Bill Star?

[rawlifter]

What are your thoughts on the Bill Star 5 X 5 routine? I want to do a bench press meet sometime in late September to late October. I have only found one in my area and it is RAW. My current RAW max is 365lbs at 225lbs...yeah yeah i know, that aint all that great...lol I want to hit at least 405lbs at a RAW meet. Can the Bill Star type routine help me with this? I have also tried the critical bench routine, it worked but i soon felt over trained or more like i stalled at 325lbs and my strength left me BIG time. I have a great diet and do cardio now 3 times aweek to keep my body weight down to 220lbs or less.

Any pointers on a good bench routine would be great. I have had 4 surgeries on my right knee and i am now squatting but only hitting 315lbs for 5 so i cant do a full meet just yet but want to train as if i am.

Thanks in advance for any and all help!

Matthew

[COOKE]

not familiar with the bill star routine. how does it go? how long have you been training? what training are you doing now? hit me up with these answers and we can go from there. i just need to know a little more about you.

[rawlifter]

ok boss. I am 38 years old. Have competed in 1 powerlifting meet 1992, and 1 bodybuilding show in 2000. I have been using bill stars program. listed below is the routine. I want to get to 405lbs on my bench RAW so in a shirted meet I could maybe get anything from 450 to 500. My ultimate goal is to beat my older brother, he benched 515lbs with a shirt, single ply i think. So i want to hit 520lbs.

Here is the routine:
Monday

Squat 5x5 Ramping weight to top set of 5

Bench 5x5

Barbell Row 5x5 ... i like yates rows or pendlay rows.

Assistance: 2 sets of weighted hypers and 4 sets of weighted sit-ups


Wednesday

Squat 4x5

Incline or Military 4x5 Ramping weight to top set of 5

Dead lift 4x5 Ramping weight to top set of 5

Assistance: 3 sets of sit-ups


Friday
Squat 4x5, 1x3, 1x8 First 4 sets are the same as Monday's, the triple is 2.5% above your Monday top set of 5, use the weight from the 3rd set for a final set of 8

Bench 4x5, 1x3, 1x8 First 4 sets are the same as Monday's, the triple is 2.5% above your Monday top set of 5, use the weight from the 3rd set for a final set of 8

Barbell Row 4x5, 1x3, 1x8 First 4 sets are the same as Monday's, the triple is 2.5% above your Monday top set of 5, use the weight from the 3rd set for a final set of 8

Assistance: 3 sets of weighted dips (5-8 reps), 3 sets of barbell curls and 3 sets of triceps extensions (8 reps)

I also add calves each workout, i love working calves to death, lol. I put 300lbs on the standing calf machine and rep as much as i can, i do this until i total 80 to 100 reps. My goal is to do 4 sets of 25 reps with 300lbs then add weight.

My diet is pretty good, i try to eat lean but i eat allot. I weigh 220lbs right now and I hit my max RAW bench about a month ago of 365lbs. I have taken 2 weeks off to recover and to refresh a bit. I am moving to Kansas City soon and hope to meet up with some power lifters there. I want to compete until i cant compete anymore. I love lifting. Any advice you can pass along is more than welcomed!

[COOKE]

ok. i don't like it. too many numbers. also you are trying to increse your bench so why squat on bench day? this may work for a beginner for a while but then you need to add stuff like board presses, floor presses and so forth. i am doing raw training right now so check out my training log and get some ideas. as far as going into a shirt, don't just assume b/c you can bench 405 raw that you are going to put on a shirt and hit 450 or more. shirt benching is a science. you need to learn the shirt and get the right one for your style of benching. i bench light on tue and do accessory work and then heavy on friday (board press or floor press) and do more accessory work on sat. that is the basic plan for me. i do triples or singles on shirted exercises and 5's on raw for the most part. i will occasionally do 3's. all my accessory work is for 8-10 unless it is a recovery workout and i will try to do all 12's. let me know if this helps

[rawlifter]

wow, thanks for the info! I loved the workout but after heavy squats my workout started taking longer, i needed more rest time between sets. I would love your advice on a routine, I dont have a shirt...yet...I want to train RAW as much as I can. Once I get a shirt I will start training with it. Do you have a link to your training log? Thanks again for the info, I will adjust my routine according to your advice.

[COOKE]

yeah just look under training logs on this board. it is cooke's training log. i try to keep it up to date

[rawlifter]

cool, found it!