Muscle Media

How to Increase Your Bench Press by 50 pounds

Intro

A Few Pointers About the Bench Press in General

The Split

An Overview of the Workout

The Chest Workout Nuts and Bolts

Step 1
Determining Your One-Rep Max

Step 2
Plugging Your 1RM into the Progression Table

Step 3
Recording Your Numbers on the Workout Sheet

Table 1
The Workout

Step 4
The Failure Test

A Few More Words on the Nuts and Bolts

Charts and Tables

Step 2
Plugging your 1RM into the Progression Table
Take a look at the Progression Table at the end of this article. Once I point out a few things, you’ll see that it’s really very easy. For the time being, pay attention only to the column on the far left marked "1RM." Find the number in that far left column that corresponds to the 1RM you’ve already determined by completing Step 1. Let’s assume your 1RM was 280 lbs. Find the number 280 in that 1RM column, and look at the first three numbers to the immediate right of your 1RM. In this case, the numbers are 220, 235, and 245. These are the workout poundages you’ll use for your first bench-press workout, and if you look at the top of that same column, you’ll see that those three poundages are grouped in column number 1. That 1 corresponds to your first workout. Right underneath that column head are the letters A, B, and C. (We’ll get into these later--suffice it to say, they’re just there to make it easier to find the appropriate columns.) See ‘em? Now look under that A, B, and C; you’ll see the numbers 6, 5, and 4. These numbers correspond to the number of reps you’ll be doing in Bench-Press Workout #1.

To summarize, your 1RM of 280 lbs indicates that in Bench-Press Workout #1, you’ll be using 220 lbs, 235 lbs, and 245 lbs in your work sets.