well . . .
Hey BigMatt,
First I would question why you are doing bench presses? A very very dangerous movement,
if done on a bench. But if you persist in doing to do them it is much better and safer doing
them on the floor. And there are much better, safer exercises for developing the chest,
assuming that is your goal But that is not addressing your question, I am straying off topic.
Sorry.
If I really wanted to increase my bench press I would do strictly negatives. But that would
require the use of two ‘helpers’ to lift the weight for you so all you had to do was lower
it. 1 – 3 sets of negatives only, 1 – 2 times a week would be sufficient to see significant
progress. Please be mindful that it is easier to overtrain with negatives.
An example . . .
In 1973, a weightlifting team was formed at DeLand High School, Florida. The team trained
with only slow (mostly eccentric-only) weight training. Starting in 1973, and with no previous
experience in weightlifting, the team established what is probably a world sporting record:
the team was undefeated and untied for seven years, winning over 100 consecutive weight-
lifting competitions.
Ellington Darden said . . . “I remember in 1973 we went over to DeLand High School and
took a bunch of photos of the state championship team. One guy really stood out. He was
about 6'1" and weighed 225 pounds. And at 18 years of age he had cleaned and jerked 330
pounds and bench pressed 410 pounds. Several years later, the high school had a kid who
weighed 188 pounds, and this is no joke, he bench pressed 500 pounds at the state meet . . .
and he was only a 17 years old. I talked with him several times and he did a lot of negative
bench presses, negative dips, and negative pullovers.”
I would give negatives a try and report back to us with your progress. I think you will be
surprised at how well negatives work.