Ryan "BenchMonster" Kennelly Build up your bench 1RM easy.

[DSilent1]

Here is the program Ryan Kennelly ( In 2002 Ryan bench pressed an amazing 800lbs ) created for lifter's with a bench 1RM of 225 and who want to break 315 in one year. (Note: This program calls for you to only workout on bench once per week)

You Start with 45% of 225 for 8 sets of 3 reps. You add 5% every week. Once you hit 75% of original max you drop to 4 sets of 3 reps. Once you get to 85% original max you drop to 2 sets of 3 reps. When you reach 225 (your original max) you'll be able to do one set of 3 reps for sure and your new 1RM will be around 250. With this program assistance work will be rack lockouts, skullcrushers, and close-grip incline presses.

Ok on with the program:

Week 1:
Bench Presses
Bar x 20 reps x 1 set
85lbs x 12 x 1
100 x 3 x 8

Week 2:
Bench presses
bar x 20 x 1
85 x 12 x 1
115 x 3 x 8

week 3:
bench presses
bar x 20 x 1
85 x 12 x 1
125 x 3 x 8

week 4:
bench presses
bar x 20 x 1
85 x 12 x 1
135 x 3 x 8

(this is still light, so it's a great time to focus on your bench form while pressing forcefully)

week 5:
bench presses
bar x 20 x 1
85 x 12 x 1
115 x 6 x 1
145 x 3 x 8

week 6:
bench presses
bar x 20 x 1
85 x 12 x 1
135 x 6 x 1
160 x 3 x 8

week 7:
bench presses
bar x 20 x 1
85 x 12 x 1
135 x 6 x 1
170 x 3 x 4

week 8:
bench presses
bar x 20 x 1
85 x 12 x 1
135 x 6 x 1
155 x 3 x 1
180 x 3 x 4

week 9:
bench presses
bar x 20 x 1
85 x 12 x 1
135 x 6 x 1
155 x 3 x 1
190 x 3 x 2

week 10:
bench presses
bar x 20 x 1
85 x 12 x 1
135 x 6 x 1
185 x 3 x 1
200 x 3 x 2

week 11:
bench presses
bar x 20 x 1
85 x 12 x 1
135 x 6 x 1
185 x 3 x 1
200 x 3 x 1
215 x 3 x 1

week 12:
bench presses
bar x 20 x 1
85 x 12 x 1
135 x 6 x 1
185 x 3 x 1
205 x 3 x 1
225 x 3 x 1

awesome you have just increased your 1RM by 25lbs in just 3 months. Now you just reset the program to your new one rep max of 250 and continue on for 12 more weeks and so on till you reach that 315 mark.

[LaBamba]

Eh is this legit?

What about the rest, the other exercises, extra work on the chest , etc etc

[dansta]

Hey can u go into more details?

[DSilent1]

Eh is this legit?

What about the rest, the other exercises, extra work on the chest , etc etc

yeah it is. This is only what you do on bench. any other exercises you perform are up to you. This is strictly only what you use on bench. Only do this 1 time a week.

[DSilent1]

Hey can u go into more details?

This is only flat bench routine. Other exercises you can incorporate into your chest day is up to you but I always use incline, decline, flys, bench rack lockouts ect ect....

[tomraptor]

i dont know if ryan said this himself but i did try that routine (didnt compelte ir and follow it fullybut heh) and it def helped me. this is what i did before i started this. train 3 times a week. twice on bench heavy.

before, my 1 rep max was 115kg, on a good day

i trained heavy on a monday, and light bench press on a friday (light meaning 30 - 40 % of 1RM) for speed and no more than 5 sets of 8 - 15 reps
week 1 - so i started at 100kg for 3 reps x 8 sets
week 2 - 102.5kg 3 reps - 8 sets
week 3 - 105kg 3 reps 8 sets
week 4 - 107.5kg 3 reps 8 sets
week 5 - 110kg 3 reps - 8 sets

oh and my assistant work. once a week, usualy on a monday after heavy bench training, we would do chest press with dumbells, usualy with 37.5kg on each hand. i would purposely pause at the bottom and pull the weight down as far as i could. 3 sets of this. would do this once every week or 2.

skullcrushers - did these just for plenty of reps after heavy benching. usualy do these on a monday or wednesday.

and i started this type of routine after leaning better tehcnique for benching - http://www.dieselcrew.com/how-to-ben...our-shoulders/

thats all i did with that rountine.

after that, we saw on the bench how much we had improved. before my 1 rep max was 115kg.

bar - wamrup 20 reps
40 kg - warmup 10 reps
60kg - warmup
80kg 5 reps
90kg 5 reps
100kg 5 reps
110kg 5 reps
115kg 3 reps
1 rep max 120kg

i think i could be able to do 125kg but i did the 120 after all them reps on 115kg and 110kg.

yes i did way to many reps on weights before which hampered my 1 RM, but i was still happy. and i ached for the first time next day in ages. i will be going back onto something similar tomorro. my aim is to do 110kg for 5 reps for 5 sets. and do that for 3 - 4 weeks

[DSilent1]

i dont know if ryan said this himself but i did try that routine (didnt compelte ir and follow it fullybut heh) and it def helped me. this is what i did before i started this. train 3 times a week. twice on bench heavy.

yeah i know it works. I used his routine when I was at 225 and I broke 300 in 8 months. I haven't used it in a long time but i know for sure it works.
Reps for your improvement

[nkingy2003]

So if this works for bench shouldnt it work for other exerices and since you only do this once per week couldnt you add it into a 4 day split to increase strength everywhere?

So for example:

mon: chest (bench press routine)
tues: back (deadlift routine)
thurs: legs (squat routine)
fri: arms/shoulder (maybe shoulder press routine??)

So if you take the same principle as the bench routine described above and use it on all these other exercises you could add weight in the same way to all the other major lifts?

[DSilent1]

So if this works for bench shouldnt it work for other exerices and since you only do this once per week couldnt you add it into a 4 day split to increase strength everywhere?

So for example:

mon: chest (bench press routine)
tues: back (deadlift routine)
thurs: legs (squat routine)
fri: arms/shoulder (maybe shoulder press routine??)

So if you take the same principle as the bench routine described above and use it on all these other exercises you could add weight in the same way to all the other major lifts?

I've never applied it in that sense but I guess it would be worth a shot.