Want to increase your bench press in 4 weeks, get stronger and build muscle mass?
Today we are going to talk about the mistake which 90% of the gym going people make and due to that they can't build strength and muscle.
Before getting started, let's first learn about the two basic concepts of strength training-
1. Volume
If you are a regular gym goer or being lifting for quite some time, then you must have heard about this term. In weight or resistance training, the term volume is used to describe the total mechanical load you put on your muscles during a workout in terms of reps, sets and weight.
We can calculate Workout volume by multiplying sets, reps and weight lifted, i.e.
Total Workout Volume = Sets x Reps x Weight
2. Progressive Overload
It's that one topic on which people can do research for their entire lifetime. If I have to explain this term (Progressive Overload) in simple words then, Progressive Overload means lift heavy and overtime lift heavier.
Most people think that the concept of progressive overload is for only powerlifters or powerlifting but not for muscle building.
But guys understand this, When you lift weight then weight training causes some micro tears in your muscle fibers and with proper nutrition and rest your body recovers these micro tears and you know what else happens when your body recovers from damage induced by weight training, "it grows".
If you keep lifting the same amount of weight overtime and doesn't increase the weight then your body will get use to that same weight or resistance and hence it won't grow because as you know our bodies are very smart adaptable so by lifting the same amount of weight every week, your body wouldn't have any reason to grow. Hence Progressive Overload is an important aspect for muscle building as well.
Alright guys, enough theory classes! Now let's move on to the practicals
Let's understand with an example
Normally people in the gym take their first set as extremely light and they move on to their second set which is comparatively challenging to lift and their third set is very heavy which is most difficult to perform.
1 set : 50 kg x 6 reps
2 set : 70 kg x 6 reps
3 set : 80 kg x 6 reps
And I am sure most of you guys do this, you keep on increasing the weights after every set you perform.
1. First set is very light
The first set that you preform is very light and it's basically a warmup set, which is not enough to increase the strength or muscle mass.
2. Third or Final Set is very hard
The second problem that occurs with this style is that your final set is the most difficult to lift, which results in either form breakdown or missing the reps.
I have seen this many times in the gym that people tend to lift heavy in their final set, which is way beyond their lifting capacity and for the sake of hitting a certain number on that set they start to abbreviate their range of motion which is counterintuitive to what the intend is.
3. Difficulty in tracking progress
The third and most important problem this method poses is it becomes very hard to apply progressive overload method. Why? Because for instance if you lift 3 different weights in bench press on Monday then it would become quite a hassle to track your progress. And most people train around the same weight range due to which they can't progress properly.
So guys I am finally going to tell you that how heavy you should be lifting in every set to increase your strength and muscle size.
In bench press, for me 100kg x 6reps are heavy this number will differ from person to person.
Let's move further with an important concept, i.e. RIR (Reps In Reserve).
So if you are performing an exercise and lifting a certain amount of weight with certain reps weather be it 6 reps, 8 reps or 12 reps. So you should be lifting that much so that you could perform 1-2 more reps after completing your final rep.
Let's understand this with an example
If you are lifting your sets like this
1 set : 50 kg x 6 reps
Suppose this set is very easy for you and after that 6th rep you could perform 5-6 more reps. So your RIR (Reps In Reserve) comes to 5-6, which again shows this weight (50 kg) is very light for this rep range (6 reps).
3 set : 80 kg x 6 reps
In this you reached your failure and couldn't perform more than 6 reps, so your RIR will come down to 0. Which implies this weight is way too heavy for you.
If you would have performed all 3 sets with 75 kg weight then your RIR would come around 1 or 2, which is ideal to increase strength and muscle mass.
One more benefit of this is- Volume
Volume breakdown of the set above
1 set : 50 kg x 6 reps = 300
2 set : 70 kg x 6 reps = 420
3 set : 80 kg x 6 reps = 480
Total Volume = 300+420+480 = 1200
If you would have did all 3 sets from 75 kg, then your volume would come to-
1 set : 75 kg x 6 reps = 450
2 set : 75 kg x 6 reps = 450
3 set : 75 kg x 6 reps = 450
Total Volume = 450+450+450 = 1350
Now you see, the volume has increased which is another good thing.
More Total Volume = More Muscle Hypertrophy
Summary
Lift Weights with 1-2 RIR (Reps In Reserve) in the body. And Lift same weights in each set. This will help you to increase work volume which eventually help you to increase muscle mass and strength.
Now let's learn the technique which will help you to increase your bench press.
The technique that I am going to share with you is called Wave Linear Periodization which you can leverage to increase your strength in bench press or any other compound lifts.
How to increase your bench press in 4 weeks and get stronger
This is an example, please adjust weights and reps according to your own caliber, and remember your RIR should be 1-2 on every working sets throughout the weeks. Although if you reach failure in your final set then it's fine.
After every week we will decrease the reps and increase the lifting weight. Our fourth week will be a deload week
Week 1: 100 kg (3 sets x 8 reps)
Week 2: 102 kg (3 sets x 6 reps)
Week 3: 105 kg (3 sets x 4 reps)
Week 4: DELOAD week (in week 4 we will only do 2 sets of 7 reps, just to recover and recuperate our damaged muscle tissue)
100 kg (2 sets x 7 reps)
So now you can see that every week we have increased the weight lifted and decrease the number of reps performed. And if you keep your recovery and nutrition on point then by the -
Week 5 : 102 kg (3sets x 8 reps)
Now you will be able to do 8 reps of 3 sets by 102 kg. So by week 5 we have increased 8 reps on our bench press by 2 kg or 4.4 pounds.
In this example the strength increment shown is of 2 kg it could be more (5-6 kg) or it could be less (1/2-1 kg).
Use the technique "Wave Linear Periodization" to increase your bench press or any other compound lift. Increase the weight you lift and decrease the reps for 3 weeks, in week 4 do a deload set which means lower the intensity a little bit and by the 5th week you would see some increment in your strength and you could lift more weight. Continue this method discussed above for 6,7 or 8 weeks or until whatever your goal is and gain size and strength.
){kind=link}
0 Comments