Has anyone achieved a big bench press (400-500+) by pressing every day?

[cirion0000]

I'm doing more and more research into Broz training philosophy, but it seems from what I can tell, even he doesn't seem to recommend bench pressing every day. Has anyone ever achieved a very large press by bench pressing every day? I know a few people here that bench press every day, but have any of you done it long enough to see if it works long term? I'm very familiar with people getting massive squats by squatting every day, but I don't seem to hear much about bench pressing every day and success there.

I have already increased my squat to 3x a week heavy (going to work slowly up to 6-7x), and it seems to be already working well just 2 weeks in (already hitting close to my max, 3x a week), but bench press seems to be a tougher cookie at higher and higher frequencies. I know 2 weeks in at higher frequency is too soon of course to say much, but I just want confirmation that this is a road worth going down.

I was reading Greg Nuckols' article and he said he increased his total to 1700~ training every day, but it wasn't clear if most of this # increase was just from the squatting and deadlifting, or if his bench went up a lot as well.

[IngeKJ]

Im a norwegian lifter, if youre advanced here you get programs that may have you benching 5-6x/week. Though this is perhaps just one day ordinary bench. The rest are variations with boards, bands, different grips etc. and its never a grindy set. A good lifter over here does about 50 sets a week of bench.

[Jason2459]

Im a norwegian lifter, if youre advanced here you get programs that may have you benching 5-6x/week. Though this is perhaps just one day ordinary bench. The rest are variations with boards, bands, different grips etc. and its never a grindy set. A good lifter over here does about 50 sets a week of bench.

I assume those are 50 working sets of like about 50% and over of 1RM?

[cirion0000]

Im a norwegian lifter, if youre advanced here you get programs that may have you benching 5-6x/week. Though this is perhaps just one day ordinary bench. The rest are variations with boards, bands, different grips etc. and its never a grindy set. A good lifter over here does about 50 sets a week of bench.

Right, when you train daily or close to daily you shouldn't be working with your true max, and this is even more important with deadlifts. So about 10 sets a day, how many of these are singles VS. doubles or triples?

I assume those are 50 working sets of like about 50% of 1RM?

I doubt it's only 50% of 1RM, you should still train heavy, just not with your real max. The only thing that should be fairly light is deadlift because it taxes the body hard, but even that should be at least 70-75% of max for a few singles. I'm gonna guess bench every (or close to every day) is still gonna be at least 75-80% of max for the most part.

Yes it will suck at first, but the body can adapt better to stressors than most people give it credit for.

[kmc06005]

What do you mean by everyday? 7 days a week, or every training session?

[cirion0000]

What do you mean by everyday? 7 days a week, or every training session?

At least 6 days a week, 1x a day.

[bigdogfarmhand]

I would give anything to be able to press 500 lol

I just want 350

[Jason2459]

I doubt it's only 50% of 1RM, you should still train heavy, just not with your real max. The only thing that should be fairly light is deadlift because it taxes the body hard, but even that should be at least 70-75% of max for a few singles. I'm gonna guess bench every (or close to every day) is still gonna be at least 75-80% of max for the most part.

.

I meant over 50%. Not just 50%.

[kmc06005]

At least 6 days a week, 1x a day.

Ehh... A lot of RTS guys bench 4 or 5 times a week, and have 400+ lb benches, but I'm not sure about 6-7.

[cirion0000]

I meant over 50%. Not just 50%.

Oh ok then yea. Lol yea because 50% is a waste of time unless you just wanna be like Eric Spoto and bench press for cardio.

I would give anything to be able to press 500 lol

I just want 350

Same here man, 500 is a longer term goal, 350 would definitely be nice to have for now. I just was looking for examples of guys who got up to 500 by benching every day, in order to do a check to see if benching every day can/does actually work or not as a sanity check.

[dtaps24]

I doubt it's only 50% of 1RM, you should still train heavy, just not with your real max. The only thing that should be fairly light is deadlift because it taxes the body hard, but even that should be at least 70-75% of max for a few singles. I'm gonna guess bench every (or close to every day) is still gonna be at least 75-80% of max for the most part.

Yes it will suck at first, but the body can adapt better to stressors than most people give it credit for.

I'm confused, because the title of this thread is a question and then you answered a question posed to somebody else. Let the guy who knows what he's talking about (as he is giving first hand experience) answer the question. You also blew right past the fact that he said they only do one day of actual bench press. The Norwegian programs I've seen do not have multiple days of straight bench above 80% of max and are largely based on the Wolf study where guys that did 6 "smaller" workouts per week had better results than guys who squeezed the same amount of volume into 3 "bigger" sessions. The average intensity was 72-74%. Read this:

http://gregnuckols.com/2014/02/18/hi...-powerlifters/

On the other hand, it seems like you might be looking for someone to rubber stamp high intensity every day frequency for the bench akin to a Bulgarian/Karstev/Broz approach to squats and Oly lifts, just say so, I'm sure somebody will tell you it's a good idea.

[cirion0000]

I'm confused, because the title of this thread is a question and then you answered a question posed to somebody else. Let the guy who knows what he's talking about (as he is giving first hand experience) answer the question. You also blew right past the fact that he said they only do one day of actual bench press. The Norwegian programs I've seen do not have multiple days of straight bench above 80% of max and are largely based on the Wolf study where guys that did 6 "smaller" workouts per week had better results than guys who squeezed the same amount of volume into 3 "bigger" sessions. The average intensity was 72-74%. Read this:

http://gregnuckols.com/2014/02/18/hi...-powerlifters/

On the other hand, it seems like you might be looking for someone to rubber stamp high intensity every day frequency for the bench akin to a Bulgarian/Karstev/Broz approach to squats and Oly lifts, just say so, I'm sure somebody will tell you it's a good idea.

True, wasn't really trying to answer his question persay. Good article, definitely leaves me with even more questions. Lots of interesting things to learn with increased frequency.

I don't just need a rubber stamp, I know plenty of people will say it's a good idea even if it isn't. I'm more interested in results, if no one ever has gotten a 500 bench training every day, then I don't care if someone says it is a good idea - because if it doesn't get results, it's not a good idea no matter what.

[dtaps24]

True, wasn't really trying to answer his question persay. Good article, definitely leaves me with even more questions. Lots of interesting things to learn with increased frequency.

I don't just need a rubber stamp, I know plenty of people will say it's a good idea even if it isn't. I'm more interested in results, if no one ever has gotten a 500 bench training every day, then I don't care if someone says it is a good idea - because if it doesn't get results, it's not a good idea no matter what.

Jim Williams (where have you gone John Prophet?):

http://www.strength-oldschool.com/to...training-info/

Also I thought Broz was prepping his team for a powerlifting comp at one point and there seemed to be a template that had every day pressing but I can't remember for certain.

[cirion0000]

Jim Williams (where have you gone John Prophet?):

http://www.strength-oldschool.com/to...training-info/

Also I thought Broz was prepping his team for a powerlifting comp at one point and there seemed to be a template that had every day pressing but I can't remember for certain.

Interesting set up, so it looks like he has 2 light days (I say "light" loosely, because 405 is way more than I can do lol), 2 medium days, 1 heavy day for bench for a total of 5 days a week for bench, then 3 days a week of squat of what weight isn't clear, and 2 days a week deadlift. So not strictly every day, but darn close. Almost looks like a mini peak cycle each week with building up each day to a max that week.

Jim Williams used to max out for singles on the bench press every day in the 70’s, he worked up to 700lbs over time. He claimed that he couldn’t bench once or twice each week or gains would stop, that’s very interesting.

Quoted from there. That's pretty much /thread right there.

Thanks everyone

[IngeKJ]

I assume those are 50 working sets of like about 50% and over of 1RM?

The first working sets typically start at around 70-75% for 5-6, ends at triples or doubles at 85-90%. Some of the last workouts in peaking programs are 95-100%. Between peaking programs one typically do volume training, which usually are straight sets of 6,5,4 and 3 at 70-85%. The last weeks in volume training can also be more intensive, typically pr triples in the last week.

And for cirion0000, we put our raw max in excel spreadsheets and the program works out the lifts for every workout, every set. You can adjust the percentages in different variations according to your specific weaknesses and strengths. In peaking programs, a workout is typically 1-2 sets of 6 at 70%, 1x5 @ 75, 1x4 @80, 1x4 @ 82-85, 2x3 @ 85, 2-3x2 @90. Thats a rough example, the intensity volume varies a lot from week to week. Very rarely does anyone do singles. The big thing about these programs is that they are periodized. In the beginning you have 4 weeks of increasing intensity, then one lighter week, then one heavier week until program end.

I havent seen the programs of CYC for example, as his are very individualized. Im only 18 and havent made the national team yet so I dont get individualized programs, but I do have access to advanced level programs. There also exists 2x/day programs, but few people use those

[Jason2459]

The first working sets typically start at around 70-75% for 5-6, ends at triples or doubles at 85-90%. Some of the last workouts in peaking programs are 95-100%. Between peaking programs one typically do volume training, which usually are straight sets of 6,5,4 and 3 at 70-85%. The last weeks in volume training can also be more intensive, typically pr triples in the last week.

And for cirion0000, we put our raw max in excel spreadsheets and the program works out the lifts for every workout, every set. You can adjust the percentages in different variations according to your specific weaknesses and strengths. In peaking programs, a workout is typically 1-2 sets of 6 at 70%, 1x5 @ 75, 1x4 @80, 1x4 @ 82-85, 2x3 @ 85, 2-3x2 @90. Thats a rough example, the intensity volume varies a lot from week to week. Very rarely does anyone do singles. The big thing about these programs is that they are periodized. In the beginning you have 4 weeks of increasing intensity, then one lighter week, then one heavier week until program end.

I havent seen the programs of CYC for example, as his are very individualized. Im only 18 and havent made the national team yet so I dont get individualized programs, but I do have access to advanced level programs. There also exists 2x/day programs, but few people use those

Thanks a lot for that information. I'd love to look at those spreadsheets but understand they are held close to only those team members. Very interesting stuff.

[UberAlles]

check out the training log of a cpu/ipf lifter in the 83 kg, he bench presses nearly everyday (or did, log hasnt been updated in a while)

http://adamramzy-traininglog.blogspot.ca/

[ecchastang]

More common high frequency bench programs are 4-5 days per week. My suggestion is to try it and first see if it gets you to 315 before setting your sights on 500. And plan on eating a ton if you want to hit a quarter ton, as not many sub 200 guys have done it.

[breathinglife]

I think implicit in this question is the assumption that if the answer is yes, then it's a good idea to go ahead and start training bench every day.

Perhaps you should work toward a better question. My general modus operandi is:
1. Determine my goal (i.e., 600 squat)
2. Determine what conditions I want to perform the lift. (raw? weight class? natural? etc.)
Once I've determined that I want to squat 600, natural, with wraps and belt, at 198, then (step 3) I can look at other lifters who have trained to reach similar goals in order to see what the best training method might be to reach my goal.


My older way of doing this was more like "has anyone ever made huge gains doing (insert unusual training method here)?" and then if I could find one guy who did it I'd waste a bunch of time trying to reproduce his results.

[cirion0000]

I think implicit in this question is the assumption that if the answer is yes, then it's a good idea to go ahead and start training bench every day.

Perhaps you should work toward a better question. My general modus operandi is:
1. Determine my goal (i.e., 600 squat)
2. Determine what conditions I want to perform the lift. (raw? weight class? natural? etc.)
Once I've determined that I want to squat 600, natural, with wraps and belt, at 198, then (step 3) I can look at other lifters who have trained to reach similar goals in order to see what the best training method might be to reach my goal.


My older way of doing this was more like "has anyone ever made huge gains doing (insert unusual training method here)?" and then if I could find one guy who did it I'd waste a bunch of time trying to reproduce his results.

Yes I get what you're saying. However I have several reasons for wanting to go for daily training:

- 5/3/1 was decent progression, but the frequency was way too low, and the intensity of AMRAP was too much. AMRAP deadlifts absolutely destroyed my body.
- I am too motivated to train to only train 3 or 4 days a week. I love lifting too much, so I need a way to lift every (or almost every) day.
- I have always been one to go against the trends, it's in fact why daily training is so ridiculous sounding that I want to try it, just because I'm crazy. I'm the kind of guy that if you tell me it is impossible, or can't be done, I'll be the first to be brave/stupid enough to try it
- I want to actually feel like a true athlete and actually have good work capacity, which can only be accomplished with a lot of frequency.
- Want to perfect my technique, and get comfortable under heavy loads/feel my own limits, which is a lot easier to do with daily/near daily training. I already feel a LOT more confident under near maximal squats, and I only go 3x a week currently, once I go 6x a week it's going to be like clockwork at that point, not even a seconds' hesitation. On 5/3/1 I was always nervous and jittery before an AMRAP and might take as long as 1 minute to unrack after I was ready to go. Now I just go in, and blast into my sets without a thought because I already know the outcome before it begins.
- I am tired of chronic injuries that won't go away 100%. Daily training sounds reverse intuitive, but since squatting with 3x+ the frequency, alot of my back pain and hip pain has actually gone away. The best way to lift is not necessarily the way that gives you the fastest gains, but the ones that keep you injury free so you can live to lift another day.

[ink81]

Heavy Twice a week for me. Alternates 3's, 2's and 5's. Worked really good this last prep.

[isaku900]

Yes I get what you're saying. However I have several reasons for wanting to go for daily training:

- 5/3/1 was decent progression, but the frequency was way too low, and the intensity of AMRAP was too much. AMRAP deadlifts absolutely destroyed my body.
- I am too motivated to train to only train 3 or 4 days a week. I love lifting too much, so I need a way to lift every (or almost every) day.
- I have always been one to go against the trends, it's in fact why daily training is so ridiculous sounding that I want to try it, just because I'm crazy. I'm the kind of guy that if you tell me it is impossible, or can't be done, I'll be the first to be brave/stupid enough to try it
- I want to actually feel like a true athlete and actually have good work capacity, which can only be accomplished with a lot of frequency.
- Want to perfect my technique, and get comfortable under heavy loads/feel my own limits, which is a lot easier to do with daily/near daily training. I already feel a LOT more confident under near maximal squats, and I only go 3x a week currently, once I go 6x a week it's going to be like clockwork at that point, not even a seconds' hesitation. On 5/3/1 I was always nervous and jittery before an AMRAP and might take as long as 1 minute to unrack after I was ready to go. Now I just go in, and blast into my sets without a thought because I already know the outcome before it begins.
- I am tired of chronic injuries that won't go away 100%. Daily training sounds reverse intuitive, but since squatting with 3x+ the frequency, alot of my back pain and hip pain has actually gone away. The best way to lift is not necessarily the way that gives you the fastest gains, but the ones that keep you injury free so you can live to lift another day.

there is so much wrong with this...

and your signature reveals a lot....290x15 ........

[cirion0000]

there is so much wrong with this...

and your signature reveals a lot....290x15 ........

AMRAP is AMRAP. I did the program as designed, started at 90%, progressed 10 lb a month as prescribed, followed the program to the letter, and end up with x15 on AMRAP.

What's wrong with wanting to lift every day if there are legitimate means to do so? And I definitely feel a lot better since increasing the frequency, I don't get the DOMS/hip pain like I used to.

[cirion0000]

Heavy Twice a week for me. Alternates 3's, 2's and 5's. Worked really good this last prep.

Nice, and I've definitely been lurking the 500 lb bench topic and mirin your bench accomplishment. When you say heavy twice a week, does that imply any other days that are lighter at all or just those two days?

[isaku900]

Yes I get what you're saying. However I have several reasons for wanting to go for daily training:

- 5/3/1 was decent progression, but the frequency was way too low, and the intensity of AMRAP was too much. AMRAP deadlifts absolutely destroyed my body.

intensity doesn't mean it makes you tired. in a programming context (used because you're talking about programming) it means % of 1RM, the AMRAP sets are NOT intense.

- I am too motivated to train to only train 3 or 4 days a week. I love lifting too much, so I need a way to lift every (or almost every) day.

this is novice, broscience bull****. you're *too* motivated! TOO HARDCORE!

- I have always been one to go against the trends, it's in fact why daily training is so ridiculous sounding that I want to try it, just because I'm crazy. I'm the kind of guy that if you tell me it is impossible, or can't be done, I'll be the first to be brave/stupid enough to try it

see above

- I want to actually feel like a true athlete and actually have good work capacity, which can only be accomplished with a lot of frequency.

on its face wrong and stupid. there are plenty of ways to increase work capacity without increasing frequency. decrease rest times between sets, decrease rest times between exercises, utilize more and speedier warm up sets, include GPP exercises in a dynamic warmup/cooldown, increase the number of accessories done, incorporate fatigue sets, add more sets at a given intensity and complete them within a self imposed time limit, set a timer and increase reps done within that time especially effective on lower weight accessories.

all can be accomplished in 3-4 days, increase work capacity and doesn't REQUIRE additional frequency.

- Want to perfect my technique, and get comfortable under heavy loads/feel my own limits, which is a lot easier to do with daily/near daily training. I already feel a LOT more confident under near maximal squats, and I only go 3x a week currently, once I go 6x a week it's going to be like clockwork at that point, not even a seconds' hesitation. On 5/3/1 I was always nervous and jittery before an AMRAP and might take as long as 1 minute to unrack after I was ready to go. Now I just go in, and blast into my sets without a thought because I already know the outcome before it begins.

correlation/causation. confidence under the bar is a result of an enourmous interplay of programming (all three programming variables) and literally just TIME under the bar. as one's training age increases...their confidence increases.

AMRAP is AMRAP. I did the program as designed, started at 90%, progressed 10 lb a month as prescribed, followed the program to the letter, and end up with x15 on AMRAP.

not even close to what I was shaking my head at, its the CALCULATED MAX! and the SEMI PAUSED (WTF?) bench.

What's wrong with wanting to lift every day if there are legitimate means to do so? And I definitely feel a lot better since increasing the frequency, I don't get the DOMS/hip pain like I used to.

good cause DOMS doesn't mean a goddamn thing. glad your hips don't hurt. correlation/causation.

nothing's wrong, but you've quite obviously made up your mind and are cherry picking anecdotes to support your position.

[Jmadden44]

not even close to what I was shaking my head at, its the CALCULATED MAX! and the SEMI PAUSED (WTF?) bench.

But, I bench 135 a hundred times

[cirion0000]

I think there's just a lot of misunderstanding, because we actually mostly agree on most of the points...

intensity doesn't mean it makes you tired. in a programming context (used because you're talking about programming) it means % of 1RM, the AMRAP sets are NOT intense.

this is novice, broscience bull****. you're *too* motivated! TOO HARDCORE!

I could sleep 12 hrs a day for 3 days in a row after AMRAP DL sessions. True, technically, intensity = more weight lifted per rep. However, 295 lb is actually very close to my true max (failed a 355 lb attempt recently) so 15 reps at that is insane. So in that sense, 295 actually is pretty intense (295/355*100 = at least 83% of max). I got very good at lots of reps at relatively heavy weights on 5/3/1, which as I learned is not necessarily a good thing, as the body (at least mine) didn't enjoy that many reps (at least in one set) at that high %. This also answers your question later about calculated max. Calculated for a reason... I know I can't actually lift that, I just used those as gauges for progression.

see above
on its face wrong and stupid. there are plenty of ways to increase work capacity without increasing frequency. decrease rest times between sets, decrease rest times between exercises, utilize more and speedier warm up sets, include GPP exercises in a dynamic warmup/cooldown, increase the number of accessories done, incorporate fatigue sets, add more sets at a given intensity and complete them within a self imposed time limit, set a timer and increase reps done within that time especially effective on lower weight accessories.

all can be accomplished in 3-4 days, increase work capacity and doesn't REQUIRE additional frequency.

I do agree with this statement, I could have worded the whole athlete thing better. My point was, I didn't feel like much of an athlete on 5/3/1 doing a big lift only once every 7-10 days.

correlation/causation. confidence under the bar is a result of an enourmous interplay of programming (all three programming variables) and literally just TIME under the bar. as one's training age increases...their confidence increases.

Probably, but going daily/ or at least more often makes this happen sooner.

not even close to what I was shaking my head at, its the CALCULATED MAX! and the SEMI PAUSED (WTF?) bench.

Semi paused = not bro bounce, but no competition paused either. See above on calculated max comment.

good cause DOMS doesn't mean a goddamn thing. glad your hips don't hurt. correlation/causation.

nothing's wrong, but you've quite obviously made up your mind and are cherry picking anecdotes to support your position.

Not necessarily. I could still potentially swing on bench. The previous poster (ink) is one of the strongest benchers on this forum, so I'm definitely inclined to hear his training protocols of going heavy only twice a week.

[InspecktaDeck]

OP you can have your awsome work capacity, Ill have my bigger total on the platform. At least you'll be more athletic than me tho..

[ecchastang]

I find it funny that you want to work out 7 days per week because you are "too motivated". I am actually too motivated to workout 7 days per week because I actually want results. Make sure you are doing a lot of pulling/rotator cuff work if you plan on that kind of volume/frequency.

[isaku900]

However, 295 lb is actually very close to my true max (failed a 355 lb attempt recently) Calculated for a reason... I know I can't actually lift that, I just used those as gauges for progression.
Semi paused = not bro bounce, but no competition paused either. See above on calculated max comment.

I don't think we can have a constructive conversation regarding your lifting.