Raw Powerlifting - Bench Press

Obviously after the squat you have the American lift.  The bench press.  I call it the American lift because American's seem to be obsessed with it, compared to other countries, where big squats and pulls are more revered.  

Same as the squat, I am going to assume you have ironed out technical problems in your bench.  If not, do that first obviously.  

The cycle for the bench is going to look the same as the squat for the most part.  That's because from a physiological standpoint both the bench and squat take advantage of the myotatic reflex.  This is why squatting and benching rep numbers, generally do pretty well in terms of 1RM calculators.  It's also why you can run similar cycles for both in terms of numbers.  

With that said, there are some differences, obviously.  I think the squat builds itself just fine.  I think the bench, for a lot of guys, needs some extra work.  How much extra is really up to you to find out.  I personally can do some incline and some shoulders after bench and do really well with that.  I know other guys who need a lot of volume on bench and in their assistance work, and I know guys who bench a buttload, and just do bench only.

So how do you find out how much extra you need?

This may sound strange, but I have personally found for the most part that beginners and advanced guys need a similar amount.  At first people may want to balk at that, but they need the same amount for two different reasons.  

You take a beginner and put him on bench and incline, and he'll do really well with just that.  That's because he can do some volume and just learning the lifts, he makes great progress.  Learning the lifts is enough.

Once a guy has been lifting for a long while, and establishes a good base level of strength, he will get to a point where stagnation and plateaus become very common, and are very frustrating,  What I have found in these cases is that focusing on basic progression and few exercises isn't always the best solution.  I take guys like this and have them train a little more like bodybuilders, put some mass on them, and without fail I see their lifts start to move again.  That guy that has been neglecting shoulder work from different angles, flyes, bicep work, so forth and so on, gets a bump from strengthening all of those neglected areas.  And over the next few years of working hard on this, their strength moves up another level.  At this point a lot of guys find they do really well again, by dropping back to just a couple of movements and focusing on the basics again with progression.  This is because an advanced guy can focus better than a new or intermediate guy, and because of the weights he's moving, recovery becomes a factor.  Most really strong guys don't use a ton of volume.  If you look across the board at the strongest guys, most of them pyramid up to 1 top set, then might do some back offs.  Sure there are exceptions like Brian Siders, but you know what I say about exceptions......

So with that said, I also see a lot of skinny, weak-ass dudes who do flyes and curls and pushdowns and shit from day 1 and yet they are skinny and weak.  Those guys missed the boat.  Start off with the basics, and when you're in the 300 bench, 400 squat, 500 dead range, add in some things to improve strength in other movement planes.  

So now that that is all out there, let's look at the cycle.......

Training Max = 93% of Real Max

Week 1 - 80% x 1, 70%xmax reps

Week 2 - 85% x 1, 75%xmax reps

Week 3 - 90% x 1, 80%xmax reps

Week 4 - 93% x 1, 85%xmax reps

Week 5 - 95% x 1, 85%xmax reps

Week 6 - 98% x 1, 90%xmax reps

Week 7 - 100% x 3 

Week 8 - Deload - 70% x 5

Week 9 - Meet, 100% x 1, 110% x 1 - third attempt go nuts

Same as the squat, the 100% in week 7 is really 93% of what you are shooting for on your second attempt at the meet.  On the set for max reps just go to failure or a rep shy of it.  

Now here comes the questions about what to do after.  Reference the beginning of the article.  Personally if I had to give a cookie cutter answer, I would say to do 1-2 sets of incline press or military press for 8-12 reps just shy of failure, then do some seated db press or side laterals not too heavy with moderate reps.  If you want to do some tricep work after that, do something elbow friendly.  Rope pushdowns seem to fit this description fairly well.

That's it.  If you really want to up your bench, gain 10 pounds.  Bodyweight gain really makes the bench take off for the majority of people.  Guys with t-rex arms are usually great pressers.  If you have long ass gorilla arms I suggest you focus on pec and delt work more than most guys.  If you're the t-rex guy, you can probably get away with just benching a lot.  

The "do upperback work to increase your bench" stuff has gotten retarded.  Yes, you need to do upperback work but doing a shit ton of upperback work is not going to be the difference in you having a moderate bench and a great bench.  Your chest, delts, and triceps still are the prime movers in benching.  Work those.  A big reason for the lat and upperback work for benching is because of bench shirts.  Guys that talking about having to "pull the bar down" with their lats are guys wearing shirts.  I've never had a problem getting even an empty bar to touch my chest.  Gravity seems to bring it right down just fine.  Don't train like an equipped guy if you are raw by the way.  Train your chest, shoulders, and triceps for benching.  Not your back.  Lifting has gotten weird over the years with this kind of nonsensical bullshit.  

Deadlift is next.......