Heavy bench press. Training program to increase bench press. Is it true that you can’t gain weight without bench presses?

Bench press is the benchmark for upper body strength. All you have to do is say that you are lifting, and the first question will be - how much do you bench? We will look at the main reasons for stagnation in the bench press, mistakes that prevent you from increasing your results, as well as a proven scheme for increase in bench press.

The difference between pros in bodybuilding and powerlifting in one-rep max is quite large and can amount to a difference of up to 40 kg on average, and all because different muscle fibers are developed, which together give the result. The MMV option will be considered, but this method will most likely be suitable for security forces to increase maximum strength one at a time. In my program there is work on strength and endurance, but strength training is within acceptable limits, we will not approach the maximum weights, it is safer and more reliable. This article will present a program for increasing the bench press; it is universal and can be flexibly adjusted to each athlete. With its help, you can increase your strength and working weight, and if you strictly follow the instructions, the result will not take long to arrive. For a bodybuilder, the bench press is a basic exercise for the chest muscles; without increasing strength in the bench press, it will be difficult to pump up high-quality pectoral muscles.

Preparations for increasing your bench press

  1. Before you learn how to increase the bench press and move on to different methods, you need to double-check that your starting position is correct. Read more in the description of the exercise itself. If your legs dance hopak during the bench press, then you won’t bench press anything worthwhile.
  2. Once again, make sure that the grip width of the bar is suitable for you. In order to check the correct grip width, you need to make sure that while holding the barbell your forearms are positioned strictly vertically. Before judging the correctness of your grip, you need to determine which muscle you have is stronger. For example, if you have strong pectoral muscles, then you should press with your elbows out to the sides, then the grip width should be wide. If you have stronger triceps, you should bring your elbows closer to your body, about half the distance from fully extending them to the sides. It is best to try 2 options and run them on a separate day with light weight. It may also be that a certain grip suits you physiologically, but the muscles are quite weak, then there is only one thing left: in order to increase the result in the bench press, you need to strengthen them additionally.
  3. When bench pressing a barbell, especially with maximum weight, the body will return to its usual position. Study it carefully for obvious errors. The most common mistake is placing the barbell on one hand - the right one. Also, squeezing with one hand more than the other, which does not give you integrity and is very dangerous for your deltoids!
  4. In case your gym has narrow benches, place fitness mats on them. They will make the bench more comfortable, and you will not slide to any side.

Methods to Increase Bench Press

  1. Don't arch your back. In this case, this is cheating, you reduce the distance between the body and the barbell, but you need strength, mass, and working out different muscle fibers. Try to press the classic way to increase your bench press results.
  2. Mandatory warm-up. It will help reduce the likelihood of injury and prepare the body for the load, putting you in the right mood. Try to warm up each joint and be sure to perform the exercise with a lighter weight.
  3. Do all serious weights together with an insurer, this will give you confidence.
  4. In most cases, all beginners train the same muscle fibers. Therefore, first, let's look at a little physiology, it will definitely give us the answer to the question: how to increase the working weight in the bench press. Our body has fast muscle fibers (FMT) And slow-twitch muscle fibers (SMF). Bodybuilders and many lifters pump up the BMW, these are the muscles that work when lifting heavy weights. This is a mistake, because the totality of all working muscles is stronger than one group of BMWs. There is another muscle group - this high threshold fast muscle fibers. They turn on at maximum weight and overload. For our body, this is a fuse that prevents us from breaking down. As you already understand, to increase weight in the bench press, you will need to include working all three muscle fibers. Such training will only be possible if periodization. It is necessary to alternate the load between MMV and BMW. With the help of periodization we will work out all the necessary muscle fibers. To create such a program, you must have experience and be sure to take into account the individual abilities of the athlete. In general, the proposed method is suitable for increasing strength in the bench press before competitions. The main idea is to achieve supercompensation in the three above-mentioned CFs. The starting point will be the high-threshold fast-twitch muscle fibers, as they take the longest to recover and are the ones you need to focus on recovering before your competition. In general, the microcycle looks like this:
    • 1 training of high-threshold muscle fibers;
    • 2 hypertrophy workouts;
    • 2 workouts for slow muscle fibers.
  1. Increased nerve impulse. The stronger the impulse coming from the brain, the stronger the reaction of your muscles and the greater the strength in the bench press. How many muscle fibers will respond to the signal depends on the impulse of your brain. If you trained your muscles using the above methods, then most likely all 3 types will respond. Also, thanks to the above method, you will push back the pain threshold - a protective state when the body protects itself from overload. You can train your nervous impulse, or you can go buy drugs at the pharmacy and your strength will jump everywhere. True, there is a risk, if your muscles are not ready for such loads, you may get injured. In order to increase the nerve impulse, use visualization, every time before going to bed, scroll through the bench press in your head until you get tired of it.
  2. Partial repetitions are suitable for strength athletes and pump them up. It is best to use them in a power rack, but be sure to seek the help of a competent insurer. Set the weight to an average of 20% more than your one-rep maximum, set the limiters so that you can press the barbell 10 cm up. It is important that you lower the barbell down smoothly and do not throw it.
  3. Use the static press in your problem areas, where you cannot squeeze the barbell. Statics is necessary for strengthening joints and ligaments, I recommend it to everyone. Literally next week you will feel an increase in your bench press results. If you took more weight than your OM, then hold the barbell at the top point for 5-10 seconds for 3-4 sets. In order to work slow muscle fibers, use 30-70% of OM. Your task is to lower the barbell to your chest in 15-20 seconds and powerfully squeeze it up. An insurer is required.
  4. Perform explosive push-ups, jumping push-ups, and clapping push-ups to help you develop explosive power and break through sticking points in the bench press.
  5. Singles are a fairly effective and dangerous method since you take your MP, 95% to be exact. Perform 3-4 sets of 1 repetition, be sure to rest for at least 4 days.
  6. Strength development of the triceps or deltoids, depending on what is preventing you from increasing weight in the bench press.

Workout to Increase Bench Press

This training is designed for 3 weeks. By following the regime and doing everything exactly according to the workout, your bench press will increase 100%. Please note that the % indicated in the exercises is calculated from a one-rep max bench press. In order to calculate it, you need to perform the bench press with full strength, 4 sets of 10 repetitions with such a weight that it is not too hard or easy for you. This working weight should be divided by 0.65, if you think it was easy, then divide by 0.6, if it was hard - 0.7. This will be your one-rep maximum.

Exercise % Repetitions Approaches % Repetitions Approaches % Repetitions Approaches
1 workout 1 Week 2 week 3 week
Bench press 61% 10 4 46% 12 3 65% 8 4
51% 15 1
56% 20 1
Dumbbell Bench Press 40% 12 3 58% 8 4 42% 10 3
43% 10 3 45% 8 2
Butterfly 42% 12 3 48% 10 4 40% 12 5
Barbell curl 50% 12 4 53% 10 5 51% 12 2
56% 10 2
60% 8 2
French press 40% 10 4 44% 12 3 41% 12 5
Dumbbell biceps curl 55% 8 4 49% 10 3 54% 12 3
2 training 1 Week 2 week 3 week
Bench press 38% 12 3 45% 8 4 42% 10 4
42% 12 3 43% 10 4 45% 12 4

Bench press mistakes

  1. Exercising the pectoral muscles too often and putting too much strain on the working muscles. You simply do not allow yourself to recover and each time you drive your muscles into an even greater recovery process until overwork sets in.
  2. Bench to failure in every workout, every time like the last. Most likely you don’t have a clear plan, you don’t know what periodization is, and you haven’t heard about the cycle at all.
  3. Training only around the bench press. You forget to exercise your legs or back. But thanks to them, you can increase the working weight in the bench press.
  4. Using an open grip, you only need to drop the barbell on your chest once to quit the gym forever.
  5. The chest press, with heavy weights, you won’t even be able to lift the barbell off your chest.
  • When focusing your workout on the bench press, be sure to first reduce the load on the pectoral muscles in other exercises and reduce the workout overall.
  • Pump up your pectoral muscles on Monday for strength and on Thursday and Friday for endurance, i.e. repeatedly.
  • Try to eat a lot of high-quality and healthy food.
  • Sleep at least 8 hours, preferably 10. If possible, sleep during the day.
  • Buy creatine. To increase strength and recovery, this is what you need.
  • Buy BCAAs if possible.
  • Perform push-ups at home for faster recovery.
  • Do not perform bench presses with maximum weight more than once a month.

“How much do you bench?” - a question that determines the degree of toughness of any athlete “carrying iron.” Of course, squats, deadlifts and pull-ups are also important exercises, but it is the bench press that is considered key in the “iron” community.

And today we will talk about how to increase your self-esteem, raise your own status among friends in the gym, achieving respect from your acquaintances and everyone who trains with you. We'll talk about how to increase your results in .

There is no single program

Many truly effective programs may not give you any results, while the bench press of your friend who has chosen a similar scheme will grow by leaps and bounds. The fact is that drawing up a program is an individual process.

Various factors, such as the speed of recovery, proper or improper nutrition, the level and amount of emotional stress, standard programs simply cannot take into account.

To ensure that your workout is as close to your needs as possible, we will try to create several programs based on knowledge of several different individual factors.

This way, you can choose the program that is most suitable for you. However, you should understand that only you can create the ideal program for yourself, focusing on your feelings, the speed of growth of results and the desire to progress further.

Principles of strength training

It is believed that to increase the maximum result in the bench press, you just need to press 1 time, or regularly do passes. However, practice shows that this approach, if effective, is not on a permanent basis.

Indeed, we will leave the postulate “To reap a lot, you need to reap a lot” intact. In building a strength result in the bench press, it is the bench press that is important, and not the auxiliary exercises, which we will talk about later. At the same time, we will move away from the standard practice of strength work and confidently state that for maximum results in the bench press for 1 rep you need to regularly press 4-6 reps.

This is also strength work, but increasing the number of repetitions to 4-6 allows you to remove the load from the central nervous system, which will “pass out” after a few weeks if you regularly push your maximum in each workout.

In addition, approaching a more or less solid result, we will be forced to abandon linear progress. With each added kilogram on the bar, we need to recover longer and put in more effort so as not to drive ourselves into overtraining.

We can confidently say, based on our own experience: the central nervous system cannot withstand long-term linear progress in strength work. The body may process such training through adaptation, but it is much more difficult to adapt the nervous system to overload.

Apathy towards training arises, and the sight of the barbell begins to make you vomit. Such overload of the central nervous system is less likely when working in several repetitions. Thus, we will build our training program on three principles:

1. Refusal from permanent work for a one-time maximum

2.Individuality of the work performed

3. Wave-like progress that will allow you not to overload your nervous system

About auxiliary exercises

The importance of auxiliary exercises in building strength in the bench press is exaggerated. At the same time, you do not need to completely abandon other exercises, concentrating all your attention on the bench press.

If one of your bench press groups is lagging behind, you need to eliminate this lag. For example, you can overcome a plateau in your bench press by focusing on your lagging triceps by incorporating the French bench press into your program.

Program for beginners

So, let's move on to more specific recommendations. Let's move on to the program for beginners. In it we will use only the first two principles, since linear progress is still possible at first. So, an approximate program for a beginner who bench presses 60 kilograms at a time, but wants to improve his strength performance:

Monday

  • Bench press - 50 kg for 4 repetitions in the maximum possible number of approaches.
  • Squats - 5 sets of 10 reps. You select the weight individually.
  • Pull-ups - 5 sets of 10 reps. You can replace it with lat pulldowns on a machine if you don’t know how to do pull-ups.
  • French bench press(flyes for pectorals and swings for deltoids) - 5 sets of 10 repetitions. We choose one of the exercises depending on which muscle group you are lagging behind. If nothing lags behind, skip the fourth point.

Thursday

  • Bench press – 50 kg, 4 reps. In this case, you need to try to do at least one more approach than in the previous workout (on Monday).
  • Exercises for lagging muscle groups.

Saturday

  • Squats - 6 sets of 10 reps.
  • Pull-ups - 5 sets of 10 reps.

On Monday we add 2.5 kg to the barbell, after which we press the barbell for the maximum number of repetitions. On Thursday we consolidate progress by adding one or more approaches. On Saturday we increase the working weight or approaches in other basic exercises.

This program is relevant for beginners and intermediates with up to two years of experience. The only point: as your experience increases, you will need more time. This means that your next bench workout will not be done after 72 hours, but after 96 or 120 hours.

You should understand by your own feelings when the time comes to increase the rest between workouts.

Advanced circuit

Here we use the same principles, adding light, medium and heavy workouts. In the remaining exercises we maintain linear progress. It will look like this:

Monday

  • Heavy bench press - 85-90% of the one-time maximum for 4-5 repetitions in 5 approaches.
  • Squats - 70-75% of the one-time maximum for 10 repetitions in 5-7 approaches.
  • Pull-ups - 70-75% of the maximum in 5-7 approaches.
  • Assistance (French press, swings or flyes) - 70-75% of the maximum for 10 repetitions in 3-5 approaches.

Thursday

  • Average bench press - 70-75% of the maximum for 5 reps in 5-7 approaches.
  • Exercise for lagging muscle groups.

Saturday

  • Light Press - 50% of max for 10 reps in 5 sets
  • Squats with the addition of 2.5 kg or several approaches.
  • Pull-ups with the addition of 2.5 kg or several approaches.

If you can’t add in squats and pull-ups, don’t add them or add them less often. Once a month, instead of a hard workout, we press 95–100% for 1–2 times in a large number of approaches.

Don’t forget to increase the load on every hard workout, because only with constant progress can these programs give results.

For powerlifters, the bench press is a separate discipline, and in bodybuilding, the bench press is one of the most popular. Increasing its effectiveness guarantees the maximum effect from training and the achievement of the goals set for the athlete.

This can be achieved by performing the exercise in low repetitions. There are other movements that need to be performed to maximize the benefits you get from the barbell press. They must also be included in classes.

The proposed system is based on two options for classes. It is recommended to perform at least two workouts weekly. This is the optimal scheme. If recovery is fairly quick, you can devote up to four days a week to exercise. It all depends on the individual characteristics of the athlete’s body.

The first step towards improving your bench press performance is to determine your maximum. In other words, a bodybuilder needs to find his limit, that is, his record. This indicator becomes the main starting point for drawing up an individual training system.

To fully concentrate on the task at hand, you should focus only on the main task. Therefore, in the training program under consideration, pumping the lower body is completely excluded, and all emphasis is placed only on the upper body. To keep your leg muscles in good tone, it’s enough just to do squat warm-up exercises at the beginning of training or in any free time when you have it.

Training program to increase bench press results

When you have decided on your own repetition maximum, you can start training.

  • 1. (60% of 1 repetition maximum) – 1 warm-up set + 3 working sets of 5 repetitions – performed at maximum speed, training explosive strength;
  • 2a. – warm-up approach + 3 working reps of 5 reps – we also work in speed mode, strengthening the triceps and inner chest;
  • 2b. – 1 warm-up set + 3 working sets – strengthening the anterior deltoid muscles.

Options 2a and 2b are used alternately (in one workout only 2a, in the other only 2b). But if some muscle group is lagging behind you (triceps or deltoids), then use one of the options more often.

  • 3. – 1 set with only your own weight for 7-8 repetitions, 2 approach with additional weights for 6-8 repetitions, and the last set again with your own weight for the maximum number of repetitions.
  • 4. – 2 warm-up sets + 3 working sets of 6-8 repetitions.

  • 1. – 40% of 1 rep max for 8 reps, 55% for 5 reps, 70%*1, 80%*1, 90%*1, 100%*1, new record.

When setting a record, there is no need to try to surpass yourself. The optimal increase in load is from 500 grams to 1 kilogram. It's not worth taking any more. It is not recommended to set a record without being sure that it is achievable. If you feel weak or tired, it is better to either postpone the workout to another day, or simply consolidate the results achieved in previous workouts, rather than go for new achievements. Pauses between individual approaches should be taken for about five minutes.

  • 2. – 2 warm-up + 3 working sets of 8 repetitions;
  • 3. – 1 warm-up + 3 working sets of 8 repetitions.

Setting new records and working with maximum weight is necessary only with a partner. It is recommended to work according to the presented program from 16 to 18 weeks, training twice a week.

How to increase the bench press worries many athletes, both among professionals and among amateurs. The result in the bench press is a kind of calling card for any muscleman, whether you are a bodybuilder, a lifter, or just an athlete.

Before this strength cycle, compiled according to the rules of weightlifting periodization, I trained according to Stuart McRobert's cycles described in the book “Think! Part 2" and his teaching aids "Hands of Titan" and "Bench Press 180 kg". However, over time, I came to stagnation in the bench press at 105 kg, in the squats at 150, in the deadlift about 170. The reasons for that stagnation can be discussed... And now I immediately see a number of ways out of that stagnation (regime, diet, certain sports nutrition - creatine, BCAA), but at that moment I found another solution, the most correct one(!). I read the book by A.V. Chernyak. “Methodology for planning a weightlifter’s training” and based on the principles of compiling weightlifting cycles, I compiled my own strength cycle, which is presented in this article.

In the spring, I tried this cycle 2 times in a row on the bench press and significantly increased my results both times in a row. The first time the cycle gave an increase from 105 to 115 kg. Judging by the entries left from that time in the training diary, these 115 kg were given to me with great difficulty: the bar hung for a long time at a dead point, then my heart “gurgled” and it went up. Let me note that I always bench press without a bridge. The second run of this cycle gave an increase from 115 to 120. But I benched 120 easily and confidently. The third run of the cycle in a row did not give results - it was necessary to temporarily change the approach to training, switch from strength to volume.

Thus, using my strength cycle, you can expect a 5-10% increase in the bench press and any other strength exercise in just 1 month! The cycle is working! Moreover, what is important is not that the cycle is working, but that the approach to such periodization itself is very effective. Using similar periodization cycles, over the course of several months I increased my squats to 170 and my deadlifts to 185 (with straps). My weight from February to July 2007 increased from 81 to 86.5 kg.

It should be noted that at that time I also tried taking creatine. But since then, I have tried creatine several times and it has never given me anything like it again. I tried both from the same manufacturer and from others - to no avail. Therefore, I believe that this result is a merit of the training methodology (periodization), and not of sports nutrition. In addition, my weight increased even without taking creatine during this period.

And now more about the cycle itself. My strength cycle is designed for 1 month of training, or more precisely for 3 weeks of 3 workouts plus one workout - walking.

The cycle consists of light-medium-heavy workouts and a walk on the tenth workout. Light-medium-heavy combinations vary all the time. The load also varies all the time in terms of the number of approaches and repetitions. These techniques add an element of novelty to your training. You train the same exercise three times a week, but each workout has nothing in common with the previous one and, as a result, causes a new adaptation of the body, which means your results increase! During the workouts themselves, you most likely won’t even break a sweat, but rest assured, the cycle will work. Checked!

The cycle itself is performed in, open and instead of “110” enter your maximum weight in one repetition in the bench press. Red checkmarks indicate tooltips - hover your mouse over them and they will open.

This is the cycle calculation table. And you have to do it like this

Click on the picture to enlarge


Workout #1: 45% of maximum weight first set for 5 reps, second and third sets 55% for 5 reps, fourth and fifth sets 65% for 5 reps, sixth and seventh sets 75% for 3 reps. Slight deviations of ±5% are possible. Those. if your maximum in the bench press is 100 kg for 1 rep, then you can do it like this 40/5 50/5 60/5 65/5 67.5/5 70/3 75/3 or like this 40/5 50/5 60/ 5 65/5 70/5 75/3 80/3.

This strength cycle is an excellent method to significantly increase strength in exercises such as the bench press, standing press, squats and deadlifts. I typically used these cycles for two exercises at once, such as bench press and squat, or bench press and deadlift. See mine from 2007.02.12 to 2007.04.10.

Try it and write me your results and your opinion about it. If you like the series, give your friends a link to my website and this article.

P.S. Currently, natural training is gaining more and more popularity. The successes of Soviet science in methodological developments were the best in the world! Periodization is the key to long-term strength gains! Read Soviet authors on TA.

I’ll finish with the words of the great Soviet weightlifter, two-time Olympic Champion, Honored Master of Sports of the USSR, Honored Trainer of the USSR Arkady Nikitich Vorobyov:

The genome is of fundamental importance. Anyone can be brought to the level of a master of sports. But the Olympic champion appears one in 10,000 people. Due to unfavorable conditions, only one in 100,000 people can achieve this title.

Once again I will emphasize the words of the master:

Anyone can be brought to the level of a master of sports.

Good luck with your bench press training!

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Today we will talk about how to bench press a lot, namely how to increase your bench press.

This is a very popular exercise in gyms. In bodybuilding, it helps to comprehensively develop the upper body and show its strength. In powerlifting, the bench press is one of the three competition movements.

Bench Press: How to Increase the Weight on the Barbell

Among professional athletes, great results begin with 200 kg. Even 150 kg is not taken seriously among powerlifters. However, such a result is difficult to achieve for most ordinary gym goers.

To understand how to press more, you should turn to the experience of professionals. And first of all, let's look at this question: “What is the difference between a bodybuilder and a lifter?”

A bodybuilder works with heavy weights in a multi-repetition (6-12 repetitions) manner. Alexey Lesukov presses 200 kg for 12 reps. His main task as a bodybuilder is muscle hypertrophy, which means the muscles must be under load for a certain period of time.

A powerlifter bases his training on achieving maximum results in one single repetition. For comparison, Alexey Lesukov bench presses 240 kg in a one-rep set. Vladimir Kravtsov (multiple European and Russian champion) also bench presses 200 kg 10-12 times, but his result in a one-repetition set is 280 kg.

The main difference between the two sports is the training of high-threshold fast muscle fibers.

It is known that our muscles are composed of different types of muscle fibers. Conventionally, the following division can be applied: fast and slow muscle fibers. In order to demonstrate maximum strength, many train fast muscle fibers, forgetting about slow ones.

To get maximum results, you need to train both fast and slow muscle fibers. In addition, by training in a high-rep, bodybuilding style (6-12 reps), you are not developing high-threshold fast muscle fibers. They come into operation when the load is maximum or submaximal (close to maximum).

Only with monstrously large loads (90-100% of the maximum) for 1-2 repetitions do high-threshold fast fibers come into play. If you look at the differences in the training of powerlifters and bodybuilders, the former pay a lot of attention to training different types of fast muscle fibers.

Strength professionals pay great attention to training with submaximal weights

Strength athletes train with submaximal weights for low reps and long rest periods between sets. Bodybuilders, on the other hand, use quite a lot of weight, work in a high number of repetitions and get little rest. In such training, high-threshold BMWs are practically not affected. That is why a strongman is able to show better results in a single repetition in the bench press, and.

A bodybuilder only needs to include high-threshold BMW training in his program once every two weeks, and with the amount of muscle he has, he will be able to bench press more than many powerlifters. But this requires special training.

In order to squeeze maximum weights, it is necessary to include as many functions as possible into the work - energy, nervous, ligamentous apparatus, and the inclusion of slow muscle fibers in the work. It is the slow muscle fibers that provide a noticeable increase in the athlete’s results.

The part will never be stronger than the whole.

How to train everything together to get maximum results?

Each type of muscle fiber and muscle function requires different training and different recovery times. In order to take these differences into account and get the most out of training as many functions as possible, professionals use periodization (load cycling to train the appropriate type of muscle fiber or individual function).

For example, by training high-threshold BMWs with push-ups or negatives, their recovery period extends to two weeks or more. At the same time, muscle energy is restored in 2-3 days. What to do? Alternate workouts. Something that recovers faster needs to be trained more often and more than something that recovers slower.

It turns out the following training plan - heavy training, which occurs less frequently, alternates with light training, which occurs more often. This microperiodization allows you to effectively develop several muscle functions in one training cycle.

Three types of training should be distinguished - training for the development of MPM (slow partial repetitions), training for the development of MPM (training of many bodybuilders) and finally, training aimed at developing high-threshold MPM (high load in a small number of repetitions - presses, negatives, singles). repetitions) etc.).

Training slow-twitch muscle fibers can give the fastest results. So let's take a closer look at the key points of this workout. The fact is that many people ignore this approach to obtaining maximum results. The experience of Vladimir Kravtsov suggests the opposite.

So, several important requirements must be met.

  • The movements are performed very slowly to turn off the BMW.
  • The amplitude must be partial. This way we achieve constant tension. The vessels are pinched and the outflow of blood is hampered.
  • It is very important to feel the burning and withdrawal within a certain time range of 30-45 seconds.
  • The workout involves a triple series of approaches with a 30 second pause between them.

This workout works and brings a noticeable effect after 1-2 sessions. After all, you awaken sleepy slow fibers, which do not work at all during bodybuilding-style training.

This principle (microcycle) allows you to gain both muscle and strength without sacrificing either. A very popular mistake is frequent (and hard) training. Without taking into account the recovery time of various muscle functions, you will accumulate under-recovery, which will ultimately result in overtraining, regression, or worse, lead to injury.

Consider recovery time. Rest more if necessary if you feel under-recovered.

How to increase your bench press: training program

Microcycle from Vladimir Kravtsov for 14 days.

You don't have to copy the entire program. It is important to understand its main meaning - alternating training for different types of muscle fibers with mandatory consideration of their recovery time. Model the program below to suit your training plan, taking into account your individual characteristics.

In order to achieve maximum results, your workouts should not be linear, but different. A cycle may contain one training session for high-threshold BMWs, one or two for BMWs, and two or three for MMVs. The program does not indicate warm-up approaches.

How Vladimir Kravtsov trains:

Day 1.

Heavy Bench Press for high-threshold BMWs

Day 2.

Day 3.

Day 4.

Heavy Bench Press 2×8-12 for BMW hypertrophy

Super series – biceps/triceps 2×8-12

Legs – MMV

Day 5.

Day 6.

Horizontal or vertical block row (back) 3-4×8-12

Legs – MMV

Day 7.

Day 8.

Average press lying down– 3 approaches to MMV

Legs – MMV

Back – MMV

Day 9.

Day 10.

Day 11

Light Bench Press– 3 approaches to MMV

Legs – MMV

Back – MMV

Day 12.

Day 13.

Day 14.

Let's go back to the first day - heavy bench press

Conclusion

The article presents the experience of Vladimir Kravtsov on the topic of how to increase the bench press. His many years of experience (especially MMV training) work wonderfully for many athletes, and most importantly bring real results, in the form of an increase in the weights lifted in the bench press.

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