Benching Frequency

Although my main focus is strongman, I like to have power lifting in there too just for raw strength and size. I heard benching once a week for about a month then taking off for about 3 weeks ( just bench ) can be very effective. My workout looks like this
mon. squat,front squat,hamstrings,1 foot leg press, dbell curls, dbell rows
wed. dead lift, clean/press, farmers walk, plate holds
fri. Bench ( sometimes ), Zydrunas Press, incline dbell, tricep pushdowns, close grip bench

Should I alternate bench and close grip 2 weeks at a time, do both, or what?

I would be more concerned with your complete annihilation of your quads hams lower back and entire posterior chain the day before Deadlifting.

[quote]Reed wrote:
I would be more concerned with your complete annihilation of your quads hams lower back and entire posterior chain the day before Deadlifting.[/quote]

ITT: Tuesday does not exist.

Benching twice a week is a minimum unless it puts you at injury risk due to having vagina shoulders or previous injuries or genetic deformity.

[quote]black_angus1 wrote:

[quote]Reed wrote:
I would be more concerned with your complete annihilation of your quads hams lower back and entire posterior chain the day before Deadlifting.[/quote]

ITT: Tuesday does not exist.

Benching twice a week is a minimum unless it puts you at injury risk due to having vagina shoulders or previous injuries or genetic deformity.[/quote]

I was referring to training day.

Im with Angus1 on this one. If I want to improve my bench numbers, it means benching 3 usually 4 times a week for 4 weeks. 5th week deload sunday through wed, try and set a PR on thurs or friday at the end of 5th week. 6th week speed work, week 7 start all over.

Would this work?
monday-bench/squat/assistance
tuesday-bench or bench variation ( floor press/board press )
wednesday off
thursday- dead lift and strongman events
friday off
saturday bench/squat

My bench is going very well, and I’ve only ever trained it once a week, so if I were you I wouldn’t worry about doing any more than one a week, especially if your primary focus is strongman.

I do train triceps twice a week though.

[quote]tattoo’d’popeye wrote:
Im with Angus1 on this one. If I want to improve my bench numbers, it means benching 3 usually 4 times a week for 4 weeks. 5th week deload sunday through wed, try and set a PR on thurs or friday at the end of 5th week. 6th week speed work, week 7 start all over.[/quote]

how would you set up benching 3-4 times a week?

How about two push workout a week, one bench(10x3 or whatever you prefer)plu tri’s(board or floor press)the other workout(overhead,incline,dips,light bench)BB type reps.One day for back and lowerbody pulling. One day for squats and quads(can superset in some bi’s here with quads) and a day for odd lifts, sled work, condioning, two days rest. This would be a rough layout for a program, if I was asked for a,Strongman\powerlifter, trying to bring up bench. this is not ideal, but it’s hard to serve many masters.Try to keep similar days, as far apart in the week as possible.2cents

[quote]budreiser wrote:

[quote]tattoo’d’popeye wrote:
Im with Angus1 on this one. If I want to improve my bench numbers, it means benching 3 usually 4 times a week for 4 weeks. 5th week deload sunday through wed, try and set a PR on thurs or friday at the end of 5th week. 6th week speed work, week 7 start all over.[/quote]

how would you set up benching 3-4 times a week? [/quote]

Check out Smolov jr. for bench; that might give you an idea.

[quote]csulli wrote:
My bench is going very well, and I’ve only ever trained it once a week, so if I were you I wouldn’t worry about doing any more than one a week, especially if your primary focus is strongman.

I do train triceps twice a week though.[/quote]

I agree completely with CSULLI. I hit triceps twice per week, but I never bench more than once per week. Frequency is one of those factors that, when manipulated, can give excellent results, but the results are much more difficult to maintain. Frankly, without good reason, I wouldn’t mess too much with frequency until you’ve exhausted other options (higher volume, more intensity (as % of 1RM), “intensity” techniques like rest-pause, etc.).

[quote]AnytimeJake wrote:
How about two push workout a week, one bench(10x3 or whatever you prefer)plu tri’s(board or floor press)the other workout(overhead,incline,dips,light bench)BB type reps.One day for back and lowerbody pulling. One day for squats and quads(can superset in some bi’s here with quads) and a day for odd lifts, sled work, condioning, two days rest. This would be a rough layout for a program, if I was asked for a,Strongman\powerlifter, trying to bring up bench. this is not ideal, but it’s hard to serve many masters.Try to keep similar days, as far apart in the week as possible.2cents[/quote]

As of my workout I’m on right now I have a few push movements a week. Wednesday is my events day and that’s clean/press. Friday is bench ( sometimes ), incline dumbbell, Zydrunas press, and tricep pushdowns

Wait, what’s a vagina shoulder? Is it a shoulder that is owned by a woman? I have vagina shoulders…

I bench 4 times a week.

I really didn’t read anything in this thread other than the words vagina shoulders.

[quote]budreiser wrote:

[quote]tattoo’d’popeye wrote:
Im with Angus1 on this one. If I want to improve my bench numbers, it means benching 3 usually 4 times a week for 4 weeks. 5th week deload sunday through wed, try and set a PR on thurs or friday at the end of 5th week. 6th week speed work, week 7 start all over.[/quote]

how would you set up benching 3-4 times a week? [/quote]

Same way I squat 3-4 times a week

Monday Bench and Squat + accessory work
Tues Bench and Squat + accessory work
WEd Deadlift , lat, power shrugs + accessory work
Thurs Bench and Squat
Friday Bench, Squat max effort
Sat or Sun Anything I missed during the week, extra glut ham work, core work etc

Ive only seen beginners make progress with once a week benching. Once your (real) bench is over 400lbs raw your going to have to bench alot more often to gain numbers.

I cant remember who mentioned it but yeah smolov jr is a good beginning powerlifter bench routine.

Vagina Shoulders!

Ill throw out another vote for high frequency. I saw my best bench gains when benching 2-4 times a week.

It doesnt have to be heavy every time, you can do heavy work, rep work, speed work and the often neglected “light day”. Not to mention variations.

Training bench 3-4 times per week is going to give better results for most people, but like everything else, it depends on what you respond best to. (those who can make big gains with super high intensity and low volume can obviously ignore this, but those people might be rare) If I don’t bench 3 times per week, I don’t make progress. If I miss a week, I go backwards. If my shoulders hurt, I move my grip in a bit until it clears up, but I never cut sets/reps. Upper back/rear delt assistance is your best friend.

For what its worth, high frequency (Sheiko, specifically) lifting has taken my (paused) 1RM from 435 to 525 in a little over 2 years; prior to that, high intensity/low volume training brought me from 415 to 435 in about 8 months. Progress is progress, but those 20lbs were definitely a lot lower on the “how hard is it to make gains?” meter than these last 90lbs have been. I don’t think I would’ve gotten anywhere close to this using a different style of training.

[quote]tattoo’d’popeye wrote:
Vagina Shoulders! [/quote]

Blarg!!

[quote]Spock81 wrote:
Wait, what’s a vagina shoulder? Is it a shoulder that is owned by a woman? I have vagina shoulders…

I bench 4 times a week.

I really didn’t read anything in this thread other than the words vagina shoulders.[/quote]

It’s pretty much if your shoulder is a vagina, or has a vagina inside of it. Usually the vagina replaces the rotator cuff.

[quote]Spock81 wrote:

[quote]tattoo’d’popeye wrote:
Vagina Shoulders! [/quote]

Blarg!![/quote]

taco?

[quote]asooneyeonig wrote:

[quote]Spock81 wrote:

[quote]tattoo’d’popeye wrote:
Vagina Shoulders! [/quote]

Blarg!![/quote]

taco?[/quote]

Titty Sprinkles?