A few months ago, I posted quite disappointingly that my bench press was at 200lbs. I am proud to say that yesterday I managed 1X 245 and felt I could actually complete another rep... okay maybe another half a rep. Before that, I've never hit 245 in my entire life so I could not have been more satisfied.
The bench press has always been my worse exercise if anyone noticed my earlier numbers. 2 months ago, I followed Chad's TSP program for a bigger bench, a program I am still on now. I'm guilty as charged for not following the program to a T but the ideas I got from the book was priceless. Instead of the 3 grip width test, I only did one which is my standard form.
I wanted to ditch the dips for fear that they may impinge my shoulders but the book's recommendation for a 1/4 range dip did not seem to cause any pain or harm. During the time, I did supramaximal holds, partials, strengthened my lats, external rotators and more importantly my shoulders and triceps with accessory exercises found in the book. I also went one up and did bench presses with chains. Because squats and deadlifts were not the focus of this current routine, I only did them once every 3 weeks and did not go beyond 90% of my
PR of 330 and 500 respectively. At the same time, I also got a theracane and did trigger-point work. Foam rolling was as per normal, there was no significant change in my diet or supplementation although I loaded on creatine one week before I tested my max bench. I went from sprinting twice a week to once every 2 weeks albeit for a longer duration per session.
I will post my progress again if there is still more to come.
