T.J.'s News - Bob's Corner

Typically, in most sports, we tend to pick one aspect or one player's position to glorify, above any other player or position in the event. In football, it has to be the Quarterback. In the sport of Powerlifting, the Bench Press specialist seems to be pre-eminent in drawing the most attention from the media and stirring excitement from the fans.

Not too many years ago, an 800-pound deadlift or squat, would have us buzzing for weeks. Far too many beginners become so entrenched in the pursuit of their bench press progress, they sometimes sidestep exercises they consider unrelated to their bench training. Commonly, young benchers focus on triceps, pecs, and delts, figuring they play the major role so let's work them to death. I must tell you, without a decent set of lats, you'll never realize your full potential in the bench. I am constantly asked, "How many reps and how many sets should I do"? As years pass, reps and sets become less & less important to me. Nonetheless, it seems to be the never ending question. Many youngsters feel the current crop of top benchers have a secret, magical formula that they share only with each other, carefully guarding the numbers so the masses never get a clue. If, in fact there is a magical formula, I guarantee you it will be different numbers (sets & reps) for each individual. Herein, we find the truth. We are all individuals with totally different physiological blueprints. A wise man once said, One man's ceiling is another man's floor. Structure your own rep/set scheme to fit your specific needs. Ultimately, you really have no choice if you plan on benching at your maximum genetic potential.

My suggestions to anyone wanting serious upper body power, starts with a discussion on form. This isn't a back burner topic. Once we agree to delay jumps in weight (if form is suffering), we start the long battle. Most young fellas over train, or tend to take that direction if not disciplined by a higher entity. As a trainer for many years, I have found, starting out with a rep scheme of 5 to 8 reps for a maximum of 3 sets (not counting warm-up sets), seemed to be very productive without overtraining. We chose to rest 72 hours between sessions. Rest between sets ran 7 minutes minimum. In many situations, this combination would let the beginner progress for many months. For those who came to a halt in progress, I found a switch to the decline bench brought about new surges in progress. The decline bench hardly ever gets the credit it deserves. My best guess ... most lifters tend to avoid the angle simply because it's a bit awkward or maybe they feel it isn't productive because they never read about it's use in training articles. The 20 degree decline became our number one tool for getting past sticking points in the flat bench. Once the individual started going stale, we would head for two sessions on the decline (often 3 in a row). With sessions being a minimum of 3 days apart, flat bench sessions became rare. We would develop our rep/set numbers by adding 10 to 20 pounds to the previous best poundage used in the last flat bench sessions. Our grip was narrowed to put emphasis on the triceps. After a nominal 3 set warm-up, we focused on two heavy sets to failure and a third set, somewhat lighter, for 8 reps. Again, resting 7 minutes between sets. These decline sessions became our triceps builders. We stopped triceps pushdowns and dips. 95 percent of our team saw improved flat bench sessions each time they returned from the decline. Some scoffed at the idea of "no triceps" isolation so, we soon found it easier to keep our training methods to ourselves. At meets, other lifters would ask, "You guys do lots a dips?" Oh, Hell yes! We strap on the plates and set our elbows on fire. That's what they wanted to hear. When I tried telling them the truth, they thought I was keeping something from them. Now, I'm not saying that this system is the only way to go. I'm sure we could have chosen alternatives sets/reps combos that may have produced similar results. But this system produced several WPC/APF World Record benchers and it took a 39 year-old 242-pound bencher from a 390 max to 505 and a #2 Masters ranking within two years (Back in the mid 90s.)

Looking at TJ's build, we see how the above initial training played a major role in his current, awesome physique.

 

- Bob Shaefer