Started New Program for Chest Development and Strength Increase!
After a few weeks of ‘instinctive training’ - doing whatever I felt like at the gym depending on how my body felt any particular day - time to add a little structure to my workouts. I’ve decided to try something new on my journey towards my goal of a 315 bench press. It’s a workout strategy I got from coopdawg in the ‘Big Bench’ bodygroup. Chest is worked three times a week, so for most weeks that would mean every workout for me. A radically different approach from anything I’ve ever done, but it’s worth a try!
Workout 1:
Incline Barbell Bench sets of 12,8,6,4, heaviest weight possible
Decline Barbell Bench sets of 12,8,6,4 heaviest weight possible
Workout 2:
Flat Barbell Bench Press sets of 12,8,6,4 heaviest weight possible
Flat Bench Dumbbell Flyes 12,8,6,4 heaviest weight possible
Workout 3:
Heaviest weight possible for 3 sets of 6 on the 4 exercises used in workout 1 and 2.
Flat Bench Dumbbell Press - A burnout set of 30.
REPEAT!
I’ll give this a try for a couple of months, hopefully I’ll see some strength gains. I like doing chest so if nothing else it’ll be a lot of fun!
First workout last night, here are the results:
Incline Bench: 135×12, 145×8, 155×6, 165×4
Decline Bench: 145×12, 165×8, 185×6, 205×4
Very happy with these lifts, did not reach failure at any point. Obviously not the heaviest weight possible, we’ll see how close I am to failure when I add some weight to these lifts next week. When I arrived at the gym a guy I know was just starting to do incline, I told him what I had planned and so we worked together. This was fantastic, someone to help load/unload plates, spot me and encourage me! The tempo of the workout seemed a lot faster than when I’m on my own too. The last set I’d only planned to lift 195 but I felt so good I left on the 205 that my partner used for his two reps and I banged out 4 reps no problem! I was having such a good time I changed the rest of my workout so I could keep going with my partner, we did 6 sets of cable crossovers at different angles, then we hit triceps, did pushdowns, skull crushers and kickbacks. What a burn in my chest and triceps after all this! I hear people sing the praises of having a good workout partner, I can really appreciate that after last night. I worked harder at an increased tempo and I remained focused for a longer period. I got in 2 sets of pullups between other sets, 8 and 8, but didn’t try any more - I know my arms and upper body couldn’t handle it after all the work anyway! I finished off the workout with some abs.
Feeling great today, we’ll see how I feel when the next chest workout is sheduled, only 48 hours after the first one!
March 30, 2009 at 9:04 am
‘instinctive training’ - I noticed you were doing that. I’m very structured in what I do, probably too inflexible.
Chest 3x/w is a lot of work in a week, but like you wrote, should be a good experiment for you. Flexibility and experimentation, hmmm.
March 30, 2009 at 10:37 am
Keep us posted Tony, sounds like a chest kller for sure.
March 30, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Solid looking program - I’ll be checking back often to read about the results, of course!