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THE ULTIMATE BENCH PRESS WORKOUT (for Strength + Mass) — Transcript

by Pana · 2,832 words · 396 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00If you're a beginner or intermediate
0:02lifter looking for a training that will
0:05blow up your bench press, then this
0:06video is for you. When I started
0:08training, my chest size and bench press
0:11weren't very good. I didn't know how to
0:13train, how heavy I should go, how many
0:15reps, how many sets I should do, or even
0:18if bench press was enough to really
0:20become stronger. At first, I could
0:22barely bench 120 kilos. And my chest
0:26wasn't really growing. But after
0:28learning about proper bench press
0:30[music] programming and technique, I was
0:31able to bench press 190 kilos at a body
0:34weight of 73 kilos.
0:47>> [screaming]
0:48>> FIRE.
0:51>> On top of that, my chest literally blew
0:53up in the process. And in today's video,
0:56I'll be sharing with you guys one very
0:58effective workout that I wish I knew
1:01about when I started my bench press
1:03journey. A good bench press workout has
1:06to have three key elements in order to
1:09allow for maximum results. First
1:11element, fairly obvious, but we're going
1:14to need to bench press. And on top of
1:16that, we want to start the workout with
1:18this exercise. Having the bench as the
1:21first exercise makes sure you have
1:23enough energy and focus to have the best
1:27execution possible and maximize the
1:30results. Second key element, technical
1:32work. We want to peak some key exercises
1:35that will develop our technique and
1:37reinforce our pressing pattern. Third
1:39and last key element is going to be some
1:42upper body accessory training. It's very
1:46important as more muscle mass will allow
1:49for a bigger strength potential. [music]
1:52So now that we have the plan in mind,
1:54let's see in details how you can make
1:57this workout.
2:01First, the bench press intensity, reps,
2:04sets, rest period. The bench press is
2:06actually an exercise where you can go
2:08pretty heavy. If you want to develop
2:10your true one strength, you need to
2:13train your CNS, your motor unit
2:15recruitment, your movement pattern. And
2:17for that to happen, you need to lift
2:19heavy weights for a small number of
2:22reps. The good news is that it's
2:24actually fairly easy to recover from the
2:26bench press. So that's why when we're
2:28training the bench press, we can
2:30actually go heavy. For this training,
2:32we're going to use two different
2:34modalities. First will be practice
2:36singles and then will be heavy volume.
2:38Training the singles. So doing sets of
2:41one rep is in my opinion really
2:44underrated. It's the most specific
2:46training you can do in order to build up
2:49your bench press one rep max strength.
2:51When I'm focusing on the bench press for
2:53my powerlifting competitions, I
2:55sometimes have multiple practice singles
2:59every week. So, in my opinion, it's
3:01really that important, but it's just not
3:04enough. And so, that's why we're going
3:05to need the volume sets a bit later on.
3:09But first, let's focus on the practice
3:11singles. You should do them starting
3:14around 88% of your 1M. If you're below
3:17that, it's maybe not enough in order to
3:20really train your CNS. And if you're
3:22below 88% at the beginning of your
3:25training block, then you won't really be
3:27able to grow into your strength cycle.
3:30So that's why in my opinion, 88% for one
3:32rep is really a sweet spot to start your
3:35training cycle. From there, obviously
3:37progressive overload is really a key
3:40principle for strength training. And
3:42that's why you want to increase the
3:43weights on a weekly basis. In my
3:46opinion, having a weekly increase of two
3:48up to maybe 3% is perfect because by
3:51doing so when you start at 88%, you
3:53really can ease your way up to some
3:56really nice percentages at the end of
3:58your strength cycle at around week four
4:01or week five. So, for example, you're
4:03going to do your week one with 88%,
4:05maybe on week two, you can move up to
4:0691%, week three, you can add two more%,
4:09so 93% and so on and so forth. The goal
4:12is to have some room in the tank in the
4:15early stage of the training cycle. And
4:17the more you're progressing into it, the
4:19higher and higher the percentages
4:21become. Here's a chart you can follow
4:23for reference. Now that we've done the
4:26practice single, it's time to hit the
4:28volume work. I said it earlier, but
4:30really doing reps, doing volume is
4:33mandatory to grow, not only for
4:35strength, but also for muscle
4:36hypertrophy. But because we're training
4:38for strength and we're doing a compound
4:40lift, that is the bench press where
4:42technique is really important, you don't
4:44want to do sets of eight up to 12 reps.
4:47In my opinion, when you're doing sets
4:49like that on a compound lift, when
4:51you're up to rep eight and above,
4:53technique usually is trash. And you
4:55don't want to have some trash technique
4:57on your bench press. On a machine, you
5:00don't have this problem because you
5:01simply have to push. For example, on a
5:03chess machine, you just have to focus on
5:04how much you can push. But on the bench
5:06press, you have to focus on your upper
5:08body positioning, your bar path, your
5:10leg drive, and so on and so forth. So
5:12that's why, in my opinion, when you want
5:14to train for strength, whether it's to
5:16really train your CNS or to train in
5:19order to accumulate some good reps in
5:22some good technical pattern, you want to
5:24do sets of three up to five reps.
5:32So, we want to do sets of three up to
5:35five reps. The ideal intensity range is
5:38between 75 and up to 86% of your 1M.
5:43Obviously, depending on how many reps
5:45you're doing, whether you're doing sets
5:47of three or five, how early or how late
5:50you are into your strength cycle, the
5:52intensity can vary quite substantially.
5:55But overall, keep in mind, you want to
5:57have some challenging volume sets. So,
6:00ideally, at the end of all of those
6:02sets, you want to be approximately two
6:05up to three reps shy of failure. So,
6:08that's why for the intensity, you want
6:09to choose a weight that will allow you
6:12to hit [music] this requirement. If you
6:14want some guidance on the percentages,
6:17here is a chart that you can also
6:18follow. As for the number of sets, we're
6:21going to do two up to three sets. The
6:23reason is pretty simple. We already did
6:26the practice single first and then later
6:28on we have some technical work to do on
6:31the bench press. So if we're doing more
6:33than three sets right now, it's going to
6:35be too much in order to be able to
6:36properly recover from. So trust me, two
6:39up to three good sets will be more than
6:42enough for you to grow, not only for
6:43strength, but also muscle mass. For the
6:46rest periods of the heavy sets of bench,
6:49you really want to leave between five
6:51and up to eight reps of rest. Maybe
6:54that's a bit too much for some of you
6:55guys, but you really need to understand
6:57something. If you're able to push
6:59yourself a bit more in training, you'll
7:02have more results. And sometimes if
7:05you're really focusing on maybe like 2
7:07minutes of rest, you're not really able
7:09to have the best sets possible. I'll
7:12just give you a quick example. Let's say
7:14I'm able to do a 3x5, so three sets of
7:17five reps with 160 kilos. If I have
7:21eight minutes of [music] rest between
7:23each set. Now, if I'm forcing myself to
7:25have only 3 minutes instead of doing a
7:273x5 with 160, maybe I can only do it
7:31with 145 or 150. So, yeah, I'm able to
7:34complete my workout faster, but at the
7:36same time, I'm not maximizing really how
7:39much I can load my sets for my bench
7:42press. If you haven't tried it already,
7:44give this a go. At least five minutes of
7:46rest. And in my opinion, the sweet spot
7:48is around six to seven minutes. If you
7:51want to double up on that and follow one
7:53of my powerlifting programs, I have one
7:55bench press program available on my
7:57training app. It's a bench press program
7:59that I followed in order to break the
8:01French national record. I hit 178 kilos
8:05at 65 kilos body weight. So, it's really
8:07a solid program. There's no engagement.
8:10You can cancel your subscription at any
8:12time. I also have full-on prolifing
8:14programs, so for squats and deadlifts.
8:16So, if you want to support me and train
8:18under my guidance, I'll meet you at the
8:20panache.app. And now we're back to the
8:23video.
8:27Part two of the program, the technique
8:30work. Although you should work your
8:32technique on the bench press itself,
8:34sometimes having some useful key
8:37exercises can be really impactful for
8:40bench press technique. Throughout my
8:42career and in my experience, there are
8:44two exercises that I used on myself and
8:46on the athletes that I coach in order to
8:48really build up their bench press
8:50technique. The first one is the twocount
8:52buzz bench press and the second one is
8:55the Larsen [music] press. You should
8:57choose one of those two exercises. So,
8:59don't do them both. Just pick one, stick
9:01with it for four, maybe 5 weeks, and
9:04then cycle it up with the other exercise
9:06on your next training cycle. For the two
9:09count pause bench press, it's pretty
9:11straightforward. You lower the bar as
9:13soon as it touches your chest. You have
9:15to do a two up to 3 seconds pause. The
9:18goal is to reinforce the lower portion
9:21of the lift and force you to be more
9:24technical and really be tighter in this
9:27position. really helpful in order to
9:29bench press heavy weights. If you're a
9:31beginner or if you're prepping for a
9:33politic competition, I recommend you
9:34choose this [music] exercise. Now, for
9:36the second exercise, the Larsson press,
9:39it's essentially a bench press without
9:41the use of the legs. The goal is to
9:43focus on pure upper body work and force
9:47a nice chest high position, which is
9:50really essential to have a good bench
9:52press. If you're an intermediate lifter
9:55really looking to hammer in more bench
9:57press volume and to really building the
10:00habit of benching and keeping your chest
10:02really high, I recommend you choose the
10:05Larsson press. Like I said, either way
10:07you can choose the Larsson or the Tucan
10:10Post bench. Both work very well and you
10:12should cycle them. So sometimes you do
10:14the Larsson for four weeks and then you
10:16switch up to the tukon pose and vice
10:18versa. You shouldn't try to load a lot
10:21of weight. Like I said, they're really
10:23technical movements. So that's why we're
10:25going to do two sets with fairly light
10:28loads. And when I say light loads, I
10:30mean between 60 and maximum up to 70% of
10:34your bench press one. And for the number
10:37of reps, you want to do sets between
10:38five and six reps. Because now the sets
10:42are really, really light. You can have
10:44shorter rest periods than what you had
10:46with the heavier sets. Like I said, with
10:48the heavier sets, more around five up to
10:518 minutes. Now, for the lighter sets, 3
10:53minutes will be enough because, like I
10:55said, it's just 60 to 70% of your 1M.
10:58So, having shorter rest periods right
11:00now is not an issue. [music] And with
11:02all of that, so practice single heavy
11:04volume sets and then technical work, the
11:06bench press is done for the workout.
11:09Now, it's time to do the accessory work.
11:16I think you already saw it, but we did
11:18quite some sets of bench press. So, in
11:21my opinion, doing more chest work during
11:24this same workout would be an overkill.
11:27It will definitely be counterproductive.
11:29Doing more isn't necessarily better. And
11:32that's why, in my opinion, if you want
11:34to have more chest work, I recommend you
11:36do it on a different training session.
11:38So, let's say you're doing this bench
11:39press workout on a Monday. Maybe on a
11:41Wednesday or on a Thursday, you can hit
11:44your chest again, but without going
11:46through all of the same sets of bench
11:48press. With that being said, though, we
11:51have two muscle groups that we can
11:53actually follow because although they're
11:55targeted by the bench press, they're not
11:57targeted as much as the chest. And those
12:00two muscle groups are the side delts and
12:03the triceps. The front and the back delt
12:06actually work fairly well on the bench
12:08press. That's why without even doing
12:10some specific work on those areas,
12:13they're fairly welldeveloped on my body.
12:15But as you can see, the side delts
12:17aren't really as much developed on my
12:20body. And that's because they're not
12:22really well worked by the bench press on
12:24its own. That's why in my current power
12:27building program, when I'm really trying
12:29to have the best physique possible and
12:31bulk and gain muscle mass, I actually
12:33have some specific work dedicated to
12:36growing my side delts. By the way, my
12:39power building approach, tips, strategy,
12:41and program will soon be released here
12:44on YouTube. So, if you don't want to
12:45miss out on that video, then make sure
12:47to subscribe to the channel. So, for the
12:50side delts, we're really going to do
12:52some regular lateral raises. It's one of
12:55the best way to target this muscle
12:57group. In terms of rep and intensity, I
12:59usually recommend to follow a regular
13:01bodybuilding rep pattern. So, eight up
13:03to 12 reps for two up to four sets.
13:06We're leaving two reps in reserve on the
13:08first set. And we're really pushing to
13:10failure the last sets. Boys, we're
13:13setting it on the accessories. Now, for
13:15the triceps, because during the bench
13:18press, we're doing an elbow extension
13:20with our arms by our side. We're already
13:22focusing quite some work on the lateral
13:25and medial heads, but not really on the
13:28long head. So, in order to grow this
13:30muscle to the max, we want to pick an
13:32exercise that will really focus the long
13:35head. For that, the best option is to do
13:37some overhead triceps extensions. That's
13:40pretty cool because this will give more
13:42size and more fullness to the triceps.
13:45In terms of reps and sets, pretty much
13:47the same as for the side delts. We're
13:50going to do eight up to 12 reps for two
13:53up to four sets. Like I said, leaving
13:55some reps in reserve on the first set
13:57and really sending it on the last sets.
14:00And with that, you have the perfect
14:03bench press workout, not only for
14:05strength, but also for muscle mass.
14:09Trust me, that's more than enough work
14:12on just one session. I used to make the
14:14mistake of thinking that doing more
14:17exercises, having more volume, more
14:19this, more that was the solution. But in
14:22reality, it's not. When you're learning
14:24how to properly push on some given sets,
14:27some given exercises, you don't need to
14:29have like 2 hours long workouts where
14:32you're going to do six different chest
14:34exercises. By doing this workout, you're
14:36really having enough work as long as you
14:38push it like I told you fairly heavy on
14:40the bench press, practicing all volume
14:43work, then taking it a bit lighter on
14:45the technique exercise, and then
14:47finishing it off with some really good
14:50accessories like side delts, triceps.
14:52Trust me, you'll have the physique you
14:54want and your strength will really blow
14:57up. So, give this workout a try and let
14:59me know how it goes in the comments. I'm
15:01really looking forward to reading the
15:03comments where, "Oh, Bana, I did this
15:05workout for four weeks and now I grew
15:07like crazy and I gained 20 kilos on my
15:10bench press and now I can outbench you."
15:13Well, I hope you don't outb me, but if
15:16that's the case, then hats to you, my
15:18boy. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed. As
15:21always, if that's the case, one of the
15:23best way to let me know is to subscribe,
15:25to leave a comment. And guys, I'm really
15:28like training like crazy lately. You
15:31know, it's the winter arc. It's the
15:32winter arc, and I want to finish off the
15:35winter arc with a 200 kilo bench press.
15:39I'll probably be attempting that end of
15:42December hopefully. And if I'm able to
15:45succeed, then don't worry guys, I'll
15:47make another bench press video to give
15:49you more tips on how to grow. Anyways,
15:54back to the grind.
16:00I think I think my Blackbeard love is on
16:03point.
16:12Oh, and I got drug tested this morning.
16:14I don't know if you can see that's the
16:15needle mark in the shoulder and I had to
16:18bench press afterwards. That was
16:20horrible. Anyway, see you guys.

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