Cool Bench Workout

So almost all of the workout stuff I'm going to post here has come from either T-Nation, Mike Mahler, Charles Staley, Craig Ballantyne, or Men's Health magazine. I'll try to give credit where I can, but please know that I am *not* trying to represent this as my own work.

Here's a cool bench routine that is geared mostly toward building strength. There are 4 parts to it. Before you start you need to have a good idea of what your 1 rep max (1RM) is (i.e. the most weight you can lift one time). Also I am assuming that you have done what you need to do to warm up.

Part 1
This protocol is known as the rest-pause technique. You pick a weight that is about 70% of your 1RM. Bench the weight 5x, rest 20 sec, 4x rest 20 sec, 3x, rest 20 sec, 2x, rest 20 sec, 1x and you're done. You've done 15 reps of a medium weight in about 1.5 minutes. I really like this scheme alot.

You could wait 60-90 seconds and do it again if you weren't going to do Parts 2-4, but I've read that you shouldn't do it more than twice cuz it really zaps your central nervous system. You can also tweak it and go lighter weight, but only 10 seconds between sets, or go heavier and rest 30 seconds between sets.

After Part 1, I'll usually go do my legs and then come back for Part 2.

Part 2
This is where we go heavy. Do 5 sets x 1 rep @ 90-95% of your 1RM, rest 60-90 sec between sets.

Part 3
Drop the weight you just used by 15-20 lbs. Do 4 sets x 1 rep, rest 60 sec between sets. For set 5, do 3-5 reps. Even though you could do more than 1 rep on the first 4 sets, you are trying to lift the bar as quick as you can. Something about mass x acceleration = power. By lifting explosively but not burning out and fatiguing, you are using your fast-twitch muscle fibers and that's a good thing according to the experts.

Part 4
This is just a real quick burnout set. You don't actually go to the point where your muscles fail. I do 1 set x 20 reps @ 55-60% 1RM.

So this actually has between 25-30 total reps if you don't count the burnout set. It seems alot of rep schemes are in that neighborhood, i.e 5 x 5, 8 x 3, 3 x 10, etc.

Give it a try and see what you think!