The Metal Militia Bench Press Training Style by Sebastian Burns
There has been many questions and some misinformation about our style of training.I will set the record straight about the way we train and why.This method has led many lifters to new PRs never thought possible.There has been many times where lifters will set 30 to 50lb PRs in their first workout with us and almost always these lifters will take some info home with them and continue to set PRs week after week.We have invited and traveled to train with hundreds of lifters over the years and 99% of them will hit a PR in their first workout with us.Obviously I will not be able to provide hands on attention with this article but I will lay out our workout plan.
We train the bench 2 days per week one day is for low end raw strength and the other is for top end and shirt practice.Our workouts fall on Tuesday and Saturday.
Tuesday is for Raw and saturday is assistance and shirt day.
Tuesday
Raw bench: Grip (Index Finger On Ring)
We work our way up to a 3 Rep Max (3RM). If we get all 3 reps we will go up 10lbs and try another 3 reps.If we dont get 3 we may stop there or go down for a 5 RM Next week we will attempt the 3RM again and go up 10 lbs etc.Total sets = 5 to 8.
Decline: Grip (Pinky Finger On Ring)
For decline we work up to a 5RM with all sets done for 5 reps.Total sets = 5
The more you arch on the bench press the more valuable the decline will be.
4,3,2,1 Boards: Grip (Pinky Finger On Ring)
We usually work up to a 3RM on the 4 board then we may go for 1RM on the next boards depending on energy levels and soreness from the previous workout.Total sets range from 8 to as many as 15.
Total sets on this day range from 15 to 30.
Other exercises that can be done on this day:
Incline: 4 Sets 5 to 1 Reps.
Rope Extentions: 2 Sets 20 to 40 Reps.
Pulldowns: 4 Sets 10 Reps.
Shrugs: 4 Sets 10 Reps.
Saturday
Close Grip Bench: Grip (Pinky Finger On Ring)
This exercise is used as a warm up and we use the same progression as raw bench for the sets except we don't go back down for a 5RM.
Shirt Bench: Grip (Index Finger On Ring)
We will put our shirt on here if the meet is within 4 weeks or so.If the meet is farther away we will do our shirt work at the end before Rack work.Everyone usually starts off with their shirt where they left off with the close grip bench.Starting with 3 to 5 reps in the first few sets to get into a grove of the shirt.Then onto a few doubles then some singles.If the singles don't go well or if there is problems touching or with your groove then we will go right back to the beginning and work all the way back up again trying harder to get everything right.Sets here could range from 5 to 10 to even 20 or more depending on how everything goes.If you don't get it right you must work back through until you get it right.
6,5,4, Boards: Grip (Pinky Finger On Ring)
We will usually try to max on all of these boards and sometimes work through the same board twice if the groove does not feel right or we miss our goal weight on a certain board.Again sets could be very high if things don't go right or if more work is needed in a certain area.The 4 board is optional on this day depending if you did it on tuesday or not.
Rack Lockouts: Grip (Pinky Finger On Ring)
We work our way up to a 3RM using 3 reps for all sets.These are done at the end of the workout when you are tired and want to go home but if you stay and do them you will have great finishing power needed to lockout heavy weight.Total sets range from 6 to 10.
Other exercises that can be done on this day.
Tricep Pushdowns: 3 Sets 10 Reps.
Rope Extentions: 2 Sets 20 to 40 reps.
Pulldowns: 4 Sets 10 Reps.
Shrugs: 4 Sets 10 Reps.
As you can see there is much more volume done on sat then on tuesday and nothing is set in stone.The workouts are dictated by the way we feel and where we feel we need the most work to produce improvement.
Saturday
