Post by Joey Smith on Mar 15, 2008 16:59:30 GMT -5
Planning Out your Training Cycle
By: Sebastian Burns
Training for a big bench or a full power meet requires lots of planning and frequent adjustments at specific times to your workload and exercises for optimum results. Some lifters just train and do whatever they feel like on whatever day. Others set a plan in stone and stick to it no matter what. While both of these systems seem to have some advantages and disadvantages. I have found that it is the lifter that is in tune with his body and the changes that take place during the period of a training cycle. Lets take a look at a basic 10 week bench training cycle. The cycle is laid out on a 2 day per week workout one day to do full range raw bench work and the other a high volume/top end super heavy day. When the cycle begins there will be weakness in all areas of the bench. I will lay out the obvious along with some other things you may not have thought of. First your ability to do large volume workouts: This will increase during the cycle and will need to be adjusted as you get closer to the meet .
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Stability and Balance: By this I mean not just core stability and stabilizer muscles but your ability to put weight where you want it to go with a tight shirt on. This should be addressed early on in small amounts at first but in very large amounts later on.
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Flexibility and arch/Position: By this I mean getting into the habit of setting up better and better getting your body where you want it on the bench with and without a shirt on. This should not be overlooked, as after only a few weeks of no bench training your setup will start to deteriorate.
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Learning how to get support out of looser gear: When you begin lifting your bench shirt will be loose on you and you will need to get as much out of it as you can by learning how to get support out of loose gear it will teach you how to get huge support out of tighter gear. As you progress through the cycle you will get larger and your shirt will get tighter. Lifting with a loose shirt will also make you very strong and stable.
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As you progress through your first few weeks you will need to bring up all these previous points while you are still keeping a close eye out for special weaknesses that may be developing. If you can find faults early on you will have a better chance at improving them before the meet gets to close. When we start a training cycle we do a good amount of raw benching and lower boards to set a base at the bottom while we have time to spare. Later on there will be no time to work the bottom, as all efforts will go toward shirt and upper work.
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Five or so weeks into the cycle you should have enough time in to analyze where things are going wrong or right. If you find that you are having trouble with you’re shirt bench touching. Then you know you are going to need to get twice the work in with your shirt over the next few weeks and this is no prob because at this point you still have some time to do it. If you are touching and you are failing at lockout then you know you are going to need to get your lockouts and high boards up. If at this time you find that you are bringing the bar high on your chest and ripping shirts then you will need to back off the raw benching and use your shirt more.You may also want to start doing some top end work on your other day as well at this time.
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Seven weeks into the cycle you should be well into lots of shirt benching and upper end as well as identifying where you need work. At this time you will probably still need to perfect your shirt lifting while still improving your lockout.
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Week 8 and 9 By this time you should be hitting lots of singles and preparing for a 1 rep shirt max this may mean not only doing heavy singles but trying a 3 rep shirt max and working on lots of shirt reps if needed. The top of the lift is all important at this time because if you have done everything up till now your form should be the best it can be and at the meet it is gonna come down to locking the weight out because with a good bench shirt the weight will always come off your chest.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Week 10 we do our last workout 7 days before the meet and we usually don’t back off we will hit it hard and do lots of work and maybe go up to an opener or a second attempt. Followed by lots of where we think we need that last bit of work.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The last week before the meet is reserved for lots of eating and sleeping. Keep stress levels low and be lazy. Your training is done at this point and now you must focus on healing up for the meet. Try to get extra sleep this last week in the form of naps or extra hours at night. Don’t stress about the meet if you have done all things right and have confidence in yourself and the training you have done you will succeed.
By: Sebastian Burns
Training for a big bench or a full power meet requires lots of planning and frequent adjustments at specific times to your workload and exercises for optimum results. Some lifters just train and do whatever they feel like on whatever day. Others set a plan in stone and stick to it no matter what. While both of these systems seem to have some advantages and disadvantages. I have found that it is the lifter that is in tune with his body and the changes that take place during the period of a training cycle. Lets take a look at a basic 10 week bench training cycle. The cycle is laid out on a 2 day per week workout one day to do full range raw bench work and the other a high volume/top end super heavy day. When the cycle begins there will be weakness in all areas of the bench. I will lay out the obvious along with some other things you may not have thought of. First your ability to do large volume workouts: This will increase during the cycle and will need to be adjusted as you get closer to the meet .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stability and Balance: By this I mean not just core stability and stabilizer muscles but your ability to put weight where you want it to go with a tight shirt on. This should be addressed early on in small amounts at first but in very large amounts later on.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Flexibility and arch/Position: By this I mean getting into the habit of setting up better and better getting your body where you want it on the bench with and without a shirt on. This should not be overlooked, as after only a few weeks of no bench training your setup will start to deteriorate.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Learning how to get support out of looser gear: When you begin lifting your bench shirt will be loose on you and you will need to get as much out of it as you can by learning how to get support out of loose gear it will teach you how to get huge support out of tighter gear. As you progress through the cycle you will get larger and your shirt will get tighter. Lifting with a loose shirt will also make you very strong and stable.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As you progress through your first few weeks you will need to bring up all these previous points while you are still keeping a close eye out for special weaknesses that may be developing. If you can find faults early on you will have a better chance at improving them before the meet gets to close. When we start a training cycle we do a good amount of raw benching and lower boards to set a base at the bottom while we have time to spare. Later on there will be no time to work the bottom, as all efforts will go toward shirt and upper work.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Five or so weeks into the cycle you should have enough time in to analyze where things are going wrong or right. If you find that you are having trouble with you’re shirt bench touching. Then you know you are going to need to get twice the work in with your shirt over the next few weeks and this is no prob because at this point you still have some time to do it. If you are touching and you are failing at lockout then you know you are going to need to get your lockouts and high boards up. If at this time you find that you are bringing the bar high on your chest and ripping shirts then you will need to back off the raw benching and use your shirt more.You may also want to start doing some top end work on your other day as well at this time.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seven weeks into the cycle you should be well into lots of shirt benching and upper end as well as identifying where you need work. At this time you will probably still need to perfect your shirt lifting while still improving your lockout.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Week 8 and 9 By this time you should be hitting lots of singles and preparing for a 1 rep shirt max this may mean not only doing heavy singles but trying a 3 rep shirt max and working on lots of shirt reps if needed. The top of the lift is all important at this time because if you have done everything up till now your form should be the best it can be and at the meet it is gonna come down to locking the weight out because with a good bench shirt the weight will always come off your chest.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Week 10 we do our last workout 7 days before the meet and we usually don’t back off we will hit it hard and do lots of work and maybe go up to an opener or a second attempt. Followed by lots of where we think we need that last bit of work.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The last week before the meet is reserved for lots of eating and sleeping. Keep stress levels low and be lazy. Your training is done at this point and now you must focus on healing up for the meet. Try to get extra sleep this last week in the form of naps or extra hours at night. Don’t stress about the meet if you have done all things right and have confidence in yourself and the training you have done you will succeed.
