Benching 3x a week?

[nikola1808]

Up to now I've mostly done 1 to 2 times bench a week. It has always been the weakest lift for me. It's around 210lbs 1RM right now after almost 2 years of lifting.(not all of it proper). How would you incorporate 3 times benching? I am thinking of one normal heavy day, 1 for some pause bench(really weak off the chest) and 1 day doing some singles after my lower body workout. I have always struggled when I go to heavier weights. Have friends that lift the same as me on working sets and they always outlift me at 1-3reps sets. Is this way of incorporation good? Or any other example?

[John Prophet]

Up to now I've mostly done 1 to 2 times bench a week. It has always been the weakest lift for me. It's around 210lbs 1RM right now after almost 2 years of lifting.(not all of it proper). How would you incorporate 3 times benching? I am thinking of one normal heavy day, 1 for some pause bench(really weak off the chest) and 1 day doing some singles after my lower body workout. I have always struggled when I go to heavier weights. Have friends that lift the same as me on working sets and they always outlift me at 1-3reps sets. Is this way of incorporation good? Or any other example?

without getting too complicated, just keep in mind that if you have high frequency, you will also usually have pretty high volume, so the intensity should be kept on the lower side. No need to go to failure and id even be pretty careful about too many heavy singles above like 90% of your max. Personally I wouldnt even grind out too many hard reps. id stay like 2-3 reps from failure on most sets

Let the frequency and the volume do the work. Your numbers will improve from benching 3x per week due to improved central nervous system firing and coordination etc etc

[air2fakie]

Regardless of what strategy you choose, adjust your volume accordingly if you're going from 1-2x/week to 3 (i.e., depending on what you were doing, you prob shouldn't do the exact same # of sets each day as you did in your old workout). You could also do variations on the diff days (incline, dbs, etc.).

Make sure you adjust exercises for other muscle groups as necessary so that your overall routine makes sense.

And don't worry about your friends - lots of variables there - just work on personally progressing. Add the tiny 1.25 or 2.5 lb plates on each side if you have problems progressing on bench.

[backinthegymbro]

I bench 3x a week and it helped bring out my chest which was lacking, a lot.
Chest on tuesday, friday and sunday. 48 hour rest between each is enough to recover them for me despite always going to failure. Rest between sets is 1 minute max unless going for a PR.

I do flat bench, incline bench, db flyes, pull overs and chest dips on tuesdays and fridays.
Sunday i do 30 degrees, 45 degrees and 60 degrees incline bench press (upper chest), incline flyes, pull overs and chest dips.
No problem in terms of recovery or volume but i love high volume on my split.

Usually on friday nights i go for pr's on bench, so a slightly different set up to preserve strength. Then after i either hit a PR or not i go back to the usual hypertrophy rep amounts.
Usually start with a 5-3-1 set up and then do 1-2-2-4-6-8-8.
For me this usually goes like 5x90 lbs, 3x150 lbs, 1x200 lbs, 2x175 lbs, 4x175lbs, 6x165 lbs, 8x155 lbs.

[dazitmayn]

you can do 1 heavy day or 2 heavy days

on one of the days do a close variation for slightly more volume, on another day just do something like incline bench, dumbbell bench for overall hypertrophy of the area.

[HeMB]

I like the approach in The VIking's the Bare Bones fullbody.

Days 1 and 3 have 3 sets of flat bench
and the day 2 has 3 sets of incline dumbbell bench

[Garage Rat]

Work on your weaknesses.
If your weak off the chest as you mentioned pauses are great.
Start pausing all your BP's from warm ups to working sets and you'll get strong off the bottom.
Also work your front delts and upper back/lats,assistance lifts that may help you.
Work on your speed.
You may want to research the Westside conjugate method where they have a max effort day and a speed day.
Make sure you have a solid program your dong.
More is not always better.
You could also post this in the powerlifting section for other answers.

[nikola1808]

without getting too complicated, just keep in mind that if you have high frequency, you will also usually have pretty high volume, so the intensity should be kept on the lower side. No need to go to failure and id even be pretty careful about too many heavy singles above like 90% of your max. Personally I wouldnt even grind out too many hard reps. id stay like 2-3 reps from failure on most sets

Let the frequency and the volume do the work. Your numbers will improve from benching 3x per week due to improved central nervous system firing and coordination etc etc

Ty, dude some very nice advice there. Going go do a heavy day(if i am doing 5/3/1 the regular). Going to add a close grip variation on OHP day and my third bench will be done after deadlift.

[GrouchyUSMC]

Periodization based off of a training max. You can bench several times a week that way if you're feeling froggy. A good example of this is the Tactical Barbell "Operator" template.

[Tommy W.]

More frequency means less volume per session. Weekly volume will need to be kept in check. There are many pros and cons and determining factors to say if 3>2 per week.

[WolfRose7]

without getting too complicated, just keep in mind that if you have high frequency, you will also usually have pretty high volume, so the intensity should be kept on the lower side. No need to go to failure and id even be pretty careful about too many heavy singles above like 90% of your max. Personally I wouldnt even grind out too many hard reps. id stay like 2-3 reps from failure on most sets

Let the frequency and the volume do the work. Your numbers will improve from benching 3x per week due to improved central nervous system firing and coordination etc etc

Agree with almost everything.

A single at 90 to 94% is piss tho, no reason to avoid 1@8s. In fact I'd always recommend them

[weiss1967]

Reality check... you will be benching 3x a week for the expense of other muscle groups. It is either that, or you will have to train twice a day, or alternate 2x - 1x a day, to allow for other muscle groups be rotated with similar frequency and volume. Or, your routines will be over-simplified, with big three being the bulk, and again, for the expence. If you think your chest is small, you are wrong, you are small period. Growing bigger chest will only emphasize small arms and absense of traps or shoulders - everything.

[nikola1808]

Reality check... you will be benching 3x a week for the expense of other muscle groups. It is either that, or you will have to train twice a day, or alternate 2x - 1x a day, to allow for other muscle groups be rotated with similar frequency and volume. Or, your routines will be over-simplified, with big three being the bulk, and again, for the expence. If you think your chest is small, you are wrong, you are small period. Growing bigger chest will only emphasize small arms and absense of traps or shoulders - everything.

I am not benching 3x a week for growth, I am benching so I can perfect my form which has always been lacking. Maybe read the wall of text next time.

[WolfRose7]

My current set up now has 3x bench again so will copy paste

Program
Cycle 1
A
2ct back squat belted. 4@7, 4@8, 4@8,  4@8
2ct comp bench, 4@7, 4@8, 4@9, 4@8 x1-2
DB rows
DB bench

B
1ct conv dead belted, 6@7, 6@8, - 5% 2x6 @7-8
Press , 5@6 5@7, 5@8, - 10% for amrap @9-9.5
Chins



C
High bar squats, 6@7, 6@8, -10% x amrap
Cg bench,  6@7, 6@8, 6@9, - 5% x 2x6@8
Lat pulldowns 8 to 12 @8 repeats
DB Press, sets of 8 to 12, 4 to 5 sets

D
Sumo deadlift, 8@,7, 8@8 x 3 (total)sets
Incline bench, 8@7, 8@8 x 3 sets
Barbell rows, 8@7, 8@8 x 3 sets
Leg curls, 8 to 12 @8 repeats

Will potentially bench on B at a later date as well

[MajorTendonitis]

See user name

[Montymaginn]

Up to now I've mostly done 1 to 2 times bench a week. It has always been the weakest lift for me. It's around 210lbs 1RM right now after almost 2 years of lifting.(not all of it proper). How would you incorporate 3 times benching? I am thinking of one normal heavy day, 1 for some pause bench(really weak off the chest) and 1 day doing some singles after my lower body workout. I have always struggled when I go to heavier weights. Have friends that lift the same as me on working sets and they always outlift me at 1-3reps sets. Is this way of incorporation good? Or any other example?

I love benching 3 times a week, however it is super draining. If your body can handle it go for it!

[Montymaginn]

I am not benching 3x a week for growth, I am benching so I can perfect my form which has always been lacking. Maybe read the wall of text next time.

Benching for form is a great idea, keep weight low and reps high to perfect it consistently. Well done

[anonymous]

See user name

Yeah this weird obsession with frequency is going to bite people in the ass when they exceed their tendon turnover ability

Even in my 20s I never hit anything more than every 4-5 days, and all my PRs were set on a once every 7 day schedule

[Kylehero]

I’d suggest benching twice a week with a strict focus on progressive overload, and incorporate pushups ~2x/ week. I’m working towards 225# for 5 reps before end of Jan (currently at 185 x 5 reps) and pushups have been a huge help in my progress.

[HeMB]

See user name

lmao

[Davidtrains]

See user name

I am a beginner, but I would like to add that I have inner elbow pain too from benching. I was benching 3 days a week. Will not do again, until I have a perfect form, and know how to set the correct volume.

[dazitmayn]

Agree with almost everything.

A single at 90 to 94% is piss tho, no reason to avoid 1@8s. In fact I'd always recommend them

think he said not too many singles, as in trying to do bench singles at above 90% 3x a week, once a week should be enough

if his goal isn't strictly 1RM, heavy triples and some volume bench should suffice for the most part and may not have to do singles if he doesn't want to