Westside, Raw Benching, and My Routine, Everyone Please Comment

[solidj55]

Ok guys I have been trying to decide on what kind of routine I want to use since Im just starting back into powerlifting. Now I tried Westside before and liked what it did to my shirted max but it didnt help my raw benching at all. Not that its important come competition time but there are 365 days in a year and only about 4 of those am I in a competition. I love benching, its definetly my passion when it comes to lifting so I try to improve it as much as possible. Now I have noticed that for me personally the boards help my shirted max which is good but things like closegrip benching, inclines, and dumbell presses help my raw max. As for the speed work, well I thought it was over-rated but after
re-reading all of Simmons articles about it and researching it myself I do believe its a great thing if nothing else for your CNS strength. So this is what I was thinking of doing. Oh yea, and my weakness when I raw bench is a little bit below mid way so I know I need to bring up my lats and possibly shoulders but this is what I have in mind to do. This will be a long term cycle over several months and this is what I have planned please comment on it.

Monday-Dynamic Bench day

My Thursday rotation will be in this order over several weeks.

Week
1-closegrip bench(best triple)
2-1board press(best single)
3-closegrip inclines(best triple)
4-2board press(best single)
5-dumbell press(sets of 20)
6-3board press(best single)
7-closegrip bench(best triple)
8-4board press(best single)
9-closegrip incline(best triple)
10-4board press(best single)
11-dumbell press(sets of 20)
12-3board press(best single)
13-closegrip bench(best triple)
14-2board press(best single)
15-closegrip incline(best triple)
16-1board press(best single)
17-dumbell press(sets of 20)
18-Bench(best set of 5)

Any comments???? Please do.

 

[solidj55]

Just bumping this up before I leave the house for the night so the night time crew can maybe give me some criticism or something.

 

[ZZuluZ]

Why are you rotating every week??

-Zulu

 

[solidj55]

Because I feel that I get better results that way, when I tried it before I got better results the time I rotated every week than when I did it for two to three weeks.

 

[solidj55]

Im not saying that this is a for sure thing that I am going to do, just pondering some ideas.

 

[Arioch]

I was going to ask the same thing Zulu did, but you already answered it. I think the db press is a great idea to give your system both a shock and a rest, as well as help strengthen connective tissue.

I would agree on the shoulder issue. Sounds like a little bit of work there could help.

Could also be an issue wrt force generation. How is your bar speed, and does it remain constant?

 

[ZZuluZ]

Where do you fail on the bench? What is the weak link?

Will you be doing dynamic bench in a wave fashion?

If it works for you, then stick with it. Can't criticize something which is working

-Zulu

 

[CytoMel]

You may want to do some of the ME stuff with bands up, down etc more bands could work.

The DE should work very well, just make sure you train hard and you should be very fatigued after the end of your 8-10 sets. Sometimes I get to 8 sets and I know its not enough so I add in a few extra sets then.

Timed dumbell presses are very valuable. Do them for recovery. Your delts will be much better off doing these light dumbell presses at the end of ME and DE days.

 

[benchmonster]

Does not look bad at all, especially considering you are wanting to semi-concentrate on bringing up the raw bench. If you have access to chains and bands, though, I would strongly recommend using those, even if you were to go raw and never compete in a shirt, I think chains and bands can be very valuable tools.

And I don't quite understand why nobody wants you to change up every week. I do. I never do the same exercise 2 weeks in a row. I even change my accessory work every single workout. For tris if I do JM's tonight, then 72 hours later will be 5 board press, then barbell tricep extensions, then low pin band lockouts, then close grip reverse band press, then back to JM's and so forth.

Only thing I don't mix up every workout is my rotator work I do with a band. I do this 4 times per week or so, and it is always the same, but if I come across a shoulder horn, I will be changing the rotator work up too.

B.

 

[solidj55]

Benchmonster-thanks for answering my pm Ill try your advice.

Zulu-I fail between the bottom and middle part of my bench usually. Please explain how to do the dynamic bench in a wave fashion because Im not sure on that one.

Arioch-I lift "FAST" My bar speed is very fast even though Im not a fan of speed work. Most of the time my bar speed doesnt slow too much even with the heavy weights. Bar speed is probably one of the best things that I have going for. Of course there is always room for improvement.

I was thinking, since everyone seemed to dislike my idea of using all full range movements for a minicycle that I could do this:

week
1-closegrip bench(single, and triple)
2-1board(single) this is about an inch or two from where I fail
3-closegrip bench(single, and triple)
4-2board(single)this about where I fail
5-ultra wides(best for five)
6-1 board(single)
7-dumbell press(20)
8-2board(single)

All these exercise should work on the bottom end of my lift where I seem to fail most of the time when benching raw. Does this sound any better???