Critical bench Program

[randall_truscot]

Hey Guys, Have any of you tried the Critical Bench Program? I am very interested in this program. 50lbs in 11weeks. abit skeptical.

[Joeshmocoolstuff]

wow i'd like to see it..link please? doubt it works tho

[Cabe777]

Randall-

I added 50+ pounds to my bench in less than 11 weeks just doing a simple lockout program. If my gym had decent power racks I'd do it again now just to see how strong I could get.

basically, (I'm sure you've already known about this, but I'll put down what I did just in case) you just need a rack that has ~2" adjustments

start with the rack set so you're only doing the actual lockout, 3-4 inches tops.

pyramid up in weight, then back down here's the rep scheme I used
8,5,3,1,1,1,3,5,8

after two workouts (for me this was every 8 days) lower the pins one position. (then do 2 workouts at that position, etc...)

Do this until you're to the point where lowering one more pin would mean touching your chest.

From what I can remember, you shouldn't do any incline, bench, or BB military due to the stress this puts on your joints (wrists elbows shoulders). For accessory lifts I used weighted dips (maybe shouldn't have used them) and incline flyes (heavy).

I went from benching around 225 to over 275 in (I think) 8 weeks. When I started I could do 225 with shaky form, the week after I finished I could do it for 8 reps with a solid pause.

The first week after finishing I went no heavier than 135, just to give my body a chance to feel smooth and relaxed.

There are probably safer and smarter ways to do it, but that worked really well for me.

-C

oh, yeah, heard good stuff about critical bench, but I don't like to pay for anything that someone else knows. Gotta be free if it's for me!

[randall_truscot]

I thot if the same kind of program but using boards, so its the same kind of thing. i might make a little something like that with boards. but pins work too.

[tnubs]

Originally Posted by Cabe777

Randall-

I added 50+ pounds to my bench in less than 11 weeks just doing a simple lockout program. If my gym had decent power racks I'd do it again now just to see how strong I could get.

basically, (I'm sure you've already known about this, but I'll put down what I did just in case) you just need a rack that has ~2" adjustments

start with the rack set so you're only doing the actual lockout, 3-4 inches tops.

pyramid up in weight, then back down here's the rep scheme I used
8,5,3,1,1,1,3,5,8

after two workouts (for me this was every 8 days) lower the pins one position. (then do 2 workouts at that position, etc...)

Do this until you're to the point where lowering one more pin would mean touching your chest.

From what I can remember, you shouldn't do any incline, bench, or BB military due to the stress this puts on your joints (wrists elbows shoulders). For accessory lifts I used weighted dips (maybe shouldn't have used them) and incline flyes (heavy).

I went from benching around 225 to over 275 in (I think) 8 weeks. When I started I could do 225 with shaky form, the week after I finished I could do it for 8 reps with a solid pause.

The first week after finishing I went no heavier than 135, just to give my body a chance to feel smooth and relaxed.

There are probably safer and smarter ways to do it, but that worked really well for me.

-C

oh, yeah, heard good stuff about critical bench, but I don't like to pay for anything that someone else knows. Gotta be free if it's for me!

wow, dood, thats a really good idea. thanks for the info!

[randall_truscot]

Originally Posted by tnubs

wow, dood, thats a really good idea. thanks for the info!

u see cabe777, u jsut let 50bucks go, lol jk

[ironman1964bc]

Originally Posted by Cabe777

Randall-

I added 50+ pounds to my bench in less than 11 weeks just doing a simple lockout program. If my gym had decent power racks I'd do it again now just to see how strong I could get.

basically, (I'm sure you've already known about this, but I'll put down what I did just in case) you just need a rack that has ~2" adjustments

start with the rack set so you're only doing the actual lockout, 3-4 inches tops.

pyramid up in weight, then back down here's the rep scheme I used
8,5,3,1,1,1,3,5,8

after two workouts (for me this was every 8 days) lower the pins one position. (then do 2 workouts at that position, etc...)

Do this until you're to the point where lowering one more pin would mean touching your chest.

From what I can remember, you shouldn't do any incline, bench, or BB military due to the stress this puts on your joints (wrists elbows shoulders). For accessory lifts I used weighted dips (maybe shouldn't have used them) and incline flyes (heavy).

I went from benching around 225 to over 275 in (I think) 8 weeks. When I started I could do 225 with shaky form, the week after I finished I could do it for 8 reps with a solid pause.

The first week after finishing I went no heavier than 135, just to give my body a chance to feel smooth and relaxed.

There are probably safer and smarter ways to do it, but that worked really well for me.

-C

oh, yeah, heard good stuff about critical bench, but I don't like to pay for anything that someone else knows. Gotta be free if it's for me!

If I recall correctly, I think the great Paul Anderson used to train this way, even with overhead presses and squats. He would start at a certain height and just keep lowering it until he neared a full ROM.

Contrary to the crazy advice in these forums, these kinds of techniques are alot better for gaining strength than the much hyped 5x5 program or something similar. Most lifters have a very hard time gaining strength doing reps with 60-75% of their 1RM. The technique you are using keeps the weights heavy, which I feel is essential.

I commend you for doing something different.

[Get er Done]

i was thinking bout making a basic program but it never got off the ground

[OGPOWER68]

I bought it, I don't think it was worth it. I think I got maybe 10-15 lbs out of it, but then again I was able to go the full 11 weeks I had to go on a 2 week trip, but still.

[ArchDukeOfTops]

randall, don't waste money on a program. You are a strong ass teenager, and I know you don't think your bench is on par with your other lifts, but that is because your other #'s are high, not because your bench #'s are low.

Instead of searching out some program that promises x amount of pound in x amount of time, use the FREE programs that are all over the net. Hell, Westside, Metal Militia, and Joe Average, to name a few are used by world class benchers. Learn all you can from guys who do those programs and then do what works for you.

And. . .you're bench will go up just from growing from 15-20, I promise.

[randall_truscot]

wats joe average?

[ArchDukeOfTops]

its another lifting template. From my understanding they do some different stuff with band tension. I know a lot of folks made good gains (especially on bench) on joeaverage.

www.joeaveragepowerlifting.com

[GoJu]

Originally Posted by ArchDukeOfTops

randall, don't waste money on a program. You are a strong ass teenager, and I know you don't think your bench is on par with your other lifts, but that is because your other #'s are high, not because your bench #'s are low.

Instead of searching out some program that promises x amount of pound in x amount of time, use the FREE programs that are all over the net. Hell, Westside, Metal Militia, and Joe Average, to name a few are used by world class benchers. Learn all you can from guys who do those programs and then do what works for you.

And. . .you're bench will go up just from growing from 15-20, I promise.

Plus the critical bench book is like 50 bucks and they dont' even give an example of any training routine they do, they just hype on their website
www.criticalbench.com, like they want to keep it secret. I agree with the ArchDuke here, plus I heard people's speed off the chest went way down relatvie to say westside, which I've heard is excellent for bench.

[OLP]

I got 20 off of FI's Bench Routine

EDIT: I don't see how rack lockout could be safe for any amount of time. Feel like my elbows are going to explode.

[randall_truscot]

Originally Posted by OLP

EDIT: I don't see how rack lockout could be safe for any amount of time. Feel like my elbows are going to explode.

thats why u an ultra newb

[OLP]

Originally Posted by randall_truscot

thats why u an ultra newb

ok

[Darracq]

Originally Posted by ArchDukeOfTops

its another lifting template. From my understanding they do some different stuff with band tension. I know a lot of folks made good gains (especially on bench) on joeaverage.

www.joeaveragepowerlifting.com

JA is the sh-- Made my best bench gains ever on this program. Going back to it next workout.

[Entz]

Originally Posted by ironman1964bc

If I recall correctly, I think the great Paul Anderson used to train this way, even with overhead presses and squats. He would start at a certain height and just keep lowering it until he neared a full ROM.

Contrary to the crazy advice in these forums, these kinds of techniques are alot better for gaining strength than the much hyped 5x5 program or something similar. Most lifters have a very hard time gaining strength doing reps with 60-75% of their 1RM. The technique you are using keeps the weights heavy, which I feel is essential.

I commend you for doing something different.

I also read that Paul Anderson used to vary height in his workout to produce strength in this way. If it produced such grand results for a guy without gear, I am sure it will work for the rest of us

[Fedaykin]

critical bench wasn't worth the money...

Bench day 1:
bench: work up to a 1-2 rep max followed by a "burn out" set
Incline bench
db flys

Next day they give you is shoulders day
Military presses, shrugs, etc...

then a biceps/triceps day
close grip bench, weighted dips(to failure), etc...

Nothing special. You will probably kill your CNS though...

[randall_truscot]

thnk god I dint buy it. lol

[Danimal]

Most of those programs that say "add x lbs to your bench in x weeks" are no good. They will definitely burn you out and probably get you hurt as well. Forget about working other lifts while you do them.

A long time ago I saw this MM2K program like that. My friends and I tried it. None of us made it through the program. If you missed reps you dropped down to a lower max target. Well, after about the 3rd week, we were all missing reps every workout. I got zero gain on my bench, and that was at a time when the right program would have given me good gains. My bench floundered around for a long time because I kept trying different things and none of them worked. The best thing for me was getting on a 2 day a week bench routine that used a wave type of progression, and had lifts that hit every aspect of your bench.

[dfm85]

Originally Posted by Danimal

The best thing for me was getting on a 2 day a week bench routine that used a wave type of progression, and had lifts that hit every aspect of your bench.

Such as...?

[backtoiron]

Originally Posted by Danimal

long time ago I saw this MM2K program like that. My friends and I tried it. None of us made it through the program. If you missed reps you dropped down to a lower max target. Well, after about the 3rd week, we were all missing reps every workout.

I did the same workout and had the same results.

[ElSpaceBandito]

wheres the actual bench program it self on www.joeaveragepowerlifting.com ?? i cant seem to find it

[ElSpaceBandito]

never mind got it, didnt come up b4

[Danimal]

Originally Posted by dfm85

Such as...?

Rick Gaugler wave program. Here's a link.

http://weighttrainersunited.com/gaugler.html There is also a downloadable excel sheet there as well. This is a 16 week routine- long for most people, but it worked well for me on all 3 lifts. The only reason I stopped doing it is it didn't translate well to shirt benching.

[dfm85]

Originally Posted by Danimal

Rick Gaugler wave program. Here's a link.

http://weighttrainersunited.com/gaugler.html There is also a downloadable excel sheet there as well. This is a 16 week routine- long for most people, but it worked well for me on all 3 lifts. The only reason I stopped doing it is it didn't translate well to shirt benching.

Awesome, thanks for the link. I may actually give it a try, gotta see if my workout partner would be into a 16 week program.

[Cabe777]

Originally Posted by randall_truscot

u see cabe777, u jsut let 50bucks go, lol jk

NOpe, I'm actually going to charge him

[Cabe777]

Originally Posted by randall_truscot

I thot if the same kind of program but using boards, so its the same kind of thing. i might make a little something like that with boards. but pins work too.

I've never used boards, so I don't have any basis for comparison -
the main advantage from what I've read is that boards have a constant load, where pins have 0 load at the contact.

The other thing is you can do rack lockouts without a partner. Even benching 225, by the 1-rep sets of the lockout (in the highest position), I was using 405+. I don't know how safe I would have felt with 5-6 boards on my chest and 405 on the bar!

[thejerenator]

i've used critical bench 2 times. it works. the first time i did it i started at 225 and went up to 260 in 8 weeks, then took about 8 weeks off, started again and put up 315 about 8 weeks later. i'm gonna do it again this summer and try to get up to 350.