Building Up My Bench Press

With the last 6 weeks or so being unable to run and the uncertainty on whether cycling was doing more damage to my hamstrings after the Ring of Kerry cycle in July, it was all upper body goals for me.

And when it comes to upper body goals, the list of options dwindles massively.

While pull ups/push ups were always in the back of my mind, I really wanted to see how far I could build up my bench.

Back in April, I got crushed trying to do 110kg for more than one rep, so that was a goal. But getting 120kg for 1 rep, while seeming unrealistic, was the real goal.

Bench Technique

Bench technique played a big role in getting myself over the 100kg mark, specifically using my legs. Having my feet behind my knees, drilled into the floor with an arch in my lower back, locked under the barbell.

Truth be told, I find this position very uncomfortable! Mainly due to the lack of mobility in my legs (And properly the reason my current injury woes!). My quads feel stretched to the max here. But, because I feel tight and locked in this position, my legs can help drive the bar up.

Looking back on failed reps, my feet usually come up off the ground when I’m not in the right position, proving to me how much I need my legs for my bigger lifts.

Building My Bench Each Week

I had roughly 110kg for one rep when I really dedicated myself to this a few weeks back. I would build to my one rep by starting (after a full upper body warm-up) with 5-6 reps at half the weight (roughly 50-60kg), and add a bit more weight for 3-4 comfortable reps. Getting harder at 2 reps, harder again at 1 and then see if I could go for a PB that day if I was feeling it or stick with that weight. I would usually rest at least a minute between each set so this is a bit time-consuming!

I try not to have any failed reps in my sessions but sometimes it is necessary to see where you are truly at. The goal is to get a little progressive overload in the weights each week. Although that is not always possible, otherwise it would be a never-ending journey of adding kg each week to the bar. There is a limit.

After my max rep of 1, I would take 15-20% off the bar and go for the max amount of reps I could.

Over the past few weeks, that one rep has increased. I would then use dumbbells on a session later in the week, varying the angles on the bar and going for more volume. Sometimes as high as 30 reps .

You don’t have to only do barbell bench for low reps to build up your barbell bench. 30 reps is probably excessive. Getting 15 reps for 3-4 sets (leaving 1-2 reps in the tank so you’re going close to failure) and changing between incline and flat each week is going to help you progress.

Throwing in an AMRAP (as many reps as possible) every now and then will help you truly see where your peak is.

120kg Goal…

On Monday, using this technique, I hit 117.5kg for a one rep max. Of course, I had to attempt the 120kg but got crushed… well, thankfully the safety bars were out, otherwise, I would have been legit crushed!

I’m not saying this is the ONLY way, or even the best way, to build up your bench. But it’s the way that has helped me the most.

One major drawback in all of this was the fact that I put on about 3kg of weight in the last month or so. Weight moves weight. And now that I’m able to go back to running pain-free again, I think I’ve peaked on my bench for this year.

Not before I decided to test how many reps I could do on 40kg

While I’ll still be doing gym work, I expect the amount of weight I can lift to drop as my weight starts to drop in preparation for the next challenge…

Little over 11 weeks to the Dublin Marathon, let’s go!