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How I Structure Bench Assistance Work — Transcript

by Shethar Brothers · 7,184 words · 977 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00all right what is going on there fellas
0:02welcome back to the channel um I got a
0:04quick one for you today I was thinking
0:07about I was considering for a while
0:09making this video like uh something that
0:11I spent a little bit longer planning out
0:13uh making it a little bit like higher
0:15production value if you would speak as
0:17high production value as my channel gets
0:20um but I figured honestly I could crank
0:22this one out today on a little bit
0:24crunched time got back from training a
0:26little bit late um because a bunch of my
0:28regular viewers have been asking for
0:31something more or less along the lines
0:33of this video uh saying that it would
0:35help them with their training and um you
0:37know big views Flagship videos for the
0:40channel That bring a bunch of new people
0:41in are awesome and it makes me feel good
0:43that they got so many views but I really
0:45really do place value on providing like
0:47some information that actually tangibly
0:49helps you guys get stronger because uh
0:51if you haven't noticed I really really
0:53really like strength training it is my
0:54[ __ ] I think it's the coolest thing in
0:56the world I'm very passionate about it
0:58um it's cool to be a to talk to a bunch
1:00of like-minded people that see what I
1:02see in it which is that it's cool uh and
1:04that being strong is badass and I'm conf
1:06confused why everybody doesn't want to
1:08be strong uh so I figured this could be
1:11something tangibly that could help you
1:12guys my apologies my handwriting is
1:15terrible it's been that way I almost had
1:16to repeat second and seventh grade
1:18because I could not read or write uh so
1:21bear with me but we're going to go over
1:23some ways that you can organize your
1:25bench press training and your bench
1:26press assistance work to help you bring
1:28up your bench press so let's get into it
1:31right um if we are really hellbent on
1:33increasing our bench press I usually
1:35recommend people dedicate two to three
1:37training sessions to it um this could
1:39work with a full body split use your
1:42imagination we can move things around
1:43and include our squats or our deadlifts
1:45if we are someone who likes kind of
1:46those SBD days mixing and matching um
1:49but most lifters I try to convince into
1:51like hey unless your time schedule does
1:53not very much allow for it let's try to
1:55get you in the gym four to five sessions
1:58per week so it's maybe upper lower upper
2:00lower or upper lower upper lower upper
2:03or a full for the final one right
2:05depending on what the athlete needs to
2:06work on um so if bench increasing bench
2:09is a big priority I would usually air on
2:12the side of having two to three upper
2:14sessions and if you're someone who
2:16really likes full body splits but your
2:18uh bench press habitually lags behind I
2:20do recommend that you experiment at
2:22least a little bit with breaking up your
2:23training into upper and lower CU that
2:26can often times give you the time you
2:28need to dedicate as much kind of
2:30assistance volume to the smaller upper
2:32body muscles as is needed to build up
2:34the base that is very very important for
2:36increasing the bench press right um
2:38deadlift you see very skinny guys having
2:40these big displays of strength because
2:41the deadlift there's a lot of
2:43positioning involved there's a very big
2:44neural component bench press of the
2:47three lift seems to be the one that's
2:49the most dependent on how much muscle we
2:51have it's a very low skill movement now
2:52we can get into large arches and skinny
2:54guys succeeding there but for the most
2:55part if we're all kind of talking about
2:57just a general bench press with a
2:58moderate Arch uh um the commonality
3:01among big benchers is having a lot of
3:03cross-sectional area of their primary
3:05movers even more so than the squat and
3:07deadlift which are a little bit more
3:08neural a little bit more technical right
3:10if we have good bench Technique we
3:12practice lifting heavy so we're kind of
3:13nurly efficient the bench press a lot of
3:15the time is just going to come down to a
3:17contest of who has big pecs uh shoulders
3:19and triceps so from there I will often
3:22for bench press specifically break my
3:24assistance work into categories based on
3:27muscles usually you'll hear strength
3:29athletes like myself say hey thinking in
3:32muscles is for bodybuilders we strength
3:34athletes think in movement patterns and
3:36thinking in movement patterns has been
3:37profoundly helpful for improving my
3:40performance on all kinds of strong man
3:42events um overhead with leg Drive
3:44overhead with like a strict overhead
3:46little bit more like bench pressing in
3:48this way but the squat the deadlift
3:50thinking of movement patterns not
3:52muscles has made me a lot better
3:53strength athlete but like I said a lot
3:55of being a good bencher is just being
3:57jacked and people will often make the
3:58make the observation hey this is why
4:00like kind of shitty amateur bodybuilders
4:02often bench more than shitty amateur
4:05powerlifters even though that's one of
4:06their three primary objectives because
4:08they're just doing more volume they're
4:10doing more isolation work they're
4:11building up more total tonnage across
4:13their upper body and they just end up
4:15being more jacked because of it and the
4:16bench seems to respond quite well to
4:18that so for the bench press I usually
4:20like to kind of categorize my assistance
4:22work um by into like one of four
4:25categories the first category is just
4:27going to be antagonistic work lots of
4:29guys have talked talked about the
4:30benefits of doing a little bit of back
4:31training alongside your bench press
4:33training a big back is a little bit
4:34easier to keep tight we can usually a
4:36guy with larger more developed kind of
4:38lats and upper back um has a better time
4:41controlling his scapular retraction and
4:43more importantly depression um there's
4:46maybe some argument to be made that that
4:48kind of antagonistic work has some
4:49benefit for shoulder Health but that's
4:50kind of category one is antagonistic
4:52work so some kind of pulling uh and then
4:54we really just break up our categories
4:56of assistance work into the three
4:58primary movers of the bench being tricep
5:00work shoulder work and Peck work and
5:03that's kind of one of the ways uh that I
5:05can kind of break that down for my
5:06clients is like well these exercise
5:08slots are trying to just break up based
5:10on the primary movers and trying to
5:11increase the crosssectional area of the
5:12primary movers we're really just doing
5:14bodybuilding work we're not necessarily
5:16looking for position specific strength
5:18that's going to transfer to the bench
5:19press we're looking to just get those
5:21three primary movers bigger and then our
5:23specific bench press training will make
5:25it so that those bigger muscles are
5:27stronger at the specific task of bench
5:28press training and a lot of the Year
5:30even my most advanced benchers will
5:32break up their bench assistance work
5:35into categories of just kind of working
5:36on the primary movers now as you get to
5:39high performers more advanced guys
5:40benching a lot of weight for their body
5:42weight there is more consideration to
5:44like position specific strength there's
5:45more consideration to like working
5:47movement patterns emphasizing like kind
5:49of more specific qualities rather than
5:52just this whole hey we're going to get
5:53jacked and then we're also going to be
5:55technically good at benching put those
5:56two things together and you're probably
5:58going to be pretty good at it eventually
6:00it gets maybe a little bit more
6:01complicated than that but that being
6:03said that will carry you a long ass way
6:06um a really long way once again
6:09apologies for the handwriting hopefully
6:10this is somewhat legible if it isn't I'm
6:12going to read it out for you so
6:13hopefully you can make some use of this
6:15video uh but we're going to look at like
6:17the first way we can break things up is
6:19the high frequency model for touching
6:21these uh these different muscle groups
6:23we're going to touch them up at a high
6:25frequency so two to three times per week
6:27each um and this is a tech this is kind
6:29of a breakdown that I used early in my
6:31training career when I wanted to
6:33stimulate each muscle as often as I
6:34possibly could because I saw that as an
6:36opportunity for growth that's I got a
6:37little bit more advanced I moved to the
6:39second kind of scheme I'm going to show
6:41you after this um but to break down the
6:43high frequency kind of scheme right like
6:45so let's say we are doing a 4-day
6:47training split two uppers two lowers so
6:49we just have two sessions dedicated to
6:51the upper body uh session number one is
6:54going to be our primary bench press the
6:55main thing we're trying to get stronger
6:56at maybe for you that's a touch and go
6:58bench maybe that's a comp bench if you
7:00compete uh so a bench with a pause I
7:02recommend most people train with a pause
7:04a lot of the Year anyway I think it has
7:05a very beneficial training effect
7:07regardless um but let's just say this is
7:09primary bench comp bench primary bench
7:12whatever we're trying to get done here
7:14then the second thing we're going to do
7:15is in our antagonistic movement I just
7:17sometimes if someone has like kind of
7:18junky shoulders that are a little bit
7:20slow to get warm we might even do the
7:22antagonistic movement uh before the
7:24bench press so here I put lat pull down
7:27as an example you can do a chest
7:28supported row again these ones that
7:30we're really trying to work on that fine
7:31motor control that's going to help our
7:33back tightness in our bench prast but we
7:35could also put things that are like more
7:37horse and weight to help our deadlift so
7:39we could do like heavy Pull-Ups here we
7:42could do heavy dumbbell rows here we
7:44could even do barbell rows here
7:45potentially depending on how you how
7:47your body kind of manages that fatigue
7:49how good your breathing and bracing is
7:50our proximity to our deadlift day we can
7:52do any kind of row here it could be
7:54specifically like a little bit more
7:56specific of a row to help your bench
7:57press or it could could be uh something
8:01that's more meant to like help the
8:02deadlift later in the week either or so
8:04we go comp bench we do our antagonistic
8:06movement and then we go uh chest
8:09shoulders triceps now the order of chest
8:12shoulders triceps can be uh manipulated
8:15to work towards your weaknesses if
8:16you're like man I got big old juicy pecs
8:19um I rocket the weight off my chest we
8:21can maybe end the session with the PEC
8:23accessory and like maybe you you feel
8:25your shoulders are weak or you feel your
8:27triceps are weak we can order those
8:29accordingly but we do one for each
8:31potentially we could do multiple for
8:33each kind of depending on your ability
8:35to handle volume how many straight sets
8:36you like to do maybe you're someone who
8:38likes to just like you're like the Bruce
8:40Lee quote you're like I I fear not the
8:42man who's practiced a thousand kicks one
8:44time but the man who has K practiced one
8:46kick a thousand times you want to do a
8:48lot of sets of pfly you want to be
8:49really good at it and really get your
8:51work out of that for this one session or
8:54maybe you're like ah to break up the
8:55monotony I know based on my mrv that I
8:58need to do X YZ number of sets it makes
9:01it more fun if I break that up into
9:03maybe two sets of dumbbell two sets of
9:06yada yada y right but we're generally
9:08classifying it into okay we're trying to
9:10touch up the pecs shoulders and triceps
9:12three times so just random examples PEC
9:14fly we do some kind of overhead press
9:16and a JM press for the triceps and then
9:18again we come into our second session
9:21there's it's going to be the same format
9:23again but probably with different
9:24exercise selection for those variations
9:27so we can kind of take advantage of some
9:28novel adaptation so maybe we comp bench
9:31again if you're someone who really likes
9:32a little bit higher specificity training
9:34model or we can do our primary bench
9:37variation maybe that's a Larson press
9:39maybe that's a long pause bench maybe
9:41that's a bench to low pins maybe that's
9:43a two board you know maybe I don't know
9:46what am I missing maybe it's a Spoto
9:47press maybe it's a Clos script holy cow
9:50there's a bunch of different variations
9:51that if you feel they work your
9:52weaknesses or they highlight certain
9:54technical elements of your bench that
9:56you don't do well then you might be
9:57served not to just go two bench days but
10:00one bench day one primary variation day
10:03to work on something that's really
10:04attacking one of your weaknesses and
10:06then again we follow that same structure
10:08antagonistic work CSR just means chest
10:10supported row cool that makes sense um
10:12again we can kind of Select whether we
10:14want this to be really aiding our
10:15deadlift or really a little bit more
10:16fine motor control Centric to be helping
10:18our skill within our bench press depends
10:20on what you're working on in your
10:22training at that period of time and then
10:24chest I said dumbbell bench you guys
10:25know I love dumbbell bench laterals
10:28right that's shoulder probably not going
10:30to yield much direct carryover but we're
10:31not necessarily looking for direct
10:33carryover we're trying to build a bigger
10:35machine and then we take that bigger
10:36machine into specific training and
10:38you'll have successful training cycle
10:40after successful training cycle if you
10:42took a
10:43bodybuilder um who is like super jacked
10:45right and they started training their
10:46squat they would have a decent squat to
10:48start but probably not World beating but
10:50they you would see them have the most
10:52successful repeated training Cycles ever
10:55because their muscularity represents
10:57their strength potential so it's like we
10:58should always be working on our
10:59muscularity we don't necessarily always
11:02need to be like but it doesn't carry
11:03over uh last one dips dips with a paws
11:06at the top really killer exercise for
11:09this specific kind of exercise slot for
11:11triceps big fan of them so before this
11:14gets too repetitive um we have the three
11:16sessions let's say you're doing three
11:17uppers two lowers a very common split
11:20that I'll give a lot of my athletes or
11:21I'll recommend to people a lot of the
11:22time if they really want to place an
11:24emphasis on upper body muscularity if
11:26they have some blend of being jacked and
11:28also being strong as their goals or
11:30they're really trying to bring up their
11:31bench press again nothing too redundant
11:34like I don't want to be too redundant
11:35here but because because we're doing
11:36this high frequency model each day kind
11:38of follows a similar template maybe you
11:40could reorder the different assistance
11:42work if you want to place a little bit
11:43more emphasis on different things on
11:45different days so okay I start with my
11:47big bad like hardcore chest bodybuilding
11:50movement on this day and then I do a
11:51little bit more kind of fluffy shoulder
11:55and tricep and then I do my big bad
11:56tricep you could definitely organize it
11:58that way and I think that would work
11:59quite well but maybe we go comp bench
12:01comp bench and then primary variation
12:04maybe you want to run a lower
12:05specificity training cycle you want to
12:06go comp bench variation one variation
12:09two maybe you have a variation that's
12:11doing really well it's really weak it's
12:12really far behind you could just go you
12:14know primary bench variation repeat that
12:17variation again to almost Place more
12:19emphasis temporarily this is something
12:20that we can we can play around within
12:22this framework um to try to attack our
12:25weaknesses without worrying that we're
12:26changing things too too much as long as
12:28we stay within this framework we're
12:30probably going to avoid that trap of
12:32changing things too much and screwing
12:34oursel over so we can do a lot of fun
12:35things with these top ones you could
12:37maybe Implement a daily undulating
12:38scheme of like heavy medium light you
12:41could do something like that you could
12:42there's a lot you could do one of these
12:43as a speed day if you found that was
12:45something you responded well to there's
12:46a lot of things you can do with these
12:47primary slots that we could talk about
12:49more examples of antagonistic work maybe
12:51like a NE neutral chin a dumbbell row
12:54maybe if these things are supposed to be
12:55a little bit more heavy duty and they're
12:56really meant to assist our deadlift a
12:58little bit or more really attacking um
13:01more robust upper body pulling strength
13:04so we're doing like weighted chins and
13:05we're doing these heavy rows maybe they
13:07wouldn't complement the bench quite as
13:09well but again we can fit those into
13:10these exercise slots rear delt flies and
13:13face PS can fit in here really nicely I
13:15still would class those as antagonistic
13:17work and I find that a lot of people the
13:18rear Del flies actually does help with
13:19their back tightness on the bench press
13:21and it makes their shoulders feel quite
13:22heavy just a bunch of examples right
13:24like we talked about you know pfly
13:26overhead skulls dumbbell bench laterals
13:28triceps rope uh chest press like a he if
13:31you got a nice chest press machine that
13:33fits in here just fine there's lots of
13:34things you can fit in here High incline
13:36dumbbell press for the shoulders and
13:38then like an overhead dumbbell French
13:40Press God golly there are so many tricep
13:42exercises those boys at Westside came up
13:44with a lot of ideas there so this is the
13:46highfrequency organization that if that
13:48Vibes well with how you conceptualize
13:50training or you're maybe someone who's
13:51not quite that strong yet and you really
13:54want to get after these things often and
13:55you can recover from it this is
13:57something I might recommend now next
13:59we're going to get to the other
14:00breakdown that I recommend to maybe a
14:01broader audience of like maybe stronger
14:03guys maybe guys who have been doing a
14:04little bit this a little bit more and
14:06also meshes with the psychology of maybe
14:08a few more lifters cuz some of us really
14:10like coming in be like this is shoulder
14:12day right there's something about that
14:14exposure to Bro splits early in our
14:16training careers that's very addictive
14:18so we're going to get to that in a
14:19moment once again fingers crossed you
14:22can read this if not my apologies um in
14:25a later video it's getting a little late
14:27I'm going to try to go quick um in a
14:29later video we can talk about how this
14:31might change for like really really
14:32Advanced athletes like some of the 500
14:34benchers um that I work with or guys who
14:37are benching mid fours at a light body
14:40weight really really Advanced guys like
14:41how does that start to get really highly
14:43customized to them and you know we can
14:45talk about like okay well there's a lot
14:46of nuance to What specifically we're
14:48doing with yeah I can say comp bench
14:50variation one or comp bench one comp
14:52bench two but what the hell am I doing
14:54with those what progression schemes are
14:56we following is it this primary tertiary
14:58primary secondary tertiary they split
15:00right where the loading is adjusted how
15:02Auto regulated oh my God there's a lot
15:04of [ __ ] we can talk about but we're
15:06going to get into this kind of second
15:07category that works for a hell of a lot
15:10of people we're actually going to start
15:11with the 3-day version of this breakdown
15:13because it's actually very very very
15:15similar to what I've written here very
15:17similar to what we are having Max do to
15:20chase out that 500 bench press uh this
15:22training cycle right um and like I said
15:26we can break things down into
15:28antagonistic
15:29squat or squat uh shoulders chest and uh
15:33triceps so this this I call kind of the
15:36prime mover split so we have okay well
15:38we bench three days a week that means we
15:40can say okay well we have a day for each
15:42one of those primary movers and we're
15:45really instead of doing this really high
15:46frequency model we're really going to
15:48hammer those individually into this
15:51slightly pseudo bro split scheme so we
15:53can do a really good job cooking the
15:55chest here the triceps here and the
15:57shoulders here and this just kind
15:59appeals to a lot of guys they can log
16:01book it if they're doing the sessions in
16:03a consistent manner each week the pref
16:04fatigue is consistent and as long as we
16:06can progress under that pre fatigue it's
16:08not really an issue you say oh but my
16:10triceps are shot coming into bench
16:11session three well you'll acclimate with
16:13time but as long as we're consistently
16:15the sameish pref fatigue for session
16:17three what matters is that we see uh
16:19Progressive overload with time under
16:21those similar conditions that means it's
16:23working we don't need to be fresh for
16:24every single session so really hammering
16:26the primary movers in this way can work
16:28pretty well that's where like something
16:30like a primary secondary tertiary day
16:32we're like hey this third one we're
16:33going to be pretty smoked we're going to
16:34anticipate that with our main lift being
16:36a little bit lighter and then we try to
16:38come into this first one really fresh
16:39cool yada y y right but if we follow
16:42this prime mover split idea this first
16:44one session one would be kind of the
16:46chest emphasis bench day so we do our
16:48benching that's the most important thing
16:50it's not just get that done and then
16:51move on to this stuff yes being jacked
16:53is important for benching being good at
16:55benching is also very important for
16:57benching we do our in istic movement
16:59because we're still going to touch on
17:00those three days a week I find it's a
17:02good habit for shoulder Health yes there
17:03is no clinical data to validate that yes
17:06there's a lot of people that push back
17:07on specific pushing to pulling ratios I
17:09don't really adhere to any of those um I
17:11don't think you need a two to one I
17:12don't think you need a one: one but I do
17:14think if there's a lot of pressing and
17:17very minimal pulling at or no pulling at
17:19all I do think eventually it does start
17:21to constitute an issue although I think
17:23most of the arbitrary uh ratios thrown
17:26out there are just that very arbitrary
17:27so we do dumbbell bench press right you
17:30guys have heard me rattle on and on and
17:32on about this maybe if we had a really
17:33heavy chest press machine that we could
17:36load a big stretch on we could do that
17:38maybe if we had a McDonald bar which is
17:39a bench camber bar to get a big stretch
17:41we could do that but a lot of the time I
17:43just like getting strong on these paw
17:45dumbbell bench we could just work up to
17:47a top set with a rep Target of let's say
17:4915 to start if I get 15 I go up next
17:52week and then I do two downs sets
17:53because I know roughly how much work I
17:55need to do to generate a good hypert
17:57response and come back
17:59um better the next week maybe maybe
18:02you're Wicked Strong and you just do top
18:04sets on these three things and get out
18:05of there because you can really disrupt
18:07homeostasis with just one set of each of
18:09these things or maybe you're like okay
18:10well I can get away with one set on the
18:12dumbbell bench but I need multiple sets
18:14on the PEC Tech to really disrupt
18:15homeostasis that's something you can
18:17figure out for yourself I like for a lot
18:18of these things a top set down set with
18:20a rep Target so we try to work uh top
18:23set of 15 it's really just an AM wrap
18:25and if it's north of 15 we go up the
18:26next week and then we kind of pet her
18:28out we can't hit 15 anymore we're really
18:29struggling to add maybe that rep Target
18:31moves to 12 for a while and then 10 and
18:33then eight probably would stop at eight
18:35for a dumbbell bench for example and
18:36then maybe we do Straight sets for the
18:38pec deck right once you can achieve
18:40three straight sets of 15 with pause pec
18:42deck we can go up and wait I like
18:44straight sets I like a slightly higher
18:46rep Target on those I find when I've
18:47pushed those really really heavy in the
18:49past if I let my technique slip it was a
18:51easy way to kind of mess up my shoulder
18:53or my Peck a little bit uh so we do a
18:55little bit of injury risk management
18:57there um and we use kind of the RP
19:00philosophy they kind of apply it
19:01unilaterally to oh we should kind of
19:03stick to high rep Targets on everything
19:04for injury risk management I just find
19:06their certain things that maybe um are a
19:08little bit dicier if we let our
19:10positioning slip like a dumbbell peek
19:12fly I don't love chasing like a heavy
19:138rm on those I don't think that would do
19:15me too much good so I will Implement
19:17those kind of strategies of higher rep
19:19targets maybe straight sets um for those
19:21as a loow limiting option and then we
19:24might finish with some push-ups for some
19:25more volume that was something I did a
19:27lot early in my training career is just
19:28feeling up um like hey 5 minutes on the
19:30clock Max push-ups try to get more next
19:32time just filling in more volume I think
19:34early in training careers guys probably
19:36overthink these things into optimization
19:38a little bit too much doing push-ups
19:40probably will Pro help your bench press
19:42for quite a while maybe we do dips with
19:43a chest emphasis again same thing like
19:45maybe it's an eom maybe we're just
19:46trying to get in a lot of work however
19:48that is or maybe we touch up the triceps
19:51um I do like touching up the triceps at
19:52the end of the shoulder and the chest
19:54emphasis day what makes the tricep
19:56unique from those other primary Movers
19:59um I used to chase trying to be like
20:01super logic logically consistent sounds
20:02bad but I tried to you like create
20:04symmetry within my training and try to
20:06make it sound really pretty and square
20:08and nice and I definitely see some
20:09coaches out there that really present
20:11these rules that sound nice and I wish
20:13it worked that way in when I stop trying
20:15to chase things that sound pretty and
20:16square and if this then this it
20:18guaranteed works this way don't let your
20:20knee go past your toe period right like
20:22that kind of stuff when I stopped
20:24chasing that and really just focus on
20:25okay well I'm going to observe what
20:26works and then I'm going to work my way
20:28backwards from those observations and
20:29try to understand training better for
20:31why and what other things might work as
20:32well and then I can compare those things
20:34I noticed the triceps have a higher mrv
20:36on average than the shoulders and the
20:38chest um I also notied that generally
20:40when people finish up their pressing
20:42their shoulders are pretty shot their
20:43chest is pretty shot but a lot of the
20:45time their triceps could handle a little
20:46bit more volume I know Paris used to
20:48speculate that longer arm lifters uh
20:50their triceps would be shot because of
20:51the amount of extra work they're doing
20:53but they're but the shoulders and chest
20:54are also doing more extra work for long
20:57armed lifters I don't think that
20:58dichotomy I mean necessarily holds
20:59through and lo and behold as Paris
21:01increased the work capacity of his
21:02triceps he got past his achy elbows by
21:04using kind of this Continuum of tricep
21:06exercises that are more and more taxing
21:08on the elbows lo and behold once he
21:10trained a little bit more now he's able
21:12to do direct tricep isolation after all
21:13of his pressing after really gassing out
21:15the tri triceps sorry gassing out the
21:18shoulders and the pecs so people have
21:19been yelling at me it's like oh you no
21:20you just do triceps afterward because
21:22you're stocky well I didn't used to be
21:23stocky I used to be very skinny on
21:25average I do observe that equally
21:27trained people can in a little bit of
21:29extra tricep volume they just can take a
21:31beating and uh keep on ticking take a
21:33licking and keep on ticking uh second
21:35one would be the tricep day um some
21:37maybe neutral chins so we can make this
21:39like a pseudo arm day and we end with
21:41some curls if we wanted to may say okay
21:42well this isn't just the tricep emphasis
21:44day I want to hit my my arms a good bit
21:46so maybe we do an antagonistic movement
21:48that works yes the back but also a good
21:50bit of biceps so maybe we do a neutral
21:52chin here and then we're looking at our
21:54big bad main kind of tricep compound of
21:57the day again maybe top set and back
21:59offs usually I'll give either a pause uh
22:01dip where we pause at the top I think
22:03that pause at the top does have a
22:05trending effect trying to get really
22:06strong at those again maybe it's 15s
22:08twelves eights eights maybe down to six
22:11five maybe even a triple if you really
22:13wanted to on these you could peek it to
22:15a single it can be done safely it's just
22:16part of Street lifting you know you
22:18could I don't think necessarily peeking
22:20out to a single would help your bench
22:21press I think maybe stopping at like 3
22:23to five but again we could have this
22:25rotating rep Target with these Downs
22:26sets to fill in volume or if you're
22:28someone who dips does not agree with I
22:30recommend learning a folding press
22:32whether that's just like a close script
22:33Spoto press whether that's a JM press
22:35whether that's a swed press there's a
22:37whole Continuum of like down here is a
22:39press down here is a skull crusher
22:41there's a bunch of movements in between
22:43that you can learn to go really heavy on
22:45that can be your big heavy duty tricep
22:47movement for the day then maybe we do
22:48something where we put a really lengthen
22:50position on the long head so some kind
22:51of overhead extension with like a tricep
22:53rope or a single dumbbell or a double
22:55dumbbell like we could do a lot of
22:57different things here but something
22:58where we're placing like a big stretch
22:59on the tricep and then maybe we cook the
23:01triceps with some kind of tricep press
23:02down at the end or if need be we can
23:05move those tricep press Downs before the
23:07big heavy one to warm up the elbows this
23:09is something that if you do have kind of
23:10junky elbows warming up with like a
23:12tricep rope or a tricep band pressed
23:14down yes it'll pre fatigue you a little
23:15bit but the ability to put in pain-free
23:17volume is more than worth it so
23:19sometimes that downward least invasive
23:21on the elbow tricep motion can go
23:23earlier or we can throw it at the end to
23:25cook them up and then maybe we end with
23:27some curls you could probably curls at
23:29the end of any of these sessions that
23:30we've talked about third one right this
23:32is going to be the shoulder emphasis
23:33session maybe we go our primary
23:36variation on bench we do wide grip pull
23:39Downs I find wide grip pull Downs are a
23:40good way to work on kind of the
23:41appropriate receptive upper back control
23:42drawing the sternum up to meet the bar
23:44halfway like we're trying to do on the
23:46bench press then we have our big
23:47Vertical Press what is our big Vertical
23:49Press I don't [ __ ] care people ask me
23:51all the time we're not necessarily
23:53looking for direct carryover we're just
23:54trying to get a monster of 15 rep max 12
23:57rep max 10 rep max eight rep max six rep
23:59max on some kind of vertical press and
24:01then we're going to have big boulder
24:02shoulders and guys with big boulder
24:04shoulders that then go do their specific
24:06bench training with good technique send
24:07to see the most wildly successful
24:10training Cycles I've ever seen I don't
24:11necessarily need it to directly carry
24:13over I also find athletes that have no
24:15strength or no not even strength I don't
24:17care how strong you are even if you
24:18don't progress something in the vertical
24:20plane the shoulder the primary move of
24:23the shoulder is the deltoid and the lat
24:24those are like the biggest muscle groups
24:25that are acting on that shoulder girdle
24:27uh having one of those be pretty
24:29underdeveloped in one of its major
24:30functions does tend to lead to your
24:32shoulders being a little bit more touch
24:34and go with your bench training if you
24:35mess something up if you overdo it
24:36slightly your shoulders get banged up I
24:39find that being strong in a vertical
24:41pressing plane gives you a little bit of
24:43wiggle room that is very much worth that
24:45little bit of training economy once a
24:46week to just do some seated dumbbells
24:48some high incline Smith press some
24:51behind the neck Smith Press I don't like
24:53if you got a machine you love I just
24:54need a vertical press that you make a
24:56little bit of effort to progress with
24:57time so that way we don't just have the
24:59bare minimum shoulder strength to do our
25:00bench breast we have a small Surplus it
25:02gives us that wiggle room to we botch
25:04our bar path we can fight it back into
25:05place and that's actually something I
25:06observed with one of my lifters who
25:08built up his bench press to be really
25:10really big never did any vertical
25:11pressing was very weak in the vertical
25:13plane his bench press would be if he
25:15misg groved it at all it would come
25:16right back down on him and increasing
25:18his strength in the vertical plane of
25:19pressing gave him the ability to
25:21misgroove and fight it back into place
25:23and it gave him the ability to grind
25:25benches rather than being looking easy
25:27or just missing completely so maybe
25:29there's something there so we do big
25:30Vertical Press could be standing could
25:32be whatever you want right yeah
25:33hypothetically maybe a high incline is
25:35better than a standing if the goal is
25:37bench press because we don't want to be
25:38limited by our core or yada Yad y I
25:41don't mind I just want you making an
25:43effort to get stronger in some kind of
25:44Vertical Press right then maybe we do an
25:46antagonistic kind of rear shoulder
25:48motion maybe it's a rear dfly maybe it's
25:50a face pull then maybe we do some
25:52laterals really cook up the shoulders
25:53all around again you could use different
25:55kinds of laterals it doesn't need to be
25:57just three exercises for exercises you
25:59could kind of hit each of these
26:00categories of movement with multiple
26:01exercises that's super valid and then we
26:04end with triceps just cuz like I talked
26:05about I think they can handle that bit
26:06of volume and the bigger your triceps
26:08are usually the more successful your
26:10future bench training all right it is
26:12getting late I am tired I apologize if
26:16this is getting progressively less
26:17coherent it's not meant to be a big
26:18Flagship video for the channel just
26:20trying to help the uh couple of regular
26:22viewers who've been asking for this
26:23wanting some help with their bench
26:24training I hope this gives you something
26:27you can take away of like I said a lot
26:29of the time just a simple staying
26:30consistent and not spazzing and changing
26:32it whatever you pick as a Vertical Press
26:34stick with it for a while build your 15
26:36your 12 your 10 your eight your six and
26:39then repeat and then try to beat that
26:40last 15 and just kind of wave within
26:43like we can periodize with without ever
26:45really leaving those hypertrophy
26:47relevant rep ranges so we can do that
26:49now if we just have two days we're
26:51probably going to do a chest and tricep
26:53day and then a shoulder and tricep day
26:55again because the triceps can handle it
26:57so um all of these are sessions I've
26:59used Myself by the way these are
27:01breakdowns of sessions that I have made
27:02Regular use of at many points through my
27:04training career this sounds very much
27:06like a session I might do comp bench lat
27:08pull down and then we either do a
27:09dumbbell bench or like a McDonald bar if
27:11we have access just some kind of
27:12extended range press maybe if we've got
27:15a really nice machine that lets us kind
27:17of load past where we could go with a
27:18bar getting Wicked Strong at that would
27:20probably pay dividends yeah we wouldn't
27:22be getting the cool stability benefits
27:24we get from dumbbells so maybe it
27:25wouldn't like I talked about for me if I
27:27have I'm strong at these really deep
27:28dumbbells with a paw my negative feels
27:31so unbelievably stable on my bench um so
27:34maybe I wouldn't get those stability
27:35benefits but I would get the power off
27:36the chest that I'm looking for for those
27:38and then maybe we do a Smith JM press
27:40because it's easy to standardize
27:41compared to a regular JM press or maybe
27:43we do an SSB JM press or usually if this
27:45was my if this was me uh earlier in my
27:48training career I would do a dumbbell
27:50bench I would do dips with a pause at
27:52the top and then depending on what I
27:54needed to work on I would either do one
27:56tricep I would either do two tricep
27:58itions to really cook the triceps a
28:00little bit more or I would really double
28:03down if I needed more power off the
28:04chest and I would do uh maybe a PEC fly
28:07and just one tricep movement kind of
28:09depending what I need to work on but
28:10this is a session that I've run through
28:11a million times is okay well I bench I
28:13do lat pull Downs dumbbell bench dip
28:16tricep isolations or peack flies that is
28:18a session I have made use of and then
28:20try to overload within parameters that
28:22sound reasonable for each of these
28:23exercises like yeah maybe we're not
28:24taking the lat pull down down to a six
28:26repper most people that would look kind
28:28of shitty especially if we're looking
28:29for those kind of fine motor control
28:31drawing the chest upward not caving the
28:33chest downward to move the weight right
28:36um there's just considerations to be
28:37made there but I do just think just a
28:38simple top set down set or straight set
28:41with a rep Target can go a long ass way
28:43especially because we can rotate
28:45exercises Within These movement slots
28:47when it gets so sticky we would need a
28:49more advanced kind of periodization or
28:51more advanced progression scheme we can
28:53just rotate them these are just a means
28:54to an end to try to get more jacked to
28:57support more good bench training or just
28:58to look [ __ ] jacked so the other
29:00session would be the shoulders and
29:02tricep session pretty basic we do our
29:04main variation we do our chest support a
29:06row or some [ __ ] uh and then again we
29:08just pick a Vertical Press I put behind
29:10the next Smith here if behind the next
29:12Smith doesn't work for you awesome
29:13that's totally fine anything that works
29:15for you I would say um be warned don't
29:18do something where you're reversing at
29:19your forehead please you will get better
29:22shoulder Health returns better maybe
29:24carryover depending on your level um
29:27better hyper if we don't do these
29:29[ __ ] shitty like top half dumbbell
29:31partials where we stop at the top of our
29:34head rotate those dumbbells drop the
29:36weight back pull them in there and
29:37progress that and uh even if it's a
29:39little bit of a hit to Your Ego because
29:41you were throwing up the 80s to the top
29:42of your head get some range of motion on
29:45Your Vertical Press is pretty pleased um
29:48then maybe a rear delt fly maybe a
29:49lateral raise if shoulders are like a
29:51real weakness we just want to really
29:52build up that work capacity of all of
29:54the muscles kind of surrounding the
29:55shoulder girdle or maybe we just drop
29:57straight into the tri trip person
29:58workout we do dumbbell skulls and tricep
30:00rope so I'm exhausted let me know if you
30:02have any questions uh I gave it my best
30:05shot probably should have prepped more
30:06for this one but I I do hope this guy
30:08helps you guys with your bench training
30:11that's something that I pride myself on
30:12when I get these messages saying like
30:14hey practically your videos help me go
30:17from 185 to 225 or 275 to 315 it's cool
30:21because it's a wide range I've had
30:22people say that they got their first one
30:24plate bench with some of the advice I've
30:26offered and I've had two or three guys
30:28say they got their first 500 bench so
30:30I'm glad I can offer uh advice that is
30:33practically practically applicable to
30:35such a wide variety of people um and I
30:38hope to help you guys in your strength
30:39Endeavors uh further because I think
30:41it's [ __ ] cool if you made it this
30:43far please leave a like I appreciate you
30:45boys as always

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