posted on April 26, 2019
These past two weeks have been a treasure when it comes to my bench. Bench, as of right now, is the only lift that I can actually push. So I am diving in head first. If you have read my past training logs, you’ll see that I have tried something very different.
My bench program used to be set up with Tuesday being some sort of rep work or touching heavy weight and my Friday consisted of speed work. While this worked for a while, I have recently felt that I had become stagnant. It was time to mix things up and try something new.
My bench program still has a rep work day on Tuesday but it consists of much more volume and my Fridays are specifically for my weak points. Having a day dedicated only to weak points has brought my bench up faster than I expected. When I last saw my physical therapist we discovered how weak my middle traps are. He recommended more rowing to help build this area. This area creates stabilization during the bench.
This switch has produced two personal records for me.
One day resulting with 260 3 sets x5 reps
And last week giving me 285 2×3
In the next month I will trying to hit some higher weights to really see what the switch has produced.
I would recommend everyone add some sort of rowing every week. Most people need to develop their lower/mid traps. This being said, on your bench day or upper day try some barbell rowing, TRX rowing, cable rowing, or my personal favorite, inverted rows.
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