Big Bench, Big Muscles

How to Gain Upper Body Mass AND Build a Big Bench Press

     I received an email question a couple days ago that went something like this: “Hey, C.S.  I know you’ve probably written some articles about it already, but what is your advice right now for someone who wants to increase his bench press and build a lot of upper body muscle at the same time?  I’ve struggled to both increase my bench press weights and gain muscle, so I could use some advice.  Thanks a bunch!” (Emphasis added is mine.)

     Well, my questioner is correct.  I do have a number of articles that I’ve already written on building a big bench press and I have a lot of articles for anyone who is looking to gain a lot of upper body muscle, but I figured, you know, what the heck, there’s no reason that I can’t write another one.  Also, I would have to assume that there are still a lot of modern gym-goers who train for just those goals.  I mean, among young men who go to the gym, I bet the vast majority of them would like to increase their bench press and build a big upper body—a large chest and big arms in particular—so a good bench press program, that also includes the factors involved for hypertrophy, does just that.  Here’s my answer to the question…

     Most modern gym-goers who want a big bench press don’t train correctly.  Off the top of my head, I’d say that the major mistakes are: 1. They don’t do enough volume in the 90%+ range on their bench press. 2. They train with too many high-repetition sets on the bench press, which doesn’t “train” the muscles for max strength and inhibits speed. 3. They don’t know how to manage fatigue, so they do too much volume in their workouts while working up to a heavy bench press. 4. They really don’t understand the role of the nervous system in making their bench presses strong—or any lifts, for that matter.  To put this another way, most modern gym-goers do way too much training using the “repetition method” while completely neglecting the “maximal effort,” “sub-maximal effort,” and/or “dynamic effort” training.

     In addition to not understanding how to get strong on the bench press, the modern gym-goer also doesn’t understand hypertrophy training.  They do too much “bro split” kind of training, and don’t take advantage of workouts that use multiple sets of a single lift or ones that involve training a lot of muscles at one workout and instead focus too much on training a single muscle group (maybe a couple) at each workout.

     In short, the modern lifter at the modern gym doesn’t understand how to get strong or big, so no wonder they struggle to attain a strong bench press or build an impressive upper body.  Follow the training program here, however, and a weak bench and a small upper body will be a thing of the past.

     Personally, I always struggled to increase my bench press strength.  As a competitive powerlifter, I was eventually able to squat and deadlift around 3 and a ½ times by bodyweight in competition.  My bench press was another matter entirely.  It’s not that I wasn’t strong, but I was always lean with long arms—apelike would be a good description.  That made it much easier for me to build a strong deadlift but the bench press, well, not so much.  However, I finally managed to bench press double my bodyweight in competition—not world class by any means, but impressive considering my genetic limitations.  I often tell lifters that, if they are really trying to get stronger on a certain lift, they should listen to the lifters that struggled to get strong on that lift.  Because I wasn’t a naturally gifted bench presser, nor genetically “built” for it, I had to learn everything that I could about the bench press, and try out a lot of different workout routines, in order to just acquire a halfway good bench press.  A lot of your bench press specialists, or record holders in the lift, are purely and simply genetically predisposed to be good bench pressers.  They could build a big bench press no matter what.  (Same thing for deadlift-only competitors, I might add.)  It’s also the same thing for lifters that are the biggest dudes in the gym.  They are the biggest guys walking around your local gym because they gain muscle with relative ease.  However, they are not the guys you want to ask advice from, as they have never been hardgainers or struggled to gain muscle mass.  Instead, ask advice from guys who are big (and strong) but who didn’t start out that way, and who had to learn all they could about training in order to (finally) build muscle mass.

     The program here will use a few different methods.  You will train with the dynamic effort method, the repetition method, and the sub-maximal effort method.  Since the goal is to both build a stronger bench press and to gain upper body mass, it will be a little different from other “bench only” workouts, such as the methods used by Westside Barbell for building a big bench, though it (quite obviously, as you will see) does have some similarities to Westside.  You will train with 2 workouts per week.  The first will utilize dynamic effort training and the repetition method.  The second will use the sub-maximal effort method along with the repetition method again, albeit heavier than in the 1st session.  I will explain the details as I lay out the program.

Workout 1 - Speed + Size

Bench presses: 5-8 sets of 3 reps with 70% of 1-rep maximum.  To start your 1st workout of the week, begin by doing a few warm-up sets of 3-5 reps using ramps to work up to a weight that is approximately 70% of your 1-rep maximum on the bench press.  So, if your 1-rep max on the bench press is 250 pounds, you would use 175 on your work sets here.  Do each set with perfect form but with speed, completing each repetition as fast as possible.  To minimize speed (and form) degradation, you limit your reps to 3 on each set.  You might notice that I am suggesting a weight slightly heavier than what Westside recommends—they utilize between 50 and 60%.  I prefer 70% for the casual lifter who trains raw (and competes raw, if they compete) and also wants to gain muscle mass.  It’s still light enough that you will be fast on each rep and the load is heavy enough that it can produce hypertrophy.  If you’re new to this method of training, limit your work sets to 5 total.  More advanced lifters can do as many as 8 sets, though some advanced but “low-volume lifters” still might want to limit their sets to 5.  Bottom line: start with 5 sets.  As you progress in the workouts, add sets if you feel as if you are recovering well between sessions and your strength continues to go up.

Weighted chins: 3 rest-pause sets of 10 reps each.  Since the goal of this program is not just a big bench but a big upper body, you need to do some heavy back work that also includes some volume.  For each one of these rest-pause sets, after warmups, use a weight where you can get around 7 reps for one all-out set.  Do a set of 3 reps, rest very briefly (20 to 30 seconds) and do another set of 3 reps.  Rest again and do a double.  Rest once more and finish with another double for a total of 10 reps.  Repeat for 2 more sets for a total of 3 rest-pause sets of 10 reps.  Rest 3 to 5 minutes between each “set.”  You also need strong lats for a big bench press, so don’t discount the ability of heavy chins for building your bench!

Barbell or dumbbell front raises: 3 sets of 10-12 reps.  Use a weight on each set where you have a rep or two “in the tank” at the end of your set.  For a big bench, strong front delts are a necessity.

Superset:

   Triceps pushdowns: 8x8

   Cable curls: 8x8.  Use a weight for all 8 sets where, if you were just doing 1 set to complete muscular failure, you could get between 15 and 20 reps.  Rest, on average, 30 to 45 seconds between each superset.

Workout 2 - Strength + Size

Bench presses: 8 singles with 90% of your 1-rep maximum.  After warm-ups—warmup the same as Workout 1—load the bar with 90% of your max single.  Now, do 8 singles with that weight.  Rest 3 to 5 minutes between each set.  You want to stay fresh throughout the workout.  This will become more important as the training cycle progresses.  So, if you have a 1-rep max of 250 pounds, you would use 225 here for your first session.  At your 2nd workout, add 10 pounds.  Attempt 8 singles again.  If you get 8 singles, then add another 10 pounds at the next workout.  Once you reach the point that you don’t get 8 singles, stick with that weight at each workout until you do get all 8 singles, and then add weight at the next workout.

One-arm dumbbell rows: 5x3-5 (each arm). For your 2nd lift of the day, you will do a rowing movement for your lats since you did chins at the 1st workout.  Use a weight where you know you can get 5 reps for at least a couple of sets.  Now, attempt 5 sets of 5 reps with that weight.  You may only get 3 to 4 reps on your last couple of sets.  If you manage 5x5, add weight at the next session and repeat.  Use this method on each of the lifts that follow.

Military presses: 5x3-5

Barbell curls: 5x3-5

Skull crushers or close-grip weighted dips: 5x3-5.  If your elbows can handle it, stick with the skull crushers.  For some lifters, heavy skull crushers cause too much elbow pain.  If that’s you, go with the dips instead.

Tips and Pointers

• Stick with this program for 8 to 12 weeks.  After that, if you find that it’s working well for you, stick with it for however many 8-12 week training cycles you want, but switch over to some same but different movements and/or set/rep schemes.  For more on just what that might entail, click on the link, but for same but different bench press lifts, select either bottom-position bench presses or various height board presses and pin presses in the rack.  An advanced lifter can even add an optional 8 singles on an additional movement.  So, in Workout 2, after doing 8 singles of regular bench presses, you might add weight and do 2-board or 3-board presses for another 5 to 8 singles.  Do NOT do this unless you have the work capacity to handle it and, thus, the ability to recover from the additional work

• Do the workouts in the order that they are listed.  Take 2 days off after Workout 1 and 3 days off after Workout 2.  So you might do Workout 1 on Monday and Workout 2 on Thursday, for instance.  Don’t swap the order.  You will need more rest after the heavy session than the dynamic effort workout.

• If you want more than just a big bench press—in other words, if you’re seeking size—make sure that you are eating enough growth-producing food and getting enough protein every day of the week.  When staying lean, or just trying to get strong, you can skip a meal here or there, or have days where you don’t get quite enough protein.  The lifter who is looking to get BIG, however, cannot afford to do this.  Day in and day out, you need a surplus of both calories and protein.

• In addition to proper nutrition, if you want to gain as much muscle as possible, you must also train your legs and the entirety of your back—not just your lats—as seriously as you train your upper body.  A good idea would be to train another 2 days per week using a similar workout for your squats and deadlifts.  Do a speed day for your squats and another sub-maximal workout each week for squats and/or heavy pulls and you’ll be on the right track.

• In order to acquire the biggest bench press possible, you must work on perfecting your form.  Here are a few tips to help: 1. Keep your butt and upper back/traps pressed into the bench at all times. 2. The bar should descend and ascend in a straight line—the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.  Some big benchers have used a slight arch to their bench press, where it moves back toward their head on the ascent, but most lifters will do better by pressing in a straight line.  This is how Westside benches, for instance, and they had/have some of the strongest bench pressers in the world. 3. As you lower the bar, try to pull it down with your lats toward your chest, but stay “tight” during the process. 4. Keep your elbows tucked in toward your side, not flared out as a bodybuilder would bench if he was attempting to isolate his chest muscles. 5. Pause on your chest for a second before pressing back to lockout—explode on the ascent (or, at least, attempt to do so) no matter how heavy the weight.  Compensatory acceleration is the key.  I would probably need to write an entire article alone just on proper form—which I might do if there’s enough interest in it.   In the meantime, if you have any more questions about form “issues” you struggle with, leave your questions in the “comments” section below and I will do my best to answer them.  Form is more important than most casual bench pressers realize.  When I worked one-on-one with individual powerlifters, I could usually add 20 to 30 pounds to their bench in the very first workout by just looking at their form and having them make adjustments to how they benched—proper form is just that important.

• Another important component of constantly increasing your bench press is knowing your weak points.  You will only be as strong as your weakest link.  If your chest, lats, and front delts are capable of bench pressing 315 pounds but your triceps only 275, then you will not bench any more than 275.  Monitor your weak points constantly—especially where your lift gets “stuck” at—and work on improving those muscles to help you get past that sticking point.

• It might not be a particular muscle that is holding back your bench press but a strength aspect.  Some lifters are strong but lack speed.  Other lifters are explosive but don’t do enough maximal effort lifting.  A program such as this one, however, will address those aspects over an 8 to 12 week training cycle.

     If you’re looking for a bigger bench and more upper body size, give this training program a try.  It’s probably not a good program for outright beginners, but if you already have at least some upper body size, and can handle the workload, it should work well for you.  Stuck in a bench press rut?  Need some mass to fill out that t-shirt?  You have your answer.

     Want more strength-building, mass-gaining programs?  Then consider purchasing one of My Books.  Click on the link for information on all of my books that are currently available for purchase.

     As always, if you have comments or questions, leave them in the “comments” section below.  If you prefer privacy, you can also send me an email.  I typically get around to answering my emails every couple days or so.