Training for a Bench Contest

[Nomad_Warrior]

Long story short, i am currently living in South Korea, and although I would be considered an average weightlifter in Western terms.  I'm considered a very strong dude and get a lot of stares in the gym here (koreans in general are small and weak).  Anyways I heard about a bench press competiton here and if I win I will get 6 months free membership to my gym!

I was told that the previous record in this contest at my weight class (72kg) is only 135kg or 297 lbs.  I know I can and have benched 270 recently.  So I bassically just need to put 30 lbs on my bench, 40-50 lbs just to be sure.

I don't currently train powerlifting style, just 6-12 reps, maybe max out once a month. 

The competition is in May.
Can someone please reccomend a good training protocall for me to follow, based on my stats. (Sets, reps, what weight to use, how many times should I train chest each week?) It would feel great to be the only white guy, walk in and smoke all the korean competitors.


Thanks in advance for the tips, and the wise ass comments!

[tbombz]

 bench 2-3 times per week. use heavy negatives often. once you can use a weight for 5 reps, time to bump up in weight. incorporate some higher reps and train your shoulders arms back and abs.

[tonymctones]

id ask this in the powerlifting board bro there used to be a good number of regular posters that had a wealth of knowledge.

Id be careful taking dizzles advice, no offense dizzle

the shoulders seem like a good suggestion though as well as training tri's as well

weighted dips, close grips etc...

be careful not to hurt your shoulders broham

[tbombz]

id ask this in the powerlifting board bro there used to be a good number of regular posters that had a wealth of knowledge.

Id be careful taking dizzles advice, no offense dizzle

the shoulders seem like a good suggestion though as well as training tri's as well

weighted dips, close grips etc...

be careful not to hurt your shoulders broham

heavy negatives are undisputably the best way to get stronger

[nasht5]

bench 2-3 times per week.

reallllllllll-ly?

[Nirvana]

is it drug tested? 

small cycle of dbol will make your dreams come true

[BB]

No need to get fancy with it, I'd go with the old Korth program or Ed Coan's Benching routine:

http://www.criticalbench.com/ed-coan-bench-press.htm .

http://www.deepsquatter.com/strength/archives/korte.htm .

Read the rest of the Korte program here on the right side:- http://www.deepsquatter.com/strength/archives/ .

Lots of shoulder/ incline, upper back, and tricep work.

Honestly, 25-35lbs is a honest goal per bench peaking cycle, anything more is extremely lucky or unreasonable.

Good luck.

[tonymctones]

heavy negatives are undisputably the best way to get stronger

agreed but they are very taxing and are not done regularly and to do them you need spotters

heavy negatives often on bench are great to gain strength though no argument

Nomad check out your bench set up and make sure its conducive to benching max weight and not necissarily for BB

[tomjone20]

Coan or Sheiko (with the concentration on bench).

[Yev33]

You are basically talking about bringing your bench up by 30-50 lbs in 3 months, thats pushing it, considering your bodyweight and wanting to bench 300 lbs.. Your best bet would be to look into a program like Westside. The reason i'm recommending it, is that you will get stronger but  I dont think you have enough time to bring your strength up to that level. Whats really important is to teach your body how to express it's true one rep max as well as develop maximum  speed and power applied to the lift. Since im assuming you are doing this competition RAW , don't worry about adding in bands and chains. Just follow the principles (Dave Tate had a good article explaining the program) and remember you are not doing bodybuilding with this, your main focus is maximal strength. So dont add a bunch of bullshit excercises that will only hurt
your recovery and halt your progress. I would put up more info on Westside principles on here but I figure if you want to bench 300lbs by May bad enough you will get after this yourself and do the research on your own.

[Nomad_Warrior]

Thanks everyone for the tips.  I have incorperated everyones ideas and developed a training regimine.

In short I will bench twice a week.  Saturdays and Wednesday.  One heavy day and one light day.

On the heavy day I will do 5x5 the first week, 4x4 the next, 3x3, the next, and 2x2, the next.  After 4 weeks I will then start this cycle over but begin the 5x5 with 10 more lbs than the last time.  Each heavy day will also end with 1 lockout 30lbs over my porjected max, and one set of negatives with 10lbs over my projected max.

Light day will be 3 easy sets of ten, a couple of sets of incline and heavy shoulder presses.

Also, taking into consideration that this contest will not be drug tested I may indeed begin a short cycle of Dbol 4 weeks out from the contest.  I think that with the addition of the Dbol and strict dedication to training, the addition of 50lbs to my bench in 3 months time is acheivable.  I will add cardio as needed and Nolvadex while on Dbol as not to retain water or put on too much weight.  The weight class I want to compete in only goes up to 72kg, and I currently weigh 73 kg.

Advice, Suggestions? 

Thanks Again everyone, I'm feeling really good about this.  Training very seriously.

[jpm101]

There is never a best way to get strong. Negatives do not always insure getting all that stronger in the positive phase of any lift. But they can have  limiter affect on strength gains. Negatives do seem to encourage muscle growth in BB'ing though. Like a double overload on a muscle (TUT). If doing negatives, than on a short program bases only. Negatives can affect the nervous system when done too often. Recovery is important. At the most twice a week with short sets & reps. Once may be better for some.

Might suggest that you train with guy's who have better benches than you. Heavy weight class no doubt. As an old coach I had once was fond of saying, "You can't bark with the big dogs if your still pissing with the puppies". Can learn a lot when around stronger and experience lifters. Also ways of training, and tips, that you might not have ever dreamed about.

The protocol you listed is somewhat all over the place. You may have to rethink it. Again, get with someone who has personal experience and also been in contest. You're not going to be that successful trying things out by yourself. Good Luck

Side Bar: Koreans tend to have superior lower body strength, as opposed to upper body. They probably can out squat you very well.

[benchmstr]

practice the technique every day....bench press isn't all about strength...its equal part technique...learn it well..

when you practice, you don't even need weight on it...just go to a hardware store and find a bar length, and thickness piece of wood, or PVC pipe...

bench

[chaos]

heavy negatives are undisputably the best way to get stronger

I know a natural compititor and never saw him do heavy negatives.

Also know some juiced up monkeys that hit 5 plates for 5-6 reps and never saw them do negatives either.

Is this another one of those posts that in six months you will be disagreeing with?

[benchmstr]

I know a natural compititor and never saw him do heavy negatives.

Also know some juiced up monkeys that hit 5 plates for 5-6 reps and never saw them do negatives either.

Is this another one of those posts that in six months you will be disagreeing with?

he isnt smart enough to understand what you are saying right now...

bench

[tbombz]

I know a natural compititor and never saw him do heavy negatives.

Also know some juiced up monkeys that hit 5 plates for 5-6 reps and never saw them do negatives either.

Is this another one of those posts that in six months you will be disagreeing with?

its one of those posts i disagree with a week or two after making