similar to board presses in that you’re working the top half of the bench press movement, and that will build strong front delts and triceps. You’ll want to make sure to stay tight under the weight. You can expect the weight to sometimes stall out on the pins. If you keep your lats and legs flexed and continue driving against gravity (don’t go too crazy and blow a fuse), often the bar will suddenly rise again after a grueling few seconds of effort. [Note: For a description and photos of board presses, see page 118.]

Real bench pressing—as opposed to shirt benching—is making a comeback in the competition world. For example, the WPO (the federation that runs the powerlifting and bench press contests at the Arnold Classic) is sanctioning a no-bench-shirt bench press contest at the ’06 Mr. Olympia Expo, and on the East Coast the Atlantis Foundation is running a series of competitions titled the New England Record Breakers. There was quite a bit of controversy leading up to this year’s New England Record Breakers—mostly by the lifters who can’t lift big weights without the artificial help of support shirts.

It’s our opinion that the secret to making bench pressing one of the most popular sports in America is making the shirts illegal in competition. That way the truly strongest lifters will rise to the top, the physiques of the pros will improve—dangerously overweight shirt specialists wrapped up like zombie mummies will vanish from the main stages of the country—and the millions of people who bench in gyms all over the country will be able to relate to what they’re watching live and on television. Even the great Bill Kazmaier, a multiple National and World Powerlifting champion, multiple World’s Strongest Man winner, 661 Raw Competition Bencher and the master of ceremonies for the New England Record Breakers, has said he will make a comeback to help the no-bench-shirt cause.

Regarding this second phase of our mega program—from 315 to 405 pounds—quite a few readers will begin consciously or subconsciously coming up with reasons for why they’re not going to succeed with the much-sought goal of benching four plates without a shirt (despite the hundreds of claims made on Internet forums around the world, a 405-pound bench is a rare animal indeed). Before you decide that you’re not big enough to press that kind of poundage, consider Joe Luther.

Joe “the Benching Machine” Luther weighs in at a ripped 165 pounds at around 5’8” (see his photos on page 124). He’s passed a dozen-plus steroid tests over the years, from when he competed in the United States Powerlifting Federation as a teen to his current situation, competing in the open class in the World Association of Benchers and Deadlifters, the federation started by Gus Rethwisch.

Joe’s competed on the main expo stage at the Arnold Classic (WPO’s Bench Press Championships), on Fox Sports Net for the inaugural BenchAmerica championships and at some of the largest casinos in Las Vegas and Reno (WABDL Worlds), and he’s currently training to bench at the first pro bench contest being held at the Mr. Olympia Expo. He can bench-press more than 400 pounds at a bodyweight of 165 pounds and keep his six-pack abs year-round.

So stop making excuses. Get motivated, and go after that four-wheels bench! I know I’m running the risk of sounding cheesy, but it’s true: If you believe, you can achieve! Your perceptions control more of your future than you realize.

Editor’s note: Sean Katterle has been a TV commentator for bench press competitions shown on Fox Sports Net and Comcast Sports Net. He’s also the owner of HardcorePowerlifting.com, and he’s had strength-sport articles and interviews published in BodyTalk, Monster Muscle, Powerlifting USA and Speed Strength Sport. IM

 

Board Presses for Blastoff Power

Pictured here is Kenny “86’D” Dinolfo, working 400-plus pounds for reps off of a three-board. For reference, Kenny’s best no-bench-shirt gym bench is a 405, and he routinely benches 365 to 405 in training. Kenny’s gone over 500 pounds in sanctioned, drug-tested contests using a single-ply RageX bench shirt. He competed at BenchAmerica 3 (which aired on Fox Sports Net), and he took the bronze medal in the 181-pound class. Kenny normally competes in the 198- or 220-pound divisions, and he was called in as an alternate a month out from show time, so his placing third after dieting down 20 pounds or so in 30 days was doubly impressive.

The following is excerpted from The Kennelly Method (Spokane, Washington: Monster Muscle, 2003):
Go to your lumber store and get some two-by-six boards. They are available in eight-foot-long strips. Buy four or five of them, and have the store cut them into four 3.5-foot-long pieces and 10 15-inch pieces. Next, purchase 50 2.5-inch wood screws.

When you get home, take the first 3.5-foot board and stack one of the 15-inch boards on top so the ends are lined up. Screw these two boards together with six of the wood screws that you purchased. This is a two-board and it will be used for the two-board press.

Simple so far? Next make a three-board press in the same fashion. Take another 3.5-foot board and stack one of the 15-inch pieces on top with the ends lined up. Again, screw the boards together with six wood screws. Then stack another 15-inch piece on top of the 15-inch piece that is already attached to the long board, line up the edges and screw them together. This is a three-board (as in the photos) and will be used for three-board presses. Do you see a pattern developing here? Good; keep going and make a four-board and five-board by using the same process.

The main purpose of the boards is to break up the bench press into five different points along the pressing action. For instance, you can place the two-board on your chest, and then have your lifting partner hand the bar off to you and lower the bar to the board. Let the bar come to a complete rest on the board, and then press it back up to lockout. When a weight is at a dead stop, it takes more power to get it moving upward than it does to keep it moving upward. By working on pressing from a two-board height above your chest, you will develop explosive power at this point, and your competition press will exhibit more force when the bar passes upward through that portion of the lift.

Everyone has a sticking point on the bench. In my lifting career my worst sticking has been the last six inches of the press. That’s the height of four boards, so I trained a lot with the four-board press and overcame the sticking point. Remember, when you use the boards on the bench, you must pause when you reach the board. Then, when you start pressing, explode straight up.

To review, the main purpose of the boards is to build and strengthen your lockout power by overcoming sticking points.

Reporter’s note: Though you’re letting the bar come to a complete stop on the boards, you’re not relaxing your muscles. Stay tight, and keep control of the weight so that you’re able to safely begin the pressing motion with the poundage you’re using. Your lats should be flared, and the rest of your supportive and benching muscles tensed for takeoff the whole time. We also employ touch-’n’-goes when the weight gets to be too heavy to pause, but it’s important to keep the majority of your board press sets as one-to-two-second pause reps. —S.E.

Editor’s note: All board-press pictures courtesy of Josh Winsor of HardcorePowerlifting.com.