Where to begin?
In fact, having a mass of 70 kilograms, bench pressing more than your own body weight is a difficult task, because even according to the standards of the powerlifting federation (WPC - International Powerlifting Federation (World Powerlifting Congress)) a 3rd category athlete weighing 75 kilograms , must squeeze out a sports equipment weighing only 82.5 kilograms, and for the second category - 95 kilograms. And only a first-class athlete must cope with a weight of more than one hundred, namely 105 kg.
So, it’s clear that the task is not so simple for an athlete training in the gym and far from the specifics of powerlifting training. This exercise cannot be done without nuances and features aimed at increasing strength, so let's take a closer look at the training process.
Muravyov's program: Press 100 kg
It seems to me that it’s enough to “load” you with theory, now it’s time to show how it should be done in practice. I even have one instructive story on this topic. I had two friends study with me. The guys are already adults, about 22-23 years old. Before me, they had about 2.5-3 years of training experience.
They worked out on their own, without a coach, as is usual, with all sorts of “gags” of their own. There was only one problem: neither the muscles grew nor the results. During this time of training in their weight category (and their weight was about 65 kg with a height of 175 cm), it would be possible to fulfill the standard of a master of sports. Of course, with the right training.
What is your personal best in the bench press?
Their bench press was 80-85 kg. In appearance, they did not resemble strength athletes at all, but were more similar to table tennis players. You will agree with me that with such experience this is too low a result. After all, it can be achieved in almost any weight category in 3 months.
One day one of them asked me if he could really build muscle mass and increase strength. He said that he had long come to terms with the fact that neither muscles nor strength were growing at all, and he was already working out just for fun. I had been eyeing them for a long time and wanted to improve their training. Which lacked any meaning. It was some kind of set of different exercises. But they had absolutely no idea about the chest bridge in the bench press, and they didn’t do deadlifts with squats at all.
I invited him to sit down and listen to me well and write down everything I told him. All this happened, of course, under the jokes of his comrade.
Firstly, I recommended to him (and you also remember this) that you should definitely consume about 30% of your daily diet for breakfast, about 50% for lunch, and the rest for dinner. Thus, before noon you need to consume 80% of your total daily diet. Although, this is a rather controversial issue, given its weight.
In addition to the normal diet, take in addition the fully recommended and approved by sports science means of pharmacology: Eleutherococcus in the cap before training, potassium orotate 2-3 tablets per day for 1 month, as well as Liv 52, which promotes both strength gain and mass, 6 tablets per day. At the first stage this will be enough.
After that, I selected training tools. He recommended not to do all the unnecessary exercises at least for the duration of my plan. The guy listened to everything carefully, agreed with everything, immediately went and bought everything at the pharmacy. He agreed to do squats too. I, in turn, promised that he would be guaranteed to increase his strength, unless, of course, he skipped training. But the weight is on his conscience, because I am not able to control how he eats and takes medications.
A word of caution - don't try to do too much exercise.
The exercises indicated in the plan are quite enough to lay a powerful base and pump up the whole body. No one has yet complained to me that due to the small number of exercises, some muscles have lagged behind in development. By the way, an important note! If the word warm-up was not indicated in the training plan or the plan simply starts immediately, for example, 72.5% in five sets of 10 times, then this does not mean that warm-up is not needed at all. Warm-up should always be done! But with a small number of repetitions: 40 kg for 5 reps, 50 kg for 3 reps, 60 kg for 2 reps and 70 kg for one rep. This, if taken as 100%, is 100 kg.
The training plan I created looks like this:
Regarding abbreviations, they are understandable. But I will explain anyway, in order to avoid any misinterpretation. “Bits. “Hammer” is a biceps exercise with dumbbells. The arms are bent alternately. "AND. l uz. xv.” - bench press with a narrow grip, we have already talked about it. “Development l.” - this is a lift with dumbbells lying down or disks of approximately 10 kg (no more). “St. deadlift” - deadlift.
The plan, as you can see, is given in percentages. Please note that 100% is not the weight that you can lift at this stage. And who knows? By the way, it constantly varies: today I bench press 180 kg, tomorrow I can’t even press 170 kg, and the day after tomorrow I bench press all 185 kg like a stick. All this depends on how you recovered after the previous workout), and the actual expected result. I think it’s unlikely that it will be possible to plan based on today’s result, since it is difficult to predict with an accuracy of a kilogram (and not approximately) how much he will be able to bench press today.
Just a request: don’t overdo it in this matter, plan real numbers for yourself. Below I will show how this is done.
For the first three weeks of training, I planned 90 kg for him as 100% in the bench press. We will calculate from it, that is, 72% * 10/5 means that we press 65 kg (and this is 72% of 90 kg) 10 times in 5 approaches. Accordingly, 77% * 8/5 means that 70 kg is performed 8 times in 5 approaches. After this, for the next two weeks we will take 92.5 kg as 100% and accordingly count 79% from this weight. For 100% for the 6th and 7th weeks we take 95 kg. In the 8th - 97.5 kg. And the 9th - 100 kg.
Why do you need to do a smooth rise of 100 percent? Obviously, if you immediately take 100 kg as 100%, then in the second week you already need to lift 77.5 kg 8 times, and this is obviously impossible. And in our case, given that the athlete is training according to plan, he gradually gains strength and accordingly raises the bar to one hundred percent. And it is already quite possible, when performing the penetration in the 10th week, to lift 100 kg with an initial result of 80 kg by 2-3 times.
Although here it is obvious that with the same initial result of 80 kg for 2-3 times, not all athletes, due to their different body weight, structure and experience, will be able to lift 100 kg in the 10th week.
In this case, do not under any circumstances undertake repeated passes at the next training session, but return to week 1 and, taking into account the result you achieved (for example, 92.5 kg), start a new cycle again and plan for 1-3 weeks from 95 kg , 4-5 - from 97.5 kg, 6-7 - from 100 kg, 8th from 102.5 kg and 9th from 105 kg. Then next time you will definitely bench press 100 kg.
Benching 100 kg in at least two cycles is better than working with the same weight for three years. And so in 20 weeks there will be an increase of 15-20 kg. This, believe me, is very good. After this conversation, he began to train according to the plan. I suffered with his chest bridge. There is no flexibility and that's it. But patience and work will grind everything down. And it's the same here. Week 10 has arrived and I’m finally making progress in the bench press. In addition to the warm-up, I planned for him 90 kg, 95 kg, 97.5 kg. He squeezed 90 kg and 95 kg, and decided not to live at 97.5 kg, but to immediately try his strength at 100 kg. I didn’t bother him. This is the psychology of a beginner.
The number 100 beckons. But as I thought, the weave crushed him. He tries again and fails again. His comrade chuckles, but without the same confidence, because 95 kg was still conquered. And my athlete is trying to bench press 100 kg at the next training session, justifying everything by saying that last time he slept little before training, worked too much, etc.
I calmed him down and persuaded him to start the training plan not from the first week, but from the fifth. But at the same time, already plan 105 kg.
In addition to this, add good “Russian” vitamins to pharmacological preparations: “Dekamevit”, “Complivit”, “Undevit” and additional vitamin C. In addition, between meals, drink fermented baked milk or kefir with a bun. Moreover, he is not at risk of obesity.
Another month has passed. Another passage. A weight of 105 kg is conquered. His friend keeps quiet. And the hero himself threatens to bench press 107.5 kg at the next training session. Still, the psychology of a beginner is very strong! After all, it was said that you can’t do drilling at every training session, first you need to do preparatory work and lay some kind of foundation. I hope you, readers, will take into account the mistakes of others.
Now let's summarize:
- A result of 105 kg was achieved instead of the original 85 kg.
- Own weight increased from 65 kg to 73 kg.
And all this was achieved in 3.5 months. Technology appeared. Mastered: squat with a barbell on the chest and on the shoulders, deadlifts, as well as bench press. And if he has mastered the basic concepts, then progress will continue. Agree, the entire training program described above is accessible to everyone and does not require any complex equipment. And all of the listed pharmacological agents are sold in any pharmacy without a prescription and are absolutely harmless. And the prices are not bad.
At minimal cost, the increase in bench press results was almost 25% in 3.5 months! And note again that if the plan is not fulfilled for any reason, then there is no need to try to push to the limit in the next workout. It is necessary to go back at least 4 weeks and start all over again. True, now plan based on the result already achieved.
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Tip #1
To achieve your training goal, you need to build with an emphasis on the pectoral muscles and triceps. Of the four workouts, two should include exercises for the pectoral and triceps muscles of the shoulder.
- The first training day is aimed solely at increasing strength indicators;
- The second training day for the pectoral muscles is to increase mass.
Both directions of hypertrophy will be the basis for the best and fastest growth in strength indicators.
Bench press technique to increase results
The first thing you should pay attention to is technique. It is this that will allow you to reveal your hidden potential, save energy and protect from injury. I wrote about the correct technique for performing the bench press in a separate article, and there is also a video there. Moreover, the video presents a “bodybuilding” technique of execution. In order to quickly overcome the first hundred on the bench press, it is best to press with a bridge, with a wide stance of the arms (as in the picture below).
This technique is used by powerlifters. These recommendations slightly reduce the range of motion of the barbell, which in our case is to our advantage.
You should devote at least one day out of 3-4 days of training to the bench press technique. Practice your bench press technique with a weight of 50% of your maximum.
Tip #3
The training process must be structured in such a way that between training the pectoral muscles (the first and second days), the break is at least three days. The following diagram can be used as an example:
- First chest workout.
- Leg training.
- Second chest workout.
- Shoulder and back workout.
It should be remembered that the development of the body should be symmetrical and harmonious, so you should not focus on one muscle group for a long time. The goal of the training is the full and comprehensive development of the body.
And also read: Exercises for sculpted abs → How to make your shoulders wider? How to pump up a wide back? How can a man achieve a V-shaped figure?
About training
You will have 4 workouts per week using the classic standard split:
- chest + back;
- legs + shoulders;
- basic presses;
- auxiliary presses.
Beginners are allowed to do 3 bench press workouts per week. However, in this case there are limitations. First, we do it on a negative calorie basis with a small glycogen reserve. Secondly, we are primarily about fitness, not just bench press. You should always start your workout with a warm-up.
Auxiliary (auxiliary) exercises to increase the bench press
On the day of bench press technique training, you can use assistance exercises. Accessory or secondary exercises help develop synergist muscles, slow-twitch muscle fibers, ligaments and tendons. The focus depends on the type of exercise. All this helps to increase strength and maximum weight of the projectile specifically in the bench press. To perform secondary exercises, set aside a separate training day, or perform one auxiliary exercise at the end of your chest workout. Perform assistance once every two weeks, otherwise you may not have time to recover.
