Building a Big Raw Bench

Sunday, 29 January 2012

 

 

Strengthening a raw bench is like building a house. You start with a solid foundation. As powerlifters, our body is our foundation, so we must develop a routine for the chest, shoulders, back and legs.

Build the chest

Developing the chest is the first step. A chest routine needs to promote growth and develop strength. It should contain basic barbell and dumbbell movements, use different hand positioning and vary the number of sets and repetitions. Recommended chest exercises include barbell/dumbbell inclines, close-grip bench, wide-grip bench and floor presses.

Remember that weights need to increase with each set. Keep the routine simple for main lifts by performing four to five sets with 12 to 15 reps in the first set working up to a heavy three to five reps in the final set. Try three or four sets for auxiliary lifts and stay between six and 12 reps. Don’t max out every workout. Instead, work toward increasing muscle growth and development.

Develop the shoulder

The second step is shoulder development. This is a must for lifters seeking constant gains. One bad shoulder equals time off from training, so develop strong shoulders to increase your bench.

Great benchers have a big chest and shoulders. Take it from Nick Winters and Vincent Dizenzo, two great raw benchers who used over head presses to increase their bench.

Stick with basic barbell and dumbbell movements; they work and guarantee results. The shoulder workout should be intense, with four or five sets of six to 12 reps using moderate to heavy weights. Recommended shoulder exercises include military presses, dumbbell bench, side laterals and face pulls.

Strengthen the upper back

I achieved my biggest gains after I started training my upper back. I was able to finish my lifts and maintain tightness on the bench, and if I neglected my upper back my progress stalled or declined. This is why I believe upper back strength is not just for shirted benchers, but for also for raw benchers. In a shirted bench, the upper back pulls the bar into the groove, but for a raw bench, the upper back is more for stability. Most lifters miss their lifts because they are unstable on the bench. Weakness in the upper back causes instability while pressing.

Upper back workouts need to be basic, but very intense. Begin with four or five sets of 10 to 12 reps using the heaviest weight possible. Recommended back exercises include lat pulldowns, bent over rows, seated cable rows and shrugs.

Develop leg muscles

Leg drive gives you the last pop at the end of the lift and great benchers agree that you must train your legs to strengthen leg drive. Ryan Kennelly, Travis Bell and Winters are all great benchers who know the importance of training their legs.

Whenever I see an increase in my squats, I notice an increase in my bench. The increase may only be 5 lbs. or one rep, but when my legs are stronger my bench is stronger. That is why I recommend all lifters to do some type of leg workout at least once a week. The leg work out should be basic: one compound movement of four or five sets performing five to 12 reps using moderate weight. Recommended leg exercises include squats, leg extensions and leg curls.

Build a strong house

If the foundation is weak, your bench will suffer. But if the foundation is solid, it can withstand great pressure. Use these principals to strengthen your foundation and increase your raw bench. Train hard! PM ~Reprinted with permission from Power magazine, March 2010.

About the Author

Louie Simmons

Westside Barbell Owner Louie Simmons started his Olympic training at age 12, after being exposed to powerlifting at a meet in Dayton, Ohio. After serving in the Army, Louie continued powerlifting and entered the 1971 Junior Nationals.

He placed third. This was his first meet.

A year later, Louie made Powerlifting News’ top ten list, and a year after that he made his first Elite total. This was back when strength athletes competed without gear. Speaking of Elites, Louie is one of only six athletes in the world to hit Elite in five weight classes and Louie has been totaling Elite for over 40 years.

Louie is also the only lifter over 50 years of age to total over 2100 pounds—with a squat of 920. In 2000, he placed 4th in the open division with a total of 2100.

In other words, Louie Simmons knows what he’s talking about. Team MusclePharm is honored to have Louie with us.

Besides his own training, Louie has given back to the strength community countless times over.

Louie created Westside Barbell so true lifters could have a gym that wasn’t a place to show off, talk about fashion, check yourself out in the mirror—or whatever it is that those wanna-bes do with themselves. Westside Barbell believes in the use of a one-of-a-kind powerlifting training program called the HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conjugate_method"conjugate method. The team created this method after studying the complex-parallel and conjugate sequence systems promoted by the coaches in what used to be the Soviet Union.

In the more than four decades Louie has been working in the sport, he attained expertise in percent training, the conjugate method, dynamic training, the maximum effort method, lifting techniques, increasing work capacity and the reactive and contrast methods.

Louie trained 25 World and National Champion powerlifters, 27 of his lifters have totaled more than 2000 pounds and Butch Reynolds, the World Record holder in the 400-meter dash, trained at Westside Barbell.

Louie also published over 100 articles, produced seven training videos, and invented the Reverse Hyper® machine which he patented in 1993. Plus, the Cleveland Browns, Green Bay Packers, New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks employ Louie as a strength consultant for their players.

MusclePharm is proud to work with one of powerlifting’s true “Greats”.